Axe Music in Calgary to close

[CharlieWorton]

This is somewhat old news, but it doesn't appear to have been mentioned elsewhere on the forum, so I thought I'd drop it here. Axe Music, headquartered in Edmonton, is closing its Calgary branch May 31, 2018. They cite difficult economic conditions and the health of a key member of the Calgary management team. Store here:

https://globalnews.ca/news/3681159/...close-amid-tough-economic-climate-in-calgary/

It should be noted that both the Edmonton store, and their direct marketing division, will remain open.

Times in Alberta have been difficult since the collapse of oil prices in 2014. Edmonton has been largely shielded from the economic storm due to the presence of large economic sectors that are not influenced by economic conditions. The Provincial Government is centered here. The entire administration of Alberta Health Care is located here. The Western Canadian Military Command is located here. And, of course, the refineries are located here. The refineries are not negatively impacted by a drop in oil prices; from their point of view, it's a good thing since their key raw material has dropped in price. When gasoline is cheaper, people drive more; so for them, business is great.

Calgary has none of these safeguards; and it has been brutal there. When oil drops from $105 to $25 - as it did - a lot of lights go out. And although oil has since risen to about $65, that doesn't turn the lights back on. Calgary is still on the ropes.

Axe has acted very wisely in offering their products through a direct marketing effort, both on their website and through their partnership with Amazon. My personal feeling is that web driven direct marketing is the future of retail; it's cheaper than a brick and mortar store, and it offers a national audience. So I do expect Axe music to flourish. But it's always sad to see a recognized name disappear from a local retail scene.

>Charlie

 

[SeaGtGruff]

Yes, it is sad. Online ads, Soundcloud recordings, and YouTube videos cannot provide the same experience as walking into a brick-and-mortar store and discovering first-hand how a keyboard looks and feels and plays and sounds.

 

[Biggles]

I am lucky, within a 1/2 hour drive I have 10 musical instrument stores, up that to a 1 hour drive and I can add way more than another 10.

Luckily they offer price match against online purchases.

Its sad when stores close and not good for the High Street, we have suffered very badly here in the UK with many town centers have a lot if boarded up shops.

 

[CharlieWorton]

Michael, you are exactly correct. Perhaps you can purchase a television or a dishwasher from specs, but something like a musical instrument - well, it has to be hands on. Box stores like Best Buy have complained that buyers come into the store, play with the equipment, and then go home and order online. Interestingly, Best Buy has faced this issue exactly the same way that Axe music has; by opening an online store.

I have speculated that perhaps the best way to approach the issue - at least, for a large company with financial means - would be to have one very large warehouse in each major metropolitan center. The primary function of the warehouse would be to handle direct sales for the geographic area. But attached to each warehouse would be a product display area, with prices clearly displayed and a call button that would summon sales help. Having just one display area in the city would cut costs in many ways; you don't duplicate staff, you save on land and building maintenance, and you get a less expensive store by operating out of a warehouse area. A display area would allow people that wanted to touch, feel, and play with a product to do so; and having it physically attached to a large warehouse that carried stock for an entire metropolitan area, would help ensure that people who wished to purchase something would actually be able to do so. The primary aim of this model is to cut merchandising costs by eliminating redundancy, while still providing the opportunity for people to touch and feel the product.

Actually, as I think about it, what I've described is basically the Ikea model. The only difference is that Ikea is primarily a retail store which does a bit of direct sales - they will deliver your packages for a fee - whereas what I'm proposing would be a direct sales store that does a bit of retail. However, the reduction in merchandising costs through the elimination of redundancy principle is the same.

Biggles, I envy you. The Canadian Province I live in, Alberta, is more than 3 times the size of Britain and has a population of just 4.1 million. Britain has more than 16 times as many people. And when you take 16 times as many people and pack them into one third the space... well, a lot of things happen. One of them, apparently, is more music stores. You're fortunate. And possibly a touch cramped - at least by Alberta standards.

Take care all - Charlie

 

[Biggles]

Yes Charlie I know and love Canada.

My mother was born in Saskatchewan hence to me Canada is my second home despite only being their once. Mind you that once was to BC and Alberta (Jasper to Calgary with a detour up to Drumheller and back to Calgary).

Stunning scenary and fantastic people, even though it was way back in 2004 when we were there I still have the images I took as my desktop slideshow, favourites images being of Mt Robson and Peyto Lake.

I still have distant relatives in Calgary and Edmonton as well as a couple of other areas.

Cramped it can be over here, took me 3/4 hour to travel 2.5 miles the other day at rush hour and I live in a small City.

We are in Manchester on Saturday and I plan to visit Dawsons and PMT to check over what kit they have in.

 

[SeaGtGruff]

The store where I bought my first Yamaha (Portman's Music) isn't huge, but it's part of a small "chain" with stores in three or four cities around Georgia. Now that I'm back in South Carolina, it's about a 30 to 40 minute drive to that store, which isn't so bad if I want to make a day trip out of it-- go to a movie, visit the big book store I used to shop at all the time, etc. But they don't have a "proper" web site that lists their inventory or lets you place orders, and I can't help feeling that improving their web site in that fashion would help them compete better with online stores. I bought my last two Yamahas online-- not counting the older used model that I bought, although I saw it listed on Craigslist so I bought it online as well after a fashion. In both cases I would have preferred to buy from my local Portman's to help support them, but it's a pain not to be able to pull up their store on the web and browse their stock. And the last few times I did drive over to browse the store in person, they didn't have what I was looking for-- although it was still nice to be able to see and feel the keyboards and synths that they did have in stock.

 

[Becky]

We are in Manchester on Saturday and I plan to visit Dawsons and PMT to check over what kit they have in.

Dawsons is great! Have you been to Forsyths too? I love that shop, haven't been there for a while though.

 

[Biggles]

Becky.

Dawsons is pretty good they have a great range of equipment, I actually bought my Gibson Les Paul guitar from them.

Forsyths are also good but I have not bought from them, I did check out some of the Gordon Smith guitars (Brit made custom guitar manufacturers who also make Auden acoustics) but ended up buying the Les Paul from Dawsons. Forsyths were going through a store refit when I was there last so I will call in and see what it is like now.

For keyboards A ans C Hamilton in Preston are by far the best in the NW and for guitars Reidys in Blackburn blow all others (even Dawsons) out of the water for kit and service. Whilst they do have some keys they are primarily guitars.