rip, daddy's junky music

[pinkjimiphoton]

and guitar center, the walmart of the music store, has killed again with inferior service, crappy selection, overhyped garbage and pushy sales staff hawking the latest junk from the industry.

no more getting good deals on used gear, no more trading, this sucks heinously.

screw gc....shop at your local mom and pop stores, peeps, where ya get things you'll never ever see at gc...

 

what a shame...39 years gone...poof.

[Werewolf by Night]

MUCH agreed.

 

It was sad that Manny's in NYC went under a while back for like reasons, as well...

 

I've got to win a big sweepstakes/lottery so that I can much better help support a couple of my favorite private brick-&-mortar Mom-'n'-Pop shops!

 

Very often you get what you pay for and more in such places by receiving superior support and service long after the sale in exchange for prices that are only marginally higher than their McCompetitors.

[Dr. Ellwood]

Trial lawyers rule the day:

 

The poor economy played a major factor, but the tipping point may have actually happened three years ago, Bramante said.

 

In 2008, two former employees sued Daddys Junky Music, claiming the companys compensation package for managers didnt meet the standards outlined in Massachusetts law, Bramante said.

 

We thought there was nothing to this, that it was really a semantics issue on what the definition of a manager was, he said. You could argue it both ways. But we couldnt afford to find out if we were right or if we were wrong.

 

RadioShack lost or settled a similar case in Massachusetts several years prior, Bramante said, and he didnt want to risk suffering the same fate. The resulting damage payments if Daddys Junky Music lost the case would have basically killed the company, Bramante said.

 

So..what does this have to do with GC?

[pinkjimiphoton]

it has to do with gc in that it was gc that slowly killed off damn near every smaller music store in connecticut. they killed my local daddy's about 6 years ago.

fred can't SAY that...gc and it's slick lawyers would sue the life out of him.

gc is the walmart of the music world. forget cool obscure shit, neat affordable vinatage gear...

daddys:

"you want distortion? if you look on our website, there's about 10,000 different distortion pedals to choose from, and we'll ship them to your local store to try out, free..."

gc:

"you want distortion? boss, or ocd?"

 

no thanks.

 

i only buy stuff at gc if i absolutely have to. i could give a sh*t about the place, really...always got better deals at djm than gc, always could find affordable gear in huge variety...at gc, it's whatever they're told to push.

 

no thanks. no love for gc at all. the only person i ever saw get treated right at gc is a friend who's a multi millionaire. of course, if you're willing to blow 40 g on a "lenny" strat, i guess you DESERVE to have a 5g "gilmour" strat thrown in.

 

djm treated pretty much everybody the same. gc only treats folks that way if they have a lot of cake. no thanks.

[Dannyalcatraz]

So..what does this have to do with GC?

It's indirect.

 

Any major chain- Amazon, GC, WalKart- will drive down prices by virtue of being able to buy in bulk, cross-subsidize and other (perfectly legitimate...within certain boundaries) business practices.

 

In addition, as those chains throw their weight around, customers get used to 1) comparison shopping on price alone and 2) looking at only those options the big chains offer (which may be broad or very, very narrow indeed).

 

Together, this erodes the profit margins of smaller stores, leaving them less able to defend against expensive lawsuits or any other form of business setback.

[pinkjimiphoton]

what danny said, and more.

 

gc is not a place i would ever choose...always got better deals elsewhere, other than a couple instances.

 

i LIKED being able to find cool, obscure vintage stuff that gc would never even look at, unlike daddys.

 

i mean...try and sell gc a kappa continental sometime.

[Dannyalcatraz]

GC's quality of used gear varies greatly from place to place.

 

I'm a big fan of the guitars made by (Chicago area) luthier Jon Kammerer- I own 5- but it's not like he's high-profile. I went into the GC closest to me (Dallas/Ft. Worth Metroplex) one day and saw one hanging on their used guitar wall. The price was what I'd expect to pay for a used guitar of that quality.

 

And every employee in the place talked about how they were in a race to save up the $$$ to buy it. They knew it for what it was.

 

I've also gone in there and seen boutique pedals & amps in their used gear section.

 

They're not as broadly or deeply stocked as some of the boutiques or Mom & Pop stores around here, but they're always worth a look.

 

And having complemented THAT location, let me also say that no other GC location around that I know of is even comparable.

[Winston Psmith]

I do find really stupid low prices on used gear at the nearest GC - it doesn't make me like the place any better, but it's one reason I still spend money there.

[pinkjimiphoton]

here, they don't do boutique...to them it's "home made" and judged accordingly.

 

guess i gotta stick to craig's and evilbay now.

[Billster]

Yeah, that's a sad story. I think Bramante might have wanted to sell the company, but couldn't find a buyer and just shuttered while he was still ahead.

[pinkjimiphoton]

business started falling off for them about the time gc showed up here. i think the big diff was some people only want new stuff, and some of us don't care where she's been as long as she screams and moans when we caress her right...

 

old stuff sometimes has a surprising amount of mojo peeps don't even know about. ya find the grooviest things out there sometimes.

[Scott Fraser]

old stuff sometimes has a surprising amount of mojo peeps don't even know about. ya find the grooviest things out there sometimes.

 

Craigslist is definitely your friend.

[JPATGC]

Hi all, I am a 15 year veteran of GC and a New Englander. The music business is small in comparison to others. Although there is competition we all share one thing, the love of music. I know several people who worked at Daddys and have been in almost all of the Daddys stores at one point or another.Obviously there are people who have bad experiences in our stores and choose not shop with us. I too have retailers who I refuse to shop at due to the poor service I was given. With our open ears program we have the best customer service department in the industry. If you ever incur an issue at a GC that cannot be fixed at the store level, feel free to click the customer service link on the GC site. They are all taken seriously. My biggest personal concern is for the unemployed Daddys salespeople. The last thing the music industry needs are more unemployed musicians! The store managers in our New England stores are anxious to interview these Daddys employees. If you are one, or know one, please do not hesitate to talk to your local GC store manager. We will do everything we can to bring you on board and help you continue your career in the music industry. We need good people, and Daddys had several.

[webe123]

First of all ...people need to be careful when they start to lump ALL of the mom and pop stores together!

 

Case in point.....in the 1980's, a small mom and pop was in the town where I lived. He had all the latest and greatest, but the owner was a TOTAL PRICK to deal with and there were no other stores that carried what he did and this was way before the internet ever came into being.

 

So, you either had to deal with that store or go to a town 80 miles away. Not a very good choice.

 

Finally, some of the employees of this guy opened a music store of their own. I started going there instead. Even though they did not have a lot starting out, dealing with them was far better than dealing with that prick of an owner...who sometimes stopped deals from happening when they had struck a deal with a customer and he decided it was not worth it.

 

It made for a LOT of people in that town not going in there anymore. Finally, the old prick owner sold the store to a former employee and they opened up in a new location....today that guy sells old furniture and has gotten completly out of the music business.

 

Both stores now are doing OK, but the older store that the employee took over from the owner is only a shell of it's former self. It does not carry half the name brands it did way back when. And the newer store that broke away from the original owner, is now doing great! Why? Because the guys at that store are mostly musicians and not pricks!

 

So please, STOP acting like ALL mom and pops are the same! They are simply not! Some are fantastic, like that store that opened with the former employees, but that owner was, is and always will be a prick.

 

Having a great mom and pop store near you can be heartbreaking when it closes, but some mom and pop stores deserve to go out of business by the way they treat their customers. GC can be bad, but so can some mom and pop stores! It all depends on where you live.

 

 

[Gabriel E.]

Wow! I always saw Daddy's ads in various publications but never lived near one. I worked in Milford Ct. recently and discovered that there was a Daddy's just up the street in Orange. I went after work one day and was pretty impressed by their selection and planned to go back next time I had some money. That was about two months ago.

 

Oh well. . .

[Werewolf by Night]

First of all ...people need to be careful when they start to lump ALL of the mom and pop stores together!

 

Very true; I've had plenty of similar experiences. Of course, support GOOD ones!

[desertbluesman]

It was sad that Manny's in NYC went under a while back for like reasons, as well...

 

I have an internet friend who used to work at Manny's in the guitar section, I met him on the Cakewalk forums and he was also a friend of Emily Remler's as was I. So we had that in common to start up a friendship. The stories he tells me are very fun to hear. You name a guitar player that went through NYC, and he did biz with KennyTeleJazz (His screen name) and in our phone conversations, I get to hear some of those stories quite a bit.

 

As for GC, I never buy anything there, although I will go in there to demo stuff. However I do purchase from Musicians Friend quite a bit. (No shipping and no sales taxes)

 

I used to shop Manny's myself, although I lived 90 miles south of there back then, so it was easier to go to Cherry Hill NJ or Philly to get my gear.

[desertbluesman]

As for GC sales people, I know more than they do as far as the gear I am interested in is concerned, because I research it long before I go to buy. I never listen to anyone who sells for a living. I was once a salesman myself for RV's, I am immune to sales techniques because I was schooled in them. In fact the more honest I was with a customer the better I did sales wise.

 

I guess my experience with that kind of integrity gave me the insight to not trust sales folks because the reason behind their talk is to SELL I know that first and foremost, and the secret is; you have to be able to walk away from any deal easily without looking back, then you have the advantage remember that. Don't let your desire for any piece of gear cloud your thinking. There is a better deal just around the corner many times. And next week there will be better gear out there anyways.

[Dannyalcatraz]

There is a better deal just around the corner many times.

 

The trick is recognizing when there isn't!

 

A while back, I had the opportunity to buy a fully loaded, top of the line 1996 Mazda Millennium (a $44k car) for $29k. Only 800 miles on it. It had been the dealer's demo car for a year...and the 1998s were due to arrive in a week, effectively making it a 2 year old car on their lot. I decided to sleep on it.

 

When I came back 36 hours later, it was gone. (Oddly, so was the salesman.)

[pinkjimiphoton]

The final note for Daddy's Junky Music

By Staff reports

Wicked Local Dedham

Posted Nov 03, 2011 @ 12:00 PM

Print Comment

DEDHAM

 

 

New Hampshire-based Daddys Junky Music announced on Oct. 26 that it is immediately and permanently shutting down its operations, including its Dedham location.

 

Owner Fred Bramante, who began the business 39 years ago with $600 to his name, said he was heartbroken that it all had to end with such little notice.

 

People Ive worked (with) for almost the entire lifespan of Daddys, having to tell them they are losing their jobs and health benefits, it was the hardest thing Ive ever done, Bramante told wickedlocal.com on Friday.

 

The end came in the form of a default notice from the companys financier, Bramante said. He received the letter on Thursday, Oct. 20, and it stated he had until Tuesday, Oct. 25, to pay his bills, he said.

 

We couldnt do it.

 

The company went into the economic recession in 2008 with almost no cash on hand, according to Bramante. Bramante decided to settle an employee dispute out of court, and cut checks to all eligible employees and some former employees, spending between $600,000 and $700,000.

 

If it was in New Hampshire, we would have fought it, but we figured that Massachusetts is not as much of a business-friendly state and, if the potential (for a court battle) was there, would have sided with the employees, Bramante said.

 

Bramante scoured his books to find eligible employees to pay in the settlement, and said he ended the affair with a clear conscience, but an empty bank account.

 

I felt like we just needed a couple of good years and we could put it back, Bramante said. But then the recession hit and it was impossible.

 

Bramante speculated that if he had been allowed to stay open through the Christmas season, he could have settled his debts, but he said his financial backers would not allow it.

 

The Dedham store, one of 12, was doing well, Bramante said.

 

To close the Dedham store is sinful; this should not have happened, he said.

 

While Bramante was not sure exactly how many people the location employed, he guessed seven, and praised the stores manager, Keith Sheehan.

 

I hope hes going to be OK, Bramante said.

 

The 12 stores were spread throughout New England in New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts and Connecticut. At its peak, Daddys had 20 stores in all the New England states and in New York.

 

Bramante served as the chair of the State Board of Education in New Hampshire, and said he was passionate about students who learn in different ways. Bramante himself said he graduated 206th out of 212 students.

 

Many of Daddys employees were people who did not fit into the traditional model of education, but they did well given a chance to shine, Bramante said.

 

Many of them are bright young people, but dont function well in that traditional environment, he said.

 

Bramante said he blames himself for the loss of the business and that he was grateful to his employees, many of whom stuck with him through two pay cuts through the financial trouble of the business.

 

I feel blessed that I had the privilege to work with them and Im brokenhearted it had to end like this, Bramante said.

 

Staff writer Dave Eisenstadter can be reached at 781-433-8336 or deisenstadter@wickedlocal.com.

Copyright 2011 The Dedham Transcript. Some rights reserved

 

Read more: The final note for Daddy's Junky Music - Dedham, Massachusetts - The Dedham Transcript http://www.dailynewstranscript.com/highlight/x2086385164/The-final-note-for-Daddys-Junky-Music#ixzz1cmR6f8ui

[Chad Thorne]

I don't know about any other Daddy's stores, but IME the staff in the one in Boston (some years ago when I lived there) and Portland, ME were arrogant shmickheads interested only in selling you something, getting your $, and getting you the hell out of the store so they wouldn't have to be bothered by you any more.

 

GC is what it is. It and local M&P stores are apples and oranges. GC has been here in Portland for several years and as far as I can tell its presence has not hurt the business of our local shop "Buckdancer's Choice," one bit. Customers who want the GC experience will shop there, and those who want what a GOOD local store can provide will go there.

[pinkjimiphoton]

yah, the boston store crew shoulda been hung by the gonads, they literally f'd up EVERYthing they touched.

 

total suckage

[Winston Psmith]

Jimi, reading over the report you posted, I'd have to guess there was more to the story - no one hands out over half a million dollars to settle employee claims, unless there was a real problem, especially when you consider what music retail actually pays. Add in the fact that his creditors wouldn't even allow him to keep one store open through the holidays, to try and recover some of his (and presumably, their) losses, I have to wonder.

[pinkjimiphoton]

they were running on empty for probably the last 10 years...what it came down to is in mass if you are a manager, you get perks daddy's didn't offer...and they sued the piss out of bramante...far more than what he would have owed, most likely.

i got involved with daddys by keeping my local store afloat...the end of the month would come, and i'd go hoss trade a bunch of stuff with them, made the books look good like they were turning a profit, when in reality, there was just goods exchanged. it was a weird time. i knew when they closed the local djm it wouldn't be long. gc was definitely involved in the local store dieing, but it's not worth writing about.

[Winston Psmith]

they were running on empty for probably the last 10 years...what it came down to is in mass if you are a manager, you get perks daddy's didn't offer...and they sued the piss out of bramante...far more than what he would have owed, most likely.

 

Thanks, Jimi, now I get it. Damn, that's a lousy way to put a man out of business - GC just tries to undercut everybody, they don't legislate them to death!

[pinkjimiphoton]

true dat. here's the thing tho...daddy's would match any price, even if they cut their own throats.

 

gc is like...f**k ya, if ya don't wanna buy it at our price, good luck somewhere else.

 

the only reason the few m&p's left around here have survived is because of local musicians making it a point to keep 'em going.

[Chad Thorne]

Jimi, reading over the report you posted, I'd have to guess there was more to the story - no one hands out over half a million dollars to settle employee claims, unless there was a real problem, especially when you consider what music retail actually pays. Add in the fact that his creditors wouldn't even allow him to keep one store open through the holidays, to try and recover some of his (and presumably, their) losses, I have to wonder.

This.

[pinkjimiphoton]

from what i gather, there's no limit to damages in mass.

hard to tell, can't get a hold of any of the bramantes to ask.

 

i do know there were a lot of probs in mass, particularly with the boston store, who were notorious for f'n up all the time.

 

i bought one of them clear lucite dan armstrong reissues once...BOUGHT it and had it shipped to the vernon store.

it never arrived, after i bought it, one of the lackeys up there sold it to a friend.

 

arrrrrgh