I'm going to make two posts here. First to confront the accusations (very false ones at that) that Long & McQuade "runs stores out of business". The next post will be on the repair branding issue.
Full disclosure, I worked as an education rep as well as other positions for Long & McQuade for over 5 years, and while it isn't my full time gig anymore I still work there part-time when they need extra help. Having said that. I call it how I see it. I am not a L&M yes man and have been very vocal about my dislike of certain practices and company policies but have also commended them when they do something right as well. There are claims being made here that amount to uninformed slander and that's just not acceptable.
Since this post was first, I'll address it in that order. Could you kindly show me one single example of Long & McQuade putting another company out of business? You can't, and I'll tell you why. It has never happened. Not once, and I mean once, has Long & McQuade EVER approached another company and tried to buy them up, run them out of town. It has ALWAYS been the other way around. Bel Air Music in London, Northwest Music in Vancouver, MusicStop in the Maritimes all approached L&M to take control of them because they were either retiring or going bankrupt due to mismanagement. In those situations, the store was either converted to an L&M and the staff were given offers to stay or they were absorbed into another location such was the case with NorthWest Music. They have actually actively NOT gone into specific markets where there was already a strong music store presence.
Before Bel Air Music changed over to L&M they didn't have any stores there. Do you think that was by accident? If they wanted to run a company out of business they would set up shop right across the street from them and just wait for them to fold. They just don't do that. Prussin Music in Vancouver has been begging L&M to buy the store and building for years because the owner wants to get out of the music business and just handle real estate. L&M didn't want Prussin because there is no need but this year they came to an agreement to take on their band rental accounts so that their customers wouldn't be S.O.L when the store closed at the end of this year. Then guess what? Another music store (Tapestry) came in a bought out Prussin and re-branded it as their company. Funny how that doesn't get mentioned anywhere in these type of posts
I tried to stay out of this one but I can't not butt in my .02.
Please people. Do not support Long & McQuade. They are literally the Wal*Mart of music. A huge multi million dollar company that seemingly offer low prices and deals to their customers but their mark ups are bonkers. My experience working there was terrible. Being in a department that wasn't their biggest money maker we were all treated like lesser employees. Our freedom to actually persue music was seriously curbed and the number of times there were "mistakes" with my cheques and benefits left me poor on almost a monthly basis despite killing myself working full time for them.
Although some of the folks are great the company does not deserve your support. Please go to your local Mom and Pop shops. The people they put out of business on a monthly basis.
If we're questioning their ethics regarding their customers please consider how they treat their employees.
OK, so I don't really need to address the "putting stores out of business" thing here because I just went over that in my last paragraph so I'll touch on the "mark-ups are bonkers" business. Plain and simple they aren't bonkers and they are right in line with what everyone else does. I've posted about this before but with many products you have to respect the MSRP and unless there is a special promotion you can't deviate from it. Print is the only thing that has a crazy mark-up, I will give you that, which is why for sales like boxing day and inventory clearance, etc, they basically give it away to get it out of the store. But again, a lot of those prices are suggested by Hal Leonard or Alfred or whichever publisher/distributor it may be. It's about brand and price consistency. Yamaha doesn't want a store selling their YTS-26 for $400 dollars less than everyone is selling it for. It devalues their brand and model and leads to inconsistencies in their value. Now is everything priced the same as everywhere else? No, there is obviously some wiggle room on certain items but it's not like a box of vandorens is gonna be off by more than a dollar or two. Also think of the infrastructure and costs to run L&M. They have to support 70+ stores across the country and probably employ over 3000 people throughout Canada. Maybe more so it's a hell of a lot more expensive and complicated than running a mom & pop with 3 employees and a backroom warehouse.
Calling it the Wal-Mart of Music is just so off that it's eye-roll worthy. It's a Canadian company that hires Canadians that also makes, manufactures, and distributes products in Canada. Their sister company Yorkville Sound makes the bulk of their PA gear in Pickering, Ontario and is the Canadian distributor for brands like Gibson, Mapek, Line 6, etc. Also, I'm pretty sure everyone in the company is making more than minimum wage. They provide you with health coverage, albeit not the greatest, and will match pension contributions to a certain amount. How very Wal-Mart of them. I know that the Victoria store under it's previous regime was very difficult at times so I can understand that but it's certainly not a company philosophy to curb their employees musical pursuits. Like 90% of the people who work there are musicians. At all 3 of the locations that I've worked at my managers were gigging 2 or 3 nights a week and I had no problem getting time off to do the same as long as I made up for the time missed and my duties were being completed and my department was covered. It's your job, your responsibility. I can't attest to the cheques or benefits getting messed up. I'm sure it happens from time to time as I would expect it would happen pretty much anywhere. I'm sure it got resolved though and again, I wouldn't imagine that L&M's head office accounting/payroll/benefits dept has a bone to pick with anyone but hey, I wasn't there and I don't really know. I've had some paycheques be off as well and they were always rectified in the end. Yeah, working Saturdays sucks. Doing inventory sucks. Working on the floor isn't the best job in the world but it's far from the worst.
I try, but L&M has managed to almost kill all their competition. Mom and Pop shops are getting harder and harder to find.
I support my tech and his shop--
Matterhorn Music--has much as I can. Although sometimes I have to bite the bullet and buy from L&M. It does make my stomach turn when I do....
We've had this conversation before. I get it, you want to support the local small businesses and I do that too for certain things but to say it makes your stomach turn to shop at L&M is pretty immature. Why do it then? No one is putting a gun to your head to shop at L&M. I'm pretty certain that there is nothing in the band department at L&M that you can only exclusively buy there so you could buy it somewhere else or online. You would only be shopping there because it is more convenient to you or it presented some other advantage price wise or service wise. That choice is on you and up to your preferred business to compete with.
If there's any other questions or rumours out there that need to be debunked, I'd be happy to continue.