Still kind of amazes me.. Ukes MIA

etudes

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Portland has become a music town over the last few decades in almost every way imaginable. Still surprises me the Ukes that are MIA in the music stores: Pono, Koaloha, Kanilea, Ko'olau, Blackbird, Kamaka, Collings, Martin, etc. (Someone tell me if I'm missing a store somewhere). Not to say that Kala, Cordoba, Oscar Schmidt, etc. aren't great instruments but these other flagship lines are hardly represented. Is this true in your cities?
 
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Yep, only see entry level Lanikai, Córdoba, or Kala around here as well. And not even the mid level or better Kala ukes.
 
Yep, only see entry level Lanikai, Córdoba, or Kala around here as well. And not even the mid level or better Kala ukes.

Pretty much the same here. Nice selection of entry level, a few mid-range but not much at all over a $400 price point. I have ordered a more expensive ukulele once from my local music store but it would be nice to see, feel and play them before you buy. I guess they stock what sells. They can't afford a $1500 instrument hanging around for months on end.
 
We are a college town. The home of Iowa State University, with thirty thousand students. We have one music store in town, and the last time that I was in there, they had one soprano Amahi and one concert Amahi ukulele. During Christmas they will bring it case of dolphins and a case of Watermans to sell as novelties, and the staff know little or nothing about them. The last time I went there to look for some strings, they were out. The next time I went there to look for strings, they were still out. A couple of years ago they were pushing Fender ukuleles and pushing them as cute little Fender guitars. One time I went in there to see what they had while my wife was shopping next door, and they had two Kalas, and a Lanikai. I stay away from the place just because is is frustrating and depressing to go in there. Of course, they will order you anything that you want but you pay retail for it and they sure aren't going to set it up or anything like that. If you ask them about that, they will tell you that they sell quality instruments that are ready to play out of the box.
 
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I guess I'm fortunate to have a Ukulele specialty shop nearby. They carry everything from Waterman to Pono, Kala Elite, Ohana, Emerald Bay, Nalu, and some used customs, along with guitars and violins. They recently moved and their new store has more instruction rooms and a lot fewer Ukes on display though. The old store had ~120 ukes on display now they have only about 50-60. Their pricing is close to Mim's.
 
If you're talking Portland Oregon, yes the selection is sad. Makes one want to open a mid - high quality uke shop in town. It bet it would flourish.
 
Portland has become a music town over the last few decades in almost every way imaginable. Still surprises me the Ukes that are MIA in the music stores: Pono, Koaloha, Kanilea, Ko'olau, Blackbird, Kamaka, Collings, Martin, etc. (Someone tell me if I'm missing something). Not to say that Kala, Cordoba, Oscar Schmidt, etc. aren't great instruments but these other flagship lines are hardly represented. Is this true in your cities?

Which Portland? And what kind of music stores? If you're talking Oregon, what about places like Artichoke Music? I haven't been in a few years but both Portland and Seattle have a handful of small, independent music stores that were, at least a few years back, pretty uke-friendly. But if you're talking chain stores a la Guitar Center, then yeah, I'll bet the selection is pretty bland.

I'm lucky to live five minutes from McCabe's in Santa Monica, which meets all of my uke needs and most times has a selection that goes across the price spectrum. Sometimes stock runs low, though, and it appears as if there are few choices - but come back another day and there will be more. From the conversations I've had with the buyer, there are a lot of variables that can make things a bit unpredictable.
 
Which Portland? And what kind of music stores? If you're talking Oregon, what about places like Artichoke Music? I haven't been in a few years but both Portland and Seattle have a handful of small, independent music stores that were, at least a few years back, pretty uke-friendly. But if you're talking chain stores a la Guitar Center, then yeah, I'll bet the selection is pretty bland.

I'm lucky to live five minutes from McCabe's in Santa Monica, which meets all of my uke needs and most times has a selection that goes across the price spectrum. Sometimes stock runs low, though, and it appears as if there are few choices - but come back another day and there will be more. From the conversations I've had with the buyer, there are a lot of variables that can make things a bit unpredictable.

Portland Oregon.. Artichoke usually has a few interesting Ukes in the vintage case. Most recently a used Mya Moe resonator which was cool alongside vintage violins and a 20's Martin soprano. The new ones seem to top out at $250. Granted I don't visit that often. Still love Artichoke and they have a sweet little live music theatre. I'm envious you have McCabe's in your neighborhood.
 
We are a college town. The home of Iowa State University, with thirty thousand students. We have one music store in town, and the last time that I was in there, they had one soprano Amahi and one concert Amahi ukulele. During Christmas they will bring it case of dolphins and a case of Watermans to sell as novelties, and the staff know little or nothing about them. The last time I went there to look for some strings, they were out. The next time I went there to look for strings, they were still out. A couple of years ago they were pushing Fender ukuleles and pushing them as cute little Fender guitars. One time I went in there to see what they had while my wife was shopping next door, and they had two Kalas, and a Lanikai. I stay away from the place just because is is frustrating and depressing to go in there. Of course, they will order you anything that you want but you pay retail for it and they sure aren't going to set it up or anything like that. If you ask them about that, they will tell you that they sell quality instruments that are ready to play out of the box.

Sounds familiar! Some stores stock wonderful guitars up to stratosphere in price while the Ukes in comparison don't get the respect.
 
I don't think this is surprising at all. In their recent Blue Collar Millionare episode, Kaniela stated that they make a 45% profit on their Islander Ukuleles (I don't see any at $50, but whatever). Islander can't be the only company taking in that profit margin on imported ukuleles.

What this tells me is that it is more profitable for music stores to sell and stock entry level Chinese imports with plenty of room for profit, versus high level instruments with much lower percentage of profit. Although the actual dollar amount per sale might be higher with a high quality instrument--you won't sell as many of them.

Furthermore, some vendors likely require a specific quota of sales if you want to carry their brand. This is likely a realistic number for Kala, Lanikai, and similar models--but the required order might require too many units for a dealer to carry.

That's why the realm of quality web-based stores for high level ukuleles is the solution. The demand is high enough that those stores can be supported. But similar stores in every town wouldn't support the market.

And as for strings, I'm pretty pleased with Strings By Mail.
 
I don't think this is surprising at all. In their recent Blue Collar Millionare episode, Kaniela stated that they make a 45% profit on their Islander Ukuleles (I don't see any at $50, but whatever). Islander can't be the only company taking in that profit margin on imported ukuleles.

What this tells me is that it is more profitable for music stores to sell and stock entry level Chinese imports with plenty of room for profit, versus high level instruments with much lower percentage of profit. Although the actual dollar amount per sale might be higher with a high quality instrument--you won't sell as many of them.

Furthermore, some vendors likely require a specific quota of sales if you want to carry their brand. This is likely a realistic number for Kala, Lanikai, and similar models--but the required order might require too many units for a dealer to carry.

That's why the realm of quality web-based stores for high level ukuleles is the solution. The demand is high enough that those stores can be supported. But similar stores in every town wouldn't support the market.

And as for strings, I'm pretty pleased with Strings By Mail.

Interesting insight and I wouldn't argue your conclusions, but the Portland metro area is approaching 2.5 million population. I think something's gonna give here. It will be interesting to see what happens. Cheers
 
Living in Los Angeles is an entire different story. As janeray1940 says, McCabe's is one of the best in the local area, there's also Boulevard Music not far from there. Downtown in Little Tokyo is U-Space that has a great selection, and as chain stores go, Sam Ash in Hollywood has improved their selection in the last year. Scattered in between are a few small shops with a limited selection, then there's Island Bazaar in Huntington Beach outside of LA that could be the best supplied store in Southern California.
 
In Columbus the selection is fairly meh. But I have had good fortune buying online. I do think trying ukes out in person is nice to get a feel of sizes, but it isn't going to tell you what hours of playing time and string changes will. I can travel a few hours to get to Elderly in Michigan, but I think if I did that, I would be likely to buy something, anything, in order to feel like the trip was worth it.
 
Doesnt suprise me at all. People arent willing to spend on a uke generally, as they would on a guitar. It's still "just a fun little instrument".
 
I don't think this is surprising at all. In their recent Blue Collar Millionare episode, Kaniela stated that they make a 45% profit on their Islander Ukuleles (I don't see any at $50, but whatever). Islander can't be the only company taking in that profit margin on imported ukuleles.

What this tells me is that it is more profitable for music stores to sell and stock entry level Chinese imports with plenty of room for profit, versus high level instruments with much lower percentage of profit. Although the actual dollar amount per sale might be higher with a high quality instrument--you won't sell as many of them.

Furthermore, some vendors likely require a specific quota of sales if you want to carry their brand. This is likely a realistic number for Kala, Lanikai, and similar models--but the required order might require too many units for a dealer to carry.

That's why the realm of quality web-based stores for high level ukuleles is the solution. The demand is high enough that those stores can be supported. But similar stores in every town wouldn't support the market.

And as for strings, I'm pretty pleased with Strings By Mail.

I think that you make some good points, and let's face it, maybe ukuleles are not popular enough in a lot of places to make them profitable enough for music stores to stock. I mean, stores stock what they can sell. Supply is usually based on demand. And then the local store has to compete with the on line stores at the same time. But maybe we as consumers are a bit at fault with our buying habits. I think there are a lot of ukulele players, and guitar players as well, who like to go into a music store and try out everything hanging on the wall just to see what they sound like. Don't we always tell beginners to do just that? But then we go home and buy what we want on line from HMS or Mimm, or some other on line store that we all love and adore here on UU. Kudos to those who buy local, but what percentage of people buy anything local anymore?
 
Interesting insight and I wouldn't argue your conclusions, but the Portland metro area is approaching 2.5 million population. I think something's gonna give here. It will be interesting to see what happens. Cheers

I'm not sure a population base of 2.5 million is enough to warrant the stocking of $500 and up ukuleles. Even at the current level of this instrument, how many people out of every 1000 play ukulele: and how many of those would consider a $500 or more instrument?

Remember, this is UU. We're the geeks of the ukulele world and our interests and purchase habits do not reflect the majority of ukulele players. Think of all the players you know that aren't on UU and are quite happy with their $150 Kala, Lanikai, or even (gasp) Mahalo?
 
In the OKC area OKC Music and sound is the ukulele Mecca. You find there a great selection of entry to mid-level ukes, but also they almost always have some Collings and Kanileas. After then you have a decent entry-mid selection at Horn Trader. Norman Music has a small but solid lineup of entry-mid.
 
I'm not sure a population base of 2.5 million is enough to warrant the stocking of $500 and up ukuleles. Even at the current level of this instrument, how many people out of every 1000 play ukulele: and how many of those would consider a $500 or more instrument?

Beyond that, consider people who are just as happy to buy online, or who have a long-distance relationship with a luthier/builder.

As much as we, here, love them, the ukulele will probably always be a niche instrument.

In the OKC area OKC Music and sound is the ukulele Mecca. You find there a great selection of entry to mid-level ukes, but also they almost always have some Collings and Kanileas. After then you have a decent entry-mid selection at Horn Trader. Norman Music has a small but solid lineup of entry-mid.

I got my Gretsch soprano at Gilliam Music in Norman last year. I was surprised at their uke selection. They had at least one example of every Gretsch uke currently in production including the reso, banjolele and long neck soprano.

They also had some Fenders, Kalas, Lunas and Mahalos.
 
I am near Parkersburg, WV. We have a nice music store in town that had a Martin tenor available over the holidays. But, most of their stock is Lanakai etc.

Across the river in Marietta, Ohio there is now a ukulele club at a local church. They use Luna in the school system and many have Luna ukes at the uke Meetup.

Most of us with other types bought them online. (My Luna was purchased online at HMS and was a dandy starter uke.)
 
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