Sad! Walking into a music/guitar store as a kid was magical.

What really sucks is when you cant try before you buy something expensive and you don't like it

I have been going to my local Samash for over 20 years, and it is one of the stores currently closing. Walking in now to the dying husk of years of good memories and buys, it's just sad. I have played way more than guitars and basses over the years, and Samash always had things I needed. Being able to touch and feel things before you purchase them is invaluable, especially for musical instrument and equipment.

I live on the used gear page on the GC website.

I live in Prague, Czech Republic and it’s the same here. About 8 years ago I went to a local store here… (I used to go there for a long time before that, but this was really their golden era.) They just expanded from one floor to two and extra rooms, they had one of the first sound insulated tryout rooms in the city, wide range of guitars and amps, good setups and new strings on all the guitars (!) and they had this expensive guitar room. I walked in and grabbed the cheapest les paul in that room and fell in love with it. It played easier than some of the pauls that were more than double the price. It was a 2016 studio sprint run with the deathbed les paul signature on the headstock. Fun fact: in 2016 Gibson was doing all kinds of weird sh* like wide nuts and people hated it. So they tried to recover the year by recutting already cut necks into some sort of most popular shape, basically they did people’s popular choice out of them and it turns out it worked, at least on this guitar. So anyway I didn’t even want a guitar and walked out with a les paul. Now when I go to this store they have a couple somewhat nice guitars but a lot more beginner stuff and a lot more pianos. If you go there wanting to check out a specific thing (say a 1000-2000 $ SSS strat) you probably won’t have much to try out. Even worse with amps. They basically discontinued Orange. Like really? And this is the best retailer in the city, other big places don’t even have Fender for example lol! All of this points to online business, I for one consider trying out stuff in person essential, amps or guitars. Guitars you can get away with it if you choose well and don’t care. But amps? It’s your entire sound, you should at least hear it in person. Now the funniest thing is I expect the same with guitar amps in the future. Picture a distopian reality, where everyone has access to any realistic amp profile you can think of, but because nobody bothers to buy the real amps, the builders go out of business and amps become a rare collector’s item. You wish your grandpa bought that 1959 les paul? Well your kids will wish you bought a 2024 friedman. ☠️

Miss Mars Music from back in the day

I live about 15 min from the Cleveland area Sam Ash and have shopped there many times myself. I hope it doesn't close.

I got the best 4x12 cab deal ever at a Sam Ash in Jersey.... An Avatar Vintage 4x12 loaded with V30's and G12H30's in an X pattern. The cab was in absolutely mint condition and was only $435.00 shipped from Jersey to east TN. I found it on their Reverb store. It was a fantastic transaction. Too bad they are calling it quits.

The premier guitar store here in Tucson, Arizona called "Rainbow Guitars" ...they carried the best of the best for 50 years. They shut their doors to public open entry, and do only appointment-only business. They stopped setting up the showroom in a nice/appealing way, and shit is just laying around everywhere in cardboard boxes.... its' startling.

I’ve bought 7 guitars so far. All but one of them was online because I’m a lefty and 99% of the guitars I see in most stores are right handed guitars. American Musical Supply and my local guitar shop has been my source for guitars and they haven’t disappointed, yet.

And yet, in Canada, Long & McQuade is aggressively expanding all the time. They must know something we don't. Looks like betting on the music schools, easy and cheap rentals and integrating into the communities and promoting music playing to the youth is what keeps them relevant.

Sweetwater does more in sales then all of GC's 400+ stores combined. They really have figured it out.

The end of your video is exactly spot on. The music industry will revert back to smaller hometown shops. The online thing will always be there from now on, but where they will fall is customer service. I have seen this with specialty shops and music is one of those. You will have Sweetwater, Amazon, and smaller shops. The days of the big box stores are over, I see Guitar Center will be the next to start closing stores. The big thing is going to be where you get your AMPs and Guitars worked on. Support your locally owned Music Store, they are the ones that are going to provide service carry cool gear, and take care of you. Help them grow by supporting them. These corporate stores care about one thing and that's the bottom line and making shareholders happy.

So many things, in retail, are changing. Hell. I was talking to staff at the bike store and they’re telling me that no one is buying new bikes. But their repair services are booked out for weeks. Wild.

I am very happy that my local music instrument shop, Parkway Music, in Clifton Park NY, doesn't appear to be having any issues with business. I stop in there weekly (sometimes more than that 😀) just to see what they have, hang out a bit and find something I needed or something I didn't know I needed until I saw it there. Great owners and staff along with a lot of variety in gear.

I live in the Albany/Troy area. There are three independent guitar shops here that seem to do really well. I think this is mostly because they always have unique pieces that you can't get at an online retailer (old guitars/small pedal builders, etc).

Great video Kyle! You summed up everything succinctly. The very first music store in Stratford, CT I ever walked into went out of business years ago because the owner passed away. They almost exclusively sold Peavey gear, but had other brands to try/order. After that Sam Ash in New Haven, CT was the nearest music store and I have many fond memories from there. I agree with you everyone is tired of seeing all the budget gear at a music store. The biggest issue for me has been trying to find a brick and mortar store that has high-end boutique equipment that I want to try out and maybe even purchase. Sweetwater has made that very easy and if I wanted to return it so I pay a little bit in return shipping/restocking but at least I got to try it out. The CEO of Guitar Center released a statement not too long ago I think saying the same thing that the large floor space footprint has not worked for many years and they have not executed well in their business model for a number of years. I fully expect they will be severely downsizing not just their size of their stores but the number of them as well and only focusing on boutique stuff on the floor. I think you and I are very close in age Kyle and 100% agree with you things need to go back to the way things were when we were kids where we can make more of those fond memories at the music stores in our local areas.

We have "The Chicago Store" and "Rainbow Guitars" in Tucson Arizona that are iconic and still hanging in there.

My favorite store MN is Eclipse Music in West St. Paul. John the owner is the sweetest dude, and so knowledgeable! Their big stand out is that they have the most incredible selection of pedals to try before you buy, new and used! My mind was absolutely blown when I first called ahead and then went in there! Another kick-ass store in MN is Lavonne Music in Savage, MN (The same Savage where Savage Amps came from). They've got a whole bunch of killer vintage guitars, and Pete and the team are amazing!

I tend to look online, and then if I know I can’t get said gear at the Long and McQuade in my hometown then boom, I drive to the store and talk about pricing etc. They have rental programs, lessons, kids camps, they have a tots lil bingo thing they’re doing this weekend. There’s a UKULELE camp in July for the younger kids. It’s the place for me to go to be happy, and as a left handed guitar player it is frustrating, the guys are good to deal with.

I live in Sydney Australia and it is nowhere near the same here. There are a lot of small mom and pop stores that all seem to sell online as well.

I just went to a guitar center for the first time in a while and they were complaining that a 7 string I was looking at wouldn’t sell and it was a mistake to buy (it was used). The setup had like 3mm of relief and the action was so high that fretting any note would put it out of tune.

I don't agree 100%. Companies with a retail storefront need to have a strong website e-commerce presence so it's blended model. Like, for example, it's so much easier ordering and picking up and/or returning items to a physical versus packing it up.

You're totally on point with the experience of the journey. About 30 years ago when I lived in NY, I remember taking a 5 hour journey with my buds to the famous House of Guitars in Rochester, NY. Very cool and memorable day and at the time I'd never seen a shop with as much as they had to offer. Not to mention all the rock stars that had visited and left some memorabilia.

I hope Music go Round continues to do well. The one I go to in St Louis is moving to a bigger building in June because they're running out of room. Music go Round is amazing! They're friendly and have a great atmosphere and they buy, sell and trade.

I have The House of Guitars, the legendary shop in Rochester, since 66 and it's here to stay, it's basically a museum too 🤘

That cleveland Sam Ash store is legendary, only a few minutes from me

@Kyle Bull I think you made a good roundup of the development, which started almost 20 years ago. I live in the countryside in germany and i also remember doing what you described for the past, having event days with friends, driving hundreds of kilometers to a cool store, hanging out there the whole day, chatting with employees, other customers, eating something together etc. This internet shopping lifestyle is a global thing, i suggest. But, i also notice small boutique style shops coming back, which hold something special, that the big names don't have. This doesn't only concern music stuff. I'm interested in that development.

The closest stores to me are little mom and pop places, and they really don't have much. The closest guitar center is 100 miles away in Memphis because I moved years ago,so I only drive out there about once a year if that . So 99% of what I buy is online, but there is something about going in there and hearing a kid playing the same songs I learned when I was a kid. As well as familiar faces, some of those guys have been working there for a long time.

I have two music store stories. When I was a junior in highschool ('84/'85), I had already cut my teeth on a Peavey T-25 and showed my folks I was serious about playing. They agreed to get me a 'next level' guitar. So, we went to my favorite (very) small music store in Missoula, MT called E.S.P. (Electronic Sound & Percussion), and they're STILL in business today! I saw and instantly fell in love with a Kramer Explorer/Destroyer style guitar, with a Floyd Rose, and that was the one! My folks were the BEST! In '86, our band moved to Seattle to make it big, and I remember walking into the main Guitar Center in downtown Seattle for the first time. To a kid from small-town Montana, that store was HUGE!! I was in awe and remember walking around, looking at all the Gibsons and Marshalls with fire in my heart. I did, eventually, give in and finance a Gibson V and a Marshall JMC800 half-stack from that store.

I find guitars (and other gears) sold at local stores in our city at least are a bit more expensive than purchasing online. You can at least try and haggle but aside from having very limited selections, it just makes more sense to purchase online because of the price difference.

Motor City Guitar in Waterford MI is a really good music store that seems to be doing well.

nstuff music in pittsburgh is my favorite local guitar store!! the staff is super helpful and they always have a great selection of guitars pedals amps and lots of used stuff as well! i’ve gotten a bunch of gear there over the years and always go back whenever im in town even when im not looking to buy something

I feel fortunate. We have a mom and pop guitar shop named "The Band Attic" in Spencer NC, within 15 minutes of my home. They are a PRS dealer with a very impressive selection of all types of gear.

Interestingly here in the UK I've noticed a rise in small independent guitar dealers who operate on a 'by appointment only' basis and most of their business seems to revolve around high-end used gear. Frankly it's cool to see and having dealt with a few now they generally seem to be run by cool people.

I was at the Sam Ash in NJ yesterday. They were having an everything must go sale.

love my local shops. my usual search for gear is the local facespace or cl marketplace, then local shops, then the dreaded local GC, then the internet. i usually buy a set of strings or picks each time i visit a local shop, even if i don't need them at that moment.

New England had a small chain called Daddy's Junky Music. They got run out from the inside when the founder/ president retired. I hear it was intentional by someone who didn't get a corporate promotion, but that's hearsay. I miss hitting their stores. I was assistant manager at one in Connecticut for a while but always went there first for anything.

I’d love to see Sweetwater buy or partner those Sam Ash to save most of Stores as an investment of sorts. Imagine them updating the things that Sam Ash couldn’t do with online and shipping, while the Sam Ash shops could let Sweetwater customers have an easy place to try items or have easy ways to drop off returns and get repairs without having the hassle of shipping giant boxes to Indiana. They really could help each other. You could call the physical stores Sam Ash by Sweetwater. Partnering really could be a mutual way of improving and growing both brands, in an ironic twist sort of way.

I grew up in suburban DC, not far from Atomic Music and the country's second-largest Guitar Center in Rockville, MD. I bought my first "nice" guitar (Gibson SG Standard) from the Guitar Center in Rockville with money I earned from my first summer job. I still have that guitar. Both places were special to me as a young guitar player and helped show me how to create and make my own distinctive tone.

Here in Newark, OH the original shop I used to go to as a teenager at least appears to be doing well. We're a small city about 35 minutes from Columbus, OH and they really have no competition here locally. They're called Guitar Guys now, but used to called Sheets & Sons Music way back in the day. Check them out. It's just a few hours drive at best from Erie, PA! 👍

Music Gallery in Highland Park, IL. Have been around for 50 years this year and still seem to be doing quite well (also offer music lessons for just about everything). I’ve been going there for going on 13 years and am pretty much on a first name basis with everyone at this point. Over half my collection I acquired from them, and they’ve always taken care of me.

Here in 🇦🇺 all the local guitar store’s prices are almost 3 times what you can get online. Even a pack of strings, I can get a few packs delivered for the same price as picking up one pack in person. It’s quite sad to see from an older guy who grew up seeing everything in local the music stores. Also, the experience back in the 80s being able to go into a record store and look through all the records and so and put it on in the booth or the store PA to see if you wanted to purchase it. Very different times.

Here in Cincinnati there was so many Guitar stores. Once guitar Center & then Mars Music moved in and crushed Cincinnati’s rich guitar shop diversity! Buddy Roger’s, Carter’s Music , Rockin Ron’s ,Midwest Music, Keller Music, Denny Heglin Music. Drum Shine Shop. Just to give them a mention in honor of their memory! Truly miss those stores. The personal touches was great they knew who you were. It wasn’t let’s just recommend junk and take your money like what the big stores have become

The music equivalent of closing Toys R Us for kids ☹️It started when W 48th St went from a vibrant block full of music stores to just another block in NYC. So many famous musicians went in & out of the stores over decades & bought iconic instruments. So much history is lost & future generations miss out. Very sad.

I’ve never purchased a guitar online. I specifically focus on the neck. Every guitar has a different feel even though it may be the same make and model. It must just feel right.

Georges Music and Guitar Center are surviving but sadly my area has lost all their small mom and pop shops. People are flocking to sites like Reverb and Sweetwater

Drum Center of Portsmouth, NH. Amazing drum shop. Music Zoo in Long Island, NY. Awesome higher end guitar store that just reopened their showroom, Saturdays only.

Ahh, cool! I didn't know you were in Erie, PA. I'm down near Columbus, OH and used to work at Lang Music, Sam Ash, and Guitar Center here! 🎸

Well most go in to try it out, and then just buy some place else, due to online stores need not buy real estate and have to pay workers!

I’m in Cleveland and I work on the same street as that Sam Ash and it’s been a great place! Sad to see it go.

The guitar industry greed during COVID inflation killed those stores. I watched guitar prices shoot up 40% in some cases and they can just eff right off with that. Marshall is dead to me after they jacked up US prices but Europe stayed at the normal prices. If I was brick and mortar, I'd have precious little to do with the big names and push brands and imports that maintained a steady pricepoint like Solar.

I was just thinking the other day about how much I miss music stores. There used to be a lot of 'em in Austin. The day I bought my DC5, I went to at least 6 music stores, and a couple pawn shops with stashes of good gear. Most of those stores, including Musicmakers and Heart of Texas Music, are gone now. I'm sure there's still a handful of little stores around the area, but it's nothing like it used to be.

When I was younger, going to guitar center was exciting. I got to try out gear i couldn't afford, and probably had no right playing. lol. But it was something myself and my bandmates looked forward to doing. As i got older i started buying more and more online. Especially with stores like guitar center having return policies on used gear, so if i ordered something i didn't like, new or used, i could always return it and get my full money back. I am probably one of many who have contributed to the decline of brick and mortar music stores. Now i get bummed out when i walk into guitar center because there is virtually no gear in the quality level that i now purchase. It's really sad, but i guess i have no one to blame but myself...

I still have my guitar pick from when best buy had that music center for musicians 😢

Kevin's Music in Jacksonville, FL is still going strong. It's definitely worth visiting.

Got my first guitar at Sam Ash. Fender squire with a combo amp. Became my favorite store. Sad to see it close.

I’d say, the only thing that might save them is 1. Niche and 2. Community. We have a couple of guitar centers in town, but I go to the small one every week, because that’s where I take my daughter for lessons. They also supply (rent) the local schools with band equipment… and measure each kid for their instruments . They also host workshops. They do repairs. As far as sales, I’ve bought a pedal here and there. My thing is, I like weird unique gear and shops usually have pretty normal stuff.

I worked at Daddy’s Junky Music when I was in a touring band and we could move gear around between stores and try everything. Used to grab stuff and go nuts turning stuff up to 11 in the warehouse and learned so much about tone and feel and everything to do with good equipment.

Sam Ash has been the go to store for many legends. My mother would shop there so this hits me pretty hard. The inventory in store was sick. Every time I would go there I would buy something. But even modding my Ibanez the tech would tell me Steve Vai stories when he would drop off his tremolo bar stuck in his Floyd. The sales people in my teen years were like family in Carle Place. I spoke to young Sammy and David Ash about doing an e commerce campaign but we're not really buying into it while I was working at a NYC marketing agency. They knew what they had to do in 2016. It hurts because it could have been avoided.

Here in Canada, we've got one called Long and McQuade. Seems to be doing well-I'm sure their awesome rental program helps.

In Canada, I don't think we really have an all online store. The brick and mortar places do a pretty good job with their websites. Long and McQuade, and guitarworks here in Calgary are the big ones.

Alpha Music in Virginia Beach. I've been a customer there since before their expansion when they were located in Norfolk, VA. When I was 14 or 15, my friend and I would actually walk 3 miles there to check out all the gear. In the 90s, this was where I learned about not scooping mids, using less gain, and how to use overdrive pedals as a boost. It was a store for local musicians that was run and employed by local musicians. I once bought a guitar there, and ran into the sales guy I bought it from at the Aerosmith concert that week, and he gave me a green room pass to meet the band. You could always see any of the employees on any given weekend night playing out in their band. It's still like that today. It seems like the big box stores have shied away from that and hired "associates" instead.

My friends and I reminisce about those trips often. Great times, now, however, you can always take a road trip to different local hardcore clubs, etc... But from CT and now RI in the 80s we would go to Hyde in RI, Caruso and Ron's Guitars in S.E. CT, sometimes all in one day! Ron recently reopened and he remembers me as a kid saving all summer for a new gat... now we're both Porsche owners so we have a lot to chat about, lol. Then in the 90s in a touring hardcore band (and early Hatebreed) it was Precision Percussion in Manchester and Drum Center of Portsmouth ME (Still among the best) because I also played drums and if course all the Daddy's Junkies which I never liked because they were 90% junk at "near new" prices, everything was hacked, they wouldn't honor repairs when you got home and peaked at crap wiring since they wouldn't let you look even for cab speaker swaps depending on who was working, etc... AND they were driving under some local shops... Anywho... yeah, different world but it will be in 15 years also, the older you get you just accept constant change, you always have your impressionable years for memories.

Axe Palace! In Walpole, Massachusetts and Amsterdam, Netherlands. Great shop for high end guitars, basses and amps.

I go to that same store. I really like the leather chairs as well

I love going to local pawn shops because most of the ones around have a good selection of guitars at fair prices and they're selling some high end (I can't afford them but I can look at them) and mid level guitars not just $50 squires

We in the Caribbean here dont have the selection of stores like you do..yes a lil music store but with low end stuff e.g beginner.

I remember being 18 years old and finally saved enough money for my first decent guitar. This is in the mid 90s. My first guitar was a fender duo sonic. Which was kinda terrible. So I knew I needed to upgrade. I saved I think 600 hundred dollars. I end up buying a fender made in Japan jag stang. I had that guitar for almost 20 years. It was a first year production model. I bought it at the music store in stroudsburg. Which burned down a few years ago and the owner decided not to rebuild. I also bought my first amp there too . Peavey 65 watt bandit. For 165 bucks. Guitar center by me disappointing. Not only in what they have in the store but customer service is not great saying it nicely. So I discovered a music go round. Which actually has better selection and the people there are actually helpful. I can actually find unique items there I would never see at guitar center. I had to drive almost 2 hours away just to even see a 5150 amp. Music go round has them there consistently. I feel music go round has reasonable prices. As long as it isn’t getting shipped. Shipping prices for them are super high.

I used to work at Yanda's Music and Pro Audio based in Kearney Nebraska. They are small but cool. We would work a deal, buy used, ship same day before 4pm. While inwas there we started work with B.A.D. so i got to play some of those dope amps, Soldano, Friedman, Morgan etc. Also had PRS, EVH, and Mesa. We even had a local competitor who was decent and sold Marshall, Orange, and Peavey. -joel

If ever in michigan you need to check out Motor City Guitar in Waterford, MI. Been going there 30 years, owned by same guy and have all the good stuff. Beat any price and can just go in and play around with whatever you want.

I've been looking for another business to open and I'm really debating a Music Go Around. I think a lot of the issue is people buying used more than they are new

The sam ash in Cleveland is a store I've been in a few times and the guitar center there too. For drums specifically there's Stebal Drums in mentor I like going there to support the local business and the owner is helpful.

I live in a city of less than 60k people and we have three music stores blues angel, leitz, and guitar center. Not to mention numerous pawn shops. There are definitely places left

Just went to a sam ash store in Morse Rd, Columbus. A lot of great gear but not to busy. Still have a yellow EVH replica that I would love to have.

Very sad. I bought my first amp, a peavy combo, at Sam Ash in Queens many years ago. Have since moved to the St Louis area where the only options are the entry level GC, fancy stores by appointment only, and Killer Vintage which is pretty cool, but narrow in scope. Miss those days of discovery. Being able to experience something before buying it is ….well just a memory in itself.

80's and early 90's there were a ton of big awesome music stores. They are all gone, but it seems to be coming back. as there are a few stores around, just not like the old days where there was a mile long row of metal shredder guitars, Ibanez, Jackson. Charvel. Music Sound World, Roy & Candy's, Music City West. All gone for a while now.

As far as amps go etc... I don'r really care about in person because it's about sound and we even got good plugin emulations now that help decide with that investment but for someone starting out or still figuring out what they like though, having access to a wide range of instruments is a good thing. You can like the look of something all you want but when you get that baseball bat neck vs a thin one in your hands, you can tell right away where you feel like going.

Sam Ash was one of my favorite guitar shops to head to in NYC in the 80’s. It was great place to hang out in. It’s sad to see them having to close. I’m as much a part of the problem as anyone else because I do buy a lot of gear from Sweetwater; they’re a great retailer. However you don’t get the experience of spending a few hours trying out guitars and amps with Sweetwater.

It’s been happening in the UK since 2007. Mainly high street retailers. We’re lucky to Andertons as they have a huge guitar KZfaq channel and online store. So they’re probably going nowhere, but it is just the one store in the south of the country. We also have GAK and a few other large retailers. But street retail in general is doing worse and worse as the online markets grow.

I live so far back in the woods I never heard of Sam Ash until about 3or 4 yrs ago.

If you want to fine Hi end gear at guitar center. You have to go to a Guitar Center Platinum Store. Lucky there one close to where I live in Dallas TX. They carry Diezel Friedman, Soldano and very pricey guitars.

I went to the guitar center on Monroeville a few months ago, prices were sky high no deals at all, the used section was a straight rip off, used dinged up dirty gutars that were basically almost the proce of a new one, for instance they had a jackson dk2xr that was pretty heavily beat up, its a 450$ guitar they wanted 379$ dollars, a total and complete joke, just no reason to go at all anymore, guitar center used was a gold mine back in the day now it's a complete scam

I'll share a story with you guys. I remember being 12 or 13 and I really wanted a B.C. Rich bronze series Warlock so I saved my money up and my dad drove me down to our guitar center and I remember my dad playing a few of them to see which of them was the least crappy of the bunch and that's how I bought my first guitar.

Gonna miss sam ash. They were the first place I ever got to see an Ibanez Universe in the flesh, as well as a Rudolph Schenker Gibson V. I actually bought my first Epi V from there back when Epis were around 500 bucks for a good one, so 2013-14ish. In 2016 I managed to find a epi v that was white and came stock with a mirror pickguard...super rare af, made in Korea. It's somewhere out there! I sold it to get a ESP Gus G star, in 2019 which I still have and will never let go of. Another rare find!

Sam ash in New York was the best My dad knew Mr Sam ash in the 1950s

I only buy guitars at local shops. If I can’t play it first I don’t buy. Amps and pedals more like 75% local, 25% online.

I live in Hollywood California, I shop at Guitar Center here, the Sam Ash that’s closing is on the same block, I guess the music district on Sunset strip. Guitar Center seems to be rebranding and looks to be going strong, they sell a lot of high end stuff in what they call the vintage room…

love your stuff bro, your an aweome dude! and you can rip it up on guitar !!

There are a couple of new guitars shops. Drones Sounds died out because the owner just age out. Collar City Guitar is one of the newer store. Love Of Fuzz is a guitar pedal and amplifier fixing stove in Troy NY USA. Maybe we could be seeing more of fixing amplifier and other guitars related items.

I believe there is a market for brick and mortar music stores doing consignment and used gear sales.

all but 3 of my guitars I got from Sam Ash in Margate, FL.

Going to Sam Ash to try out gear and then going home and ordering it from somewhere else a little cheaper is why they are closing. Brick and mortar stores are expensive to keep running.

In San Diego, MOZE GUITARS has been my go to since 1982

10+ years ago the guitar store was the only place you could go to discover new gear and "research" your potential purchase. You could test the gear and see what you liked. Now, it's much easier to do research online, with guys like you basically doing the research on the customers behalf. That makes people feel comfortable buying gear without personally testing it. Personally I think it's an improvement, because I much prefer an in-depth review I can watch at home, vs. some stoned sales clerk at the store trying to convince me to buy a Line 6 combo amp, because they pay the best commission :)

Damn, SamAsh is my favorite store for music. Used to use them all the time for my clarinet and bass clarinet stuff, and continued later when I started metal. I don't know if this is the case of all Sam Ash stores, but my local one, every department's sales people actually knew what they were talking about.

Funny timing because the new CEO of GC announced they are shifting to focus on mid-higher markets and moving away from entry level focus. So could be a good shift by what you're describing as missing in these stores

There is a sam ash in king of prussia that is the closest to me. I love this place. Was just there the other day to see what they had. This was the first big music store I had seen. We now have a guitar center in Lancaster Pa, but sam ash was better. Thankfully too, we have tone taylors in Lititz, pa and a really good one in Red lion pa. We do have a decent mom and pop shop inventory here.

I now feel as though we order/buy a guitar to try it & return it if we don't like it. At this point bed mattresses should be ordered online. It sucks reading a spec sheet on a guitar instead of going into a store & playing multiple guitars before buy one.

There will always be guitar/music stores. Sam Ash doesn't keep up modern advertising trends so they chose to fall behind more so than GC. New musicians also go to stores to try out gear and 9 times out of 10 will buy there over ordering online. But inflationary prices are also sending a lot more people to the used market.