Stephen Devenney of Reynolds Music, kindly took time out to talk to me about a few guitar-related aspects and other factors involved in running and maintaining a successful retail operation.
With the rise in popularity of guitar based computer games (Guitar Hero, Rockband etc...) and guitar-based music slowly re-emerging into the charts, people have a renewed interest in the instrument, well that's my opinion at least!
With this in mind I assumed most purchases would most likely be first time buyers. While this wasn't quite the case, Stephen my 'official expert', (How cool is that? I have an official expert!), pointed out that most of the sales in the shop he works in were for entry level instruments, in particular entry level acoustic guitars.
Stephen points to Catalogue stores and new Hypermarkets as being the main source of competition, rather than as I had imagined online retailers.
Stores like Argos and ASDA supply cheap mass produced guitars for as little as €50 approx, whilst also offering the availability of various other non-guitar related goods, making them much more appealing as a 'one stop shop' to consumers.
The downside of these stores is that new players are getting instruments that are essentially unplayable, as they are of poor or no quality what so ever.
When asked about internet retailers, such as Thomaan, I got a surprising response. Rather than forcing shops to lower prices, as I had expected, Stephen states that the main result of this competition has been an increase in customer service for 'Brick and Mortar' stores. He explained that while physical stores always had a good Customer support protocol in place, the rise of online competition has made this an even more vital and unique selling point for the 'B&M' stores.
In regards to the customers in general Stephen said, "The life-blood of a local music shop, is the local music scene.". Given that there is a fairly healthy and active music scene in Donegal he's quite happy with his store's potential longevity. Although he airs on the cautious side by saying, "If they ain't playing, they won't be paying". This was his view of what could occur if people stop going out to live music events, and how it could negatively affect the retail trade. Another worrying fact he highlighted was that currently supply grossly outstrips demand, especially with the guitar market.
On a happier and slightly sideways note, Stephen informed me that many youngsters are getting involved with music via the piano. With rising sales of piano related goods such as Royal Irish Academy
Many thanks to Stephen, and Reynolds Music for their help and time.
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