Try in local store but buy online, do you usually do that?

Jo3x

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My wife sometimes does this kind of thing when she wants to shop dress. I never do that as I always feel kind of guilty about that. That's not fair to local store.

Today I went to a local store. They have a Kamaka pineapple that I couldn't help to try. I was sure I wouldn't buy it because some online dealers have higher reputation in my mind. I ended up buying a set of Martin fluorocarbon strings which I don't actually need to clear out that guilty feelings.

So, do you usually do this sort of thing?
 
Lately I've found that the stores I frequent have cut down their product choices so I end up ordering online, which just happened to me today when i went the hardware store to buy a drawer guide roller. If an item is expensive enough, I'll buy online to save the high California/Los Angeles tax. No guilt at all in either case.


8 tenor cutaway ukes, 3 acoustic bass ukes, 8 solid body bass ukes, 7 mini electric bass guitars

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There's a massive lack of shops around where I live now, so I don't get the chance to do that kind of thing, but I did use to ask if my local bike shop would match prices, which he often did to get the sale. Regarding musical instruments, there is one shop about 3 miles away that sells very expensive guitars, so all my purchases have had to have been online.
 
Never done that, and never would. Unconscionable!
 
Absolutely not! I'm fortunate to still have two music shops in the town where I work, and I'd like at least one of them to stay in business! A couple of times they've got us out of a hole when we needed something urgently (yes even an electro-acoustic ukulele when one of ours was trodden on) for a gig the next day.
 
We have two music stores in the Toronto area that carry a decent selection of higher end ukes, if they carried what I wanted I would buy from them but they don't. I have bought all my other musicial equipment from them, amps, cables, microphones, music stand etc. The only reason I buy online is if it is not available locally.

Get to know the people in the local stores and they will go out of there way to help you. There still is something to be said for dealing face to face and that person going above and beyond to help you
 
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My wife sometimes does this kind of thing when she wants to shop dress. I never do that as I always feel kind of guilty about that. That's not fair to local store.

Today I went to a local store. They have a Kamaka pineapple that I couldn't help to try. I was sure I wouldn't buy it because some online dealers have higher reputation in my mind. I ended up buying a set of Martin fluorocarbon strings which I don't actually need to clear out that guilty feelings.

So, do you usually do this sort of thing?

I tend to buy a lot of stuff on-line in preference to visiting and then buying in store. The idea of trying on in-store with the objective of buying on-line is, to my way of thinking, a form of theft as you have used the shop keepers stock, time and premises with no intent of recompense to him/her for that. Of course these things or decisions are not simply black and white but I generally try to be fair to both myself and the shopkeeper - some shopkeepers don’t act fairly to their customers but that’s a different discussion. Browsing in shops is different (from the above) in that if I do see something that I later decide to buy then it could be fairly bought from anyone offering both a good price and service - in such a case there was no intent to freeload and in exchange for my browsing the the shop has had ‘first chance’ to sell me something. Similarly in store price checking can be fair though there is a good counter argument concerning the unhealthy dominance of some on-line retailers.

As for taxes I very strongly feel that it is important for everyone to pay what is due. A large on-line retailer operating here in the U.K. doesn’t pay appropriate corporate taxes and I would shut them tomorrow for that action - which I class as tax evasion. As individuals a little tax avoidance here and there is normal but at the end of the day we all want to live in civilised societies and so it’s wrong not to contribute properly to their upkeep, and doubly wrong if you’re comparatively well off ‘cause (compared to those struggling along) it’s relatively pain free. Possibly strange comments from someone who’s typically right of centre in their political beliefs.
 
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No, I don't do that, for reasons already stated. Plus (putting all conscience-related things aside!) I am such a bad player that I don't want anyone to hear me. :)
 
We have two music stores in the Toronto area that carry a decent selection of higher end ukes, if they carried what I wanted I would buy from them but they don't. I have bought all my other musicial equipment from them, amps, cables, microphones, music stand etc. The only reason I buy online is if it is not available locally.

Get to know the people in the local stores and they will go out of there way to help you. There still is something to be said for dealing face to face and that person going above and beyond to help you


I second this
I just wish we ( Canadian ) have the luxury of buying quality uke at local shop!
For us, it is not even an option!
 
For what it's worth, with the exception of the S1 bought here on UU, all the ukuleles I've kept were auditioned and bought at "local" stores. (Some "local" stores thousands of miles away.) All of the ukuleles bought online ended up re-homed.
 
I do this on occasion. If I try something local I'll tell them first I'm shopping for the best deal and ask them if they'll price match. If yes I proceed. If not I don't.
 
I would never do that, and that applies to anything. Now, when you say "local store," if you mean something like Walmart, that's different. I'd never waste the time of a small local store examining ukuleles and then buy it cheaper online. If they take the time to deal with me and answer my questions, I'd be willing to pay a bit more and buy from them. I wouldn't ask a small, privately-owned store to match online prices because that would eat into their profit. They charge more because they have to.

Being realistic, I doubt there is a music store within an hour's drive that would have a ukulele I would want to buy, so online is always my first and last choice. If I lived in Hawaii, I'm sure I'd be buying a lot more in person. : )
 
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Being realistic, I doubt there is a music store within an hour's drive that would have a ukulele I would want to buy, so online is always my first and last choice. If I lived in Hawaii, I'm sure I'd be buying a lot more in person. : )
I don't think Jerry and I are alone, there just aren't any music stores close to me that has a selection of ukuleles. But even if there were, I probably wouldn't go there unless I had a specific ukulele in mind. When I was looking for one I called around to a couple of music stores to see if they had the one that I wanted before I went, and none of them had it. I'm just not a shopper. But taking it a bit farther, I know that people go into stores and play every ukulele on the wall, then leave with no intention of buying one. They just go there to dink around. Isn't that just as bad as playing them and then buying it on line? I have three ukuleles and I'm not looking for another so I don't see any reason to go into stores looking at ukuleles and playing them when I know I'm not going to buy one. I just don't go "shopping" much in general. I think that I'm an odd duck in that way, but I've never been one to go out looking for something to buy.
 
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I support my local music shop and will and do pay higher prices there than I could get online. Music shops are definitely one of those "don't know what you've got until it's gone" things. My favourite online shops are all bricks and mortar places as well and they can't price match places like Amazon given overheads and paying their staff enough to actually live. If you like having them, support them!

That being said, there was a music shop near my work that I never bought anything in because the staff were clueless and dismissive. I went in there with some questions about one of their mandolins I was thinking of buying and they just started Googling the questions. I had to tell them I knew how to use Google, I was hoping for their expert or at least informed opinion. They just shrugged. Another time one of them spent 5 minutes (until I left) telling me you can just retune the g to a and vice versa on a uke to make it left handed. When I pointed out that would mean a tuning of GECA rather than GCEA he said "yeah, so?" They never got my money, they unsurprisingly went under a few years ago.
 
If I know I’m buying somewhere else, I won’t test a Uke at someone’s shop. (Except maybe GC)

If I see something at a local shop and give it a whirl, I’ll ask the price and buy it or not.

But if we don’t make a deal, I don’t think it means I can’t look for one somewhere else.
 
Our local music store has been very supportive of our Ukulele Group. We meet at the store every Sat morning. They provide a store employee to lead the group. I try to buy as much as I can from them. I have reached a point in my ukulele journey where the ukuleles I want are beyond what they carry in stock. They will special order them, and I have ordered a few things through them. I would never try one of their ukuleles and then order online. It wouldn’t seem fair. Besides they give the uke club members a 15% discount and that and no shipping charge generally beats any savings for buying online.
 
We have two music stores in the Toronto area that carry a decent selection of higher end ukes, if they carried what I wanted I would buy from them but they don't. I have bought all my other musicial equipment from them, amps, cables, microphones, music stand etc. The only reason I buy online is if it is not available locally.

Get to know the people in the local stores and they will go out of there way to help you. There still is something to be said for dealing face to face and that person going above and beyond to help you

My experience in Perth Australia pretty much mirrors what Dave said above. I try to support local stores because I want to see them stay in business. There used to be 800 music stores in Australia (note: for a population of only 25 million). Now there are less then 200.
 
...I was thinking of buying and they just started Googling the questions. I had to tell them I knew how to use Google, I was hoping for their expert or at least informed opinion. They just shrugged. Another time one of them spent 5 minutes (until I left) telling me you can just retune the g to a and vice versa on a uke to make it left handed. When I pointed out that would mean a tuning of GECA rather than GCEA he said "yeah, so?" They never got my money, they unsurprisingly went under a few years ago.

Lots of stores hire people but give them no training at all. Sometimes, the training would take longer than the clerks keep working there - fast turn-over.
 
I think that a real quality, luthier built, instrument will sound different from one to the next. Every example may sound wonderful but there will be differences, sometimes subtle. Trying out one and buying online will yield very different results.

It could be that mas produced instruments are another ball of wax. As always, objects in mirror are closer than they appear.
 
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