… and that comes down to people feeling they are getting a great shopping experience ,” says deMelo , noting much of his customer base is more than willing to make the 45-minute drive to Terrace from nearby Kitimat , BC . He also attracts customers from several of the indigenous communities surrounding Terrace , and even gets regular visits from customers as far away as Prince Rupert , over 150 km east .
Class Axe Guitars and Sight & Sound aren ’ t the only shops that have customers driving in from out of town , though .
Across the country in Bridgewater , NS , Town ’ s End Strings & Things has been the only music store along the south shore of the province for over 20 years . The shop is currently operated by the dynamic duo of Beth Townsend and her daughter , Patricia , and services music lovers in an area that stretches as far as two hours away .
( L-R ) Beth , Odin & Patricia Townsend of Town ’ s End Strings & Things , Bridgewater , NS
Good customer service is of course a big driver of new and repeat business , but it isn ’ t the only thing these stores have going for them . Another key to their success is their custom-catered offerings , tailored specifically to the unique individual markets they serve . That could be the rare vintage guitar from decades past sourced through Class Axe Guitars , or the sale of an instrument and the tablet that will teach its new owner how to play it from Sight & Sound . It could be someone finding their creative stride with a top-end keyboard from A & R Music , or a young learner on Nova Scotia ’ s south shore signing up for lessons at Town ’ s End Strings & Things .
But while these four distinct businesses serve unique markets in unique ways , they do share many things in common , and many of those are the challenges they face in their day-to-day operations . Perhaps none is more significant than pricing their merchandise .
“ Pricing is always hard . Competing with larger stores in the city can be just as challenging as competing with online sales from nonbrick-and-mortar stores ,” says Popiez .
Beshara echoes the challenge , noting that his shop strives to be competitive with pricing , even with some of the bigger retailers serving the Capital Region . “ People will drive an hour to save $ 10 ,” he says ,
clearly drawing from experience , “ so we are absolutely competitive on our pricing .”
“ We don ’ t just do our own thing [ because we serve an isolated market ]; you just can ’ t get away with that anymore ,” deMelo takes over . “ Even though we live out in the nosebleeds , our customers are still a lot more conscious of what ’ s happening . A lot of people think you have to go to the larger centres for lower pricing , but the way I try to run this store is , we should be good enough to lift it up , put it down town in the middle of a large centre , open the doors , and still be competitive – not only in terms of price , but also service and the shopping experience . We don ’ t just want to be good enough for our market ; we want to be good enough for anywhere , and our customers appreciate that .”
According to deMelo , when it comes to pricing a new item , they ’ ll research the asking price from larger players to get an idea of where they need to be .
Town ’ s End Strings & Things tends to focus on entry-level and more affordable instruments , considering much of its customer base is comprised of young learners . Even still , they keep a close eye on their competition in bigger centres .
“ We check online almost daily ,” says Beth . “ The large music stores from one province to another , we always check their prices and always are competitive with them , but then we also have to check Amazon and the U . S . retailers as well .”
The competition from the digital domain affects retailers across the board , but particularly retailers like those comprising our panel , who serve customers from longer radii thanks to their not-so-dense rural populations .
Forrester Research , an American market research firm , projects that in 2019 , 10 per cent of all Canadian retail spending will be conducted online – up from 6 per cent in 2014 . Considering Canadian retail sales totaled $ 505 billion in 2014 , according to Statistics Canada , that ’ s a significant percentage that almost puts us on par with the U . S .
Bob Beshara of Class Axe Guitars , Kemptville , ON
24 • CANADIAN MUSIC TRADE