The last guitar store in Santa Barbara is closing

blakejcan

blakejcan

Well-known member
Jensen Guitar. What an absolute bummer. 52 years of a small family owned place here in Santa Barbara. Seymour Duncan even had a spot in the shop at one point. Ben Harper used to run around there as a kid. So did Chris Shiflett and a million other local guys.

They weren't run out by Guitar Center. Or killed by online business. Just time for the owner to retire because he can't keep chugging along and nobody else there to step in and keep it going.

Nearest places now will be mostly Guitar Centers an hour in either direction. Oof. Not the same.
 
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I have seen a few local places close their doors forever, but there always seem to be some which carry on.

This is not a criticism, just me thinking that if the owners want the place to continue, they need to find someone to fill their shoes. I know I have had a lot of great discussions and received a lot of valuable information from such owners. I wonder if they ever ask customers who hang out around the store, have you considered working here?

A good example in Cowtown is Bill Foley at German Village Music Haus. Bill does retail, service, builds and has written a couple of books on building and understanding the electric guitar. He has also sold me quite a few Seymour Duncan pickups over the years. However, Bill has been at it since 1977, so I wonder if he has someone waiting in the wings? I surmise he does as he took over from the previous owner, although I do not know that for a fact.

I avoid anxiety over the topic by thinking it will be like tube amps. In the late 60's the electronics industry was saying tubes are outdated and going away. Somehow, 60 years later tubes and tube amps are still around.
 
We have a few in the Tampa Bay area, but everything here is so spread out- they are each over an hour away from me.
 
the closest store to me is a gc, but i seldom go there. the others are 20 minutes or so, but id rather spend my money there. reeves gabrels hangs out at one of the places a fair amount, so its fun to chat with him when hes there
 
jeremy said:
the closest store to me is a gc, but i seldom go there. the others are 20 minutes or so, but id rather spend my money there. reeves gabrels hangs out at one of the places a fair amount, so its fun to chat with him when hes there
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Mark Slaughter just moved in town and hangs out at our M&P all the time now. I have met him in the past, awesome guy but have not bumped into him at the M&P yet.
 
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