I'm crushed about this. I worked in the drum department at the Hollywood location...it was so fun working there, and I kept some connections for a bit. Great company, I hope they can recover somehow.
I'm a Sam Ash Salesman here in Miami our location (MIAMI LAKES) is closing down and a few more north of Florida. This location been here since I was a child for about 28 years!!!! I can't say much it kind of hurt but it is what it is!!!
Wow brother. Kudos to you for staying relevant. I remember buying my first Organ video from you back in 2000 when I was living in london England. It was Melvin Crispell and a few other VHS videos. My goodness how times are changing at a rapid pace. I remember Sam Ash, our church at the time used to purchase all their gear from them.
I second that about Sweetwater, great service done right...Guitar Center tried to sell me second hand returned items as new multiple times. GC was also real spotty on packing and shipping items correctly etc. After using GC for many years I started using Sweetwater and was amazed at the difference...Yup, Sweetwater does it right...
I live in Syracuse, NY and the last time Guitar Center had a pro board in the store was in 2011 when the Jupiter 80 came out 🤦🏾♂️! I went to Sam Ash in LA in 2023 and they had everything, but that was LA… I think NAMM will be online exclusively like the Apple keynote event!
Wow! That’s crazy! The part about having these stores around is the chance to go in and test products b4 you can buy them. I hope Guitar Center is not on the chopping block. I live near BOTH!🤨
I think change is inevitable concerning NAMM. There’s always been so much interest in new gear that I and so many others couldn’t wait to see. With the rise of TH-cam, the buzz from a new product video can go around the world faster than any write up in a magazine ever could have. NAMM probably won’t go away. But it will evolve into something else that serves the purpose that the NAMM as we know it has always been.
I've never really shopped at Sam Ash. I've shopped at Guitar Center but I haven't bought anything in decades. I would go there to get some strings or guitar picks.
Lol I have every VHS 0:01 tape and CDs, cassette tapes and DVDs. I have bought from you a long time ago and I am blessed to have them. I can go through them and actually learn everything that on the material I bought from you a long time ago. It’s crazy a lightbulb clicked in my head and boom.
Wow, this IS news Sebastian 😮. I'm not sure if it's going to hit Dallas, but I'll check this week.Hoping they will revamp at some point. We used to have great clinician's come out.
that's really sad seeing more and more "brick and mortar" stores closing. Music is something you really need to get hands on and listen. A big problem is too many people went to brick and mortar stores to try out gear then buy it online to save a couple dollars.
I work at store 20 in Lombard. This shit has broken my heart. I will never have another job I loved as much as this. At least I can say me and my team go down in history as the last Sam Ash crew Lombard IL 😢
i used to work at sam ash, king of prussia always had heat. i live in cali and ill check their inventory all the time. got a Fender USA lonestar for 800$ there with case Sweetwater is overhyped, i had guitars be way different weights and got a blues junior with broken tubes. they did replace tho
I would always go to Sam Ash, a check out gear, (try) to ask questions, but never purchased anything there because it took too long to get a sales associate attention. A fascinating experience in how they view the customer, just fascinating.
It was not Richard Ash who passed away...It was his brother..Sammy..65 years old...I went to high school with Richard Ash...Good people...great family....Hempstead NY store changed my life....Sorry to see the business struggling.
went today to Sam Ash Hollywood store on sunday 3-3-24. Advertising 5% off on guitars and amps(?). Signs outside saying "evrything must go". They are not sure when final closing date is... 1-3 months or when their stuff is bought out. The City of Industry store will remain open. Claimed the website will continue? I get the feeling that Hollywood location is indeed a very expensive spot to remain at. Alot of places on Sunset Blvd. are for lease. But they said no to relocation?
You are absolutely right! @4:45 Chuck Levines in Maryland would be on the same chopping block if it was'nt for Ed Spence! No one in keyboards know much of anything in there except for Ed Spence! Every time i've dealt with people in there, they've sold me the wrong product for lack of knowledge. Then i'd have to make extra trips to the store and work with Ed for him to hook me up with the right products. That being said, it is actually much easier to just call sweetwater and even if you have to stay on hold for awhile, you can speak to a knowledgeable sales rep who can get you right the first time, all from the comfort of your home or office without multiple trips to the store!
Brick-and-mortar stores are invaluable. I won't buy a new keyboard without trying it out first -- and when I try a keyboard and decide to buy it, the sale always goes to whichever store let me try it.
U said it all rt Everything look like a ghost town in there the keyboard, I wanted the nord they didn’t have Everything had to be ordered that I wanted to get
I worked at Sam Ash for almost 10 years I had keys for the forest hills store and I quit after covid it was bad . I enjoyed my job though, I made the best of it.
Yeah man..we have known that this day was coming. Not necessarily Sam Ash, but just brick and mortar stores in general. With the state of the market and rent/real estate prices..and the increased growth of online sales,.we knew that the last of the big brick and mortar shops would start to close. The Mom and Pop shops were destroyed over a decade ago..but the big guys were still hanging on... Well, now they are starting to crumble. It is really sad.
I worked at Sam Ash for about 5 years in my early 20s from 2000 to 2005ish. It was the type of job where you could make an honest living and also delay growing up for a while which is what I absolutely loved about it. I met a bunch of awesome people there and still some of them are my friends to this day. Besides all this I could see this coming. Sam Ash was an extremely cheap company. They paid their employees horribly and refused to fix building problems that caused numerous safety violations. I can totally see them not keeping up with the modern age of retail. It would cost to much to re-invent themselves.
The Covid -19 Virus Pandemic was a huge factor in the turn out the past 3 years. It squashed the number of manufacturers, distributers and buyers coming from around the world to the THE NAMM SHOW in 2020 though 2023. They eliminated the one in Nashville totally last year and had very low turn out during years of the pandemic.
The real tragedy of this is in-store repairs, service, advice, etc. If Guitar Center also shuts down, and I"m on LI NY, where the fuck am I supposed to go to bring my lefty guitars in for setups or repairs etc. for the work I can't do on them? I do most maintenance myself, but not all. Sam Ash was another option. The mom and pops out here suck. NYC has some good shops, but I"m not going into NYC for ANY reason now cause A. I now hate it and B. it's too dangerous and too expensive. Where does that leave people in the burbs that rely on Sam Ash or Guitar Center? When you need someone that can actually help you face to face and do setups or repair work. But yes I agree Sam Ash has been suffering quality, stock and service issues for years now. Guitar Center too.
The DAW and plugins killed the hardware you don't need to touch a soft synth so sad I used to go to the guitar center on the weekend and stay all day lol
I had to make my own home a Guitar Center (LOL) cause I like to have everything I need right in front of me at all times. I still use plenty of real smaller amps and a Zoom processor, pedals, though, because I also like the durabiilty of the equipment and I'm used to doing things that way.
Sam Ash near me always had completly new employees every few months . Thier stock was always basic inventory nothing special there anymore . 😢 If Guitar center goes bankrupt it will take Fender an Gibson with them. Guitar center owes them so much money . Guitar center was also taken over by private equity firms.
Guitar Center was slated to go under as well, and I was astonished when they didn't, really, especially during the goddamned virus etc. I use them a lot here on LI, and I'm glad they didn't go under, but, they run on a skeleton staff, which sucks. People get irate and frustrated there every single time I go, and for good reason.
Sam Ash is a family owned business. You can blame the machine but this is what happens when people side with the machine. People will come into the stores to play the instruments but buy online because the machine made it easy to make payments without credit checks. They also close store to keep from closing the business entirely. Guitar Center is next. I’ve worked for both Guitar Center and Sam Ash. If they don’t corner the market and open online stores with different names then they’re food for the big machine. You can’t walk into and of those stores such as musicians Friend, Sweet Water.. sometimes having one store is better than having 15 cause people will see that’s the only store they can sit and play the instrument before purchase. The public helped the family make their choices. Sad
I'm crushed about this. I worked in the drum department at the Hollywood location...it was so fun working there, and I kept some connections for a bit. Great company, I hope they can recover somehow.
I'm a Sam Ash Salesman here in Miami our location (MIAMI LAKES) is closing down and a few more north of Florida. This location been here since I was a child for about 28 years!!!! I can't say much it kind of hurt but it is what it is!!!
Same!! I go there all the time. So sad.
Wow brother. Kudos to you for staying relevant. I remember buying my first Organ video from you back in 2000 when I was living in london England. It was Melvin Crispell and a few other VHS videos. My goodness how times are changing at a rapid pace. I remember Sam Ash, our church at the time used to purchase all their gear from them.
I second that about Sweetwater, great service done right...Guitar Center tried to sell me second hand returned items as new multiple times. GC was also real spotty on packing and shipping items correctly etc. After using GC for many years I started using Sweetwater and was amazed at the difference...Yup, Sweetwater does it right...
I live in Syracuse, NY and the last time Guitar Center had a pro board in the store was in 2011 when the Jupiter 80 came out 🤦🏾♂️!
I went to Sam Ash in LA in 2023 and they had everything, but that was LA…
I think NAMM will be online exclusively like the Apple keynote event!
Wow, sad to hear. Bought my first Pearl drum kit there in 88. World Series in Red Lacquer. Good times.
😮Hold on tight...a lot of changes are in-the-wind for us! Only the flexible ones will thrive!😇
Wow! That’s crazy! The part about having these stores around is the chance to go in and test products b4 you can buy them. I hope Guitar Center is not on the chopping block. I live near BOTH!🤨
I think change is inevitable concerning NAMM. There’s always been so much interest in new gear that I and so many others couldn’t wait to see. With the rise of TH-cam, the buzz from a new product video can go around the world faster than any write up in a magazine ever could have. NAMM probably won’t go away. But it will evolve into something else that serves the purpose that the NAMM as we know it has always been.
I've never really shopped at Sam Ash. I've shopped at Guitar Center but I haven't bought anything in decades. I would go there to get some strings or guitar picks.
Lol I have every VHS 0:01 tape and CDs, cassette tapes and DVDs. I have bought from you a long time ago and I am blessed to have them. I can go through them and actually learn everything that on the material I bought from you a long time ago. It’s crazy a lightbulb clicked in my head and boom.
Sad to hear about Sam Ash. American Musical Supply has been great too
Wow, this IS news Sebastian 😮. I'm not sure if it's going to hit Dallas, but I'll check this week.Hoping they will revamp at some point.
We used to have great clinician's come out.
I live here in Tx as well. I sent this video to a specific store manager where I generally go & he confirmed it. This location isn’t closing though .
the entire southwest region (texas, phoenix, and vegas) stores are staying open.
i know this for a fact as i work at sam ash.
that's really sad seeing more and more "brick and mortar" stores closing. Music is something you really need to get hands on and listen. A big problem is too many people went to brick and mortar stores to try out gear then buy it online to save a couple dollars.
I work at store 20 in Lombard. This shit has broken my heart. I will never have another job I loved as much as this. At least I can say me and my team go down in history as the last Sam Ash crew Lombard IL 😢
i used to work at sam ash, king of prussia always had heat. i live in cali and ill check their inventory all the time. got a Fender USA lonestar for 800$ there with case
Sweetwater is overhyped, i had guitars be way different weights and got a blues junior with broken tubes. they did replace tho
I would always go to Sam Ash, a check out gear, (try) to ask questions, but never purchased anything there because it took too long to get a sales associate attention. A fascinating experience in how they view the customer, just fascinating.
It was not Richard Ash who passed away...It was his brother..Sammy..65 years old...I went to high school with Richard Ash...Good people...great family....Hempstead NY store changed my life....Sorry to see the business struggling.
went today to Sam Ash Hollywood store on sunday 3-3-24. Advertising 5% off on guitars and amps(?). Signs outside saying "evrything must go". They are not sure when final closing date is... 1-3 months or when their stuff is bought out. The City of Industry store will remain open. Claimed the website will continue? I get the feeling that Hollywood location is indeed a very expensive spot to remain at. Alot of places on Sunset Blvd. are for lease. But they said no to relocation?
city of industry is on the chopping block as well.
You are absolutely right! @4:45 Chuck Levines in Maryland would be on the same chopping block if it was'nt for Ed Spence! No one in keyboards know much of anything in there except for Ed Spence! Every time i've dealt with people in there, they've sold me the wrong product for lack of knowledge. Then i'd have to make extra trips to the store and work with Ed for him to hook me up with the right products. That being said, it is actually much easier to just call sweetwater and even if you have to stay on hold for awhile, you can speak to a knowledgeable sales rep who can get you right the first time, all from the comfort of your home or office without multiple trips to the store!
Brick-and-mortar stores are invaluable. I won't buy a new keyboard without trying it out first -- and when I try a keyboard and decide to buy it, the sale always goes to whichever store let me try it.
As someone who owned a large company that exhibited at NAMM for 34 years, it’s a joke and glad we dropped out years ago. It’s a joke
Great words my brother! It's definitely a new season coming. I hope musicians are ready to pivot!!!! Hope you're well. BLESSINGS!!!!!
If I owned a Sam Ash I would have live venues all the time to get more foot traffic.
U said it all rt
Everything look like a ghost town in there the keyboard, I wanted the nord they didn’t have
Everything had to be ordered that I wanted to get
American Music Supply as well!!! Online purchase
I worked at Sam Ash for almost 10 years I had keys for the forest hills store and I quit after covid it was bad . I enjoyed my job though, I made the best of it.
Yeah man..we have known that this day was coming. Not necessarily Sam Ash, but just brick and mortar stores in general. With the state of the market and rent/real estate prices..and the increased growth of online sales,.we knew that the last of the big brick and mortar shops would start to close. The Mom and Pop shops were destroyed over a decade ago..but the big guys were still hanging on... Well, now they are starting to crumble. It is really sad.
I worked at Sam Ash for about 5 years in my early 20s from 2000 to 2005ish. It was the type of job where you could make an honest living and also delay growing up for a while which is what I absolutely loved about it. I met a bunch of awesome people there and still some of them are my friends to this day. Besides all this I could see this coming. Sam Ash was an extremely cheap company. They paid their employees horribly and refused to fix building problems that caused numerous safety violations. I can totally see them not keeping up with the modern age of retail. It would cost to much to re-invent themselves.
Alot of these music stores only carry specific equipment and refuse to get either the times
The trade show decline has been the same or very similar in several industries. It has been declining since the early 2010's and then COVID happened.
I could see that too. They were selling some B level products and the customer service was non-existent.
Musicians Friend and GC are the same company. I stopped going to Sam Ash because they had a small selection and pricy.
The public killed it
The Covid -19 Virus Pandemic was a huge factor in the turn out the past 3 years. It squashed the number of manufacturers, distributers and buyers coming from around the world to the THE NAMM SHOW in 2020 though 2023. They eliminated the one in Nashville totally last year and had very low turn out during years of the pandemic.
It cost more to ship your booth set up and equipment. Thats why companies are cutting weight of freight they pay to off load and reload.
Ricardo is the dude! Things had been falling down hill for a minute at that Atlanta location. It’s the same thing at guitar center. They’ll be next.
The real tragedy of this is in-store repairs, service, advice, etc. If Guitar Center also shuts down, and I"m on LI NY, where the fuck am I supposed to go to bring my lefty
guitars in for setups or repairs etc. for the work I can't do on them? I do most maintenance myself, but not all. Sam Ash was another option. The mom and pops out
here suck. NYC has some good shops, but I"m not going into NYC for ANY reason now cause A. I now hate it and B. it's too dangerous and too expensive. Where does
that leave people in the burbs that rely on Sam Ash or Guitar Center? When you need someone that can actually help you face to face and do setups or repair work.
But yes I agree Sam Ash has been suffering quality, stock and service issues for years now. Guitar Center too.
All Ash stores closing and the NAMM show is done as a trade only show. Turned into a consumer show. Waste of time and money for manufacturers
Yessir !!!! Good video!!!!
Thanks for watching
Sweetwater has taken over !!!!
The DAW and plugins killed the hardware you don't need to touch a soft synth so sad I used to go to the guitar center on the weekend and stay all day lol
I had to make my own home a Guitar Center (LOL) cause I like to have everything I need right in front of me at all times. I still use plenty of real smaller amps
and a Zoom processor, pedals, though, because I also like the durabiilty of the equipment and I'm used to doing things that way.
How are they doing?
Demographics.. Hollywood isn't a hotspot for musicians like it once was
That’s crazy
Was just there wit my cuz Dereck
Idk they were still open
They had nothing there
They were my first
Sam Ash gears are very expensive. You can't stand when you are money hunger!
Sam Ash near me always had completly new employees every few months . Thier stock was always basic inventory nothing special there anymore . 😢
If Guitar center goes bankrupt it will take Fender an Gibson with them. Guitar center owes them so much money . Guitar center was also taken over by private equity firms.
Guitar Center was slated to go under as well, and I was astonished when they didn't, really, especially during the goddamned virus etc. I use them a lot here on LI,
and I'm glad they didn't go under, but, they run on a skeleton staff, which sucks. People get irate and frustrated there every single time I go, and for good reason.
Sam Ash is a family owned business. You can blame the machine but this is what happens when people side with the machine. People will come into the stores to play the instruments but buy online because the machine made it easy to make payments without credit checks. They also close store to keep from closing the business entirely. Guitar Center is next. I’ve worked for both Guitar Center and Sam Ash. If they don’t corner the market and open online stores with different names then they’re food for the big machine. You can’t walk into and of those stores such as musicians Friend, Sweet Water.. sometimes having one store is better than having 15 cause people will see that’s the only store they can sit and play the instrument before purchase. The public helped the family make their choices. Sad
Nooooo!!!!! Not California 😭😭😭😭
It is not the same as it was, sad
The only people making money are the hotels, restaurants and Freeman
Actually, it was Sammy Ash that passed away last year.
Thank you for the correction
Hope all is well with you, Steve
@@wheatworkspro ❤
@@wheatworkspro All is good in Remoteville. We should catch up someday soon. Best wishes to you and yours.
👀😱
Didn’t have these issues under trump smh
WHAT!!
@@michaelratner4429😮😊😅😂
LOL, these issues have been going on for like 25 years now dude! Trump my butt!
Sam ASH IS HORRIBLE ANYWAY. GUITAR CENTER 4LIFE!!