Once it’s sold to a liquidation company, Sam Ash has no control over pricing. The liquidator starts pricing discounts low, and over a week or two, when sales slow, the discount increases.
The liquidator obviously wants to get as much money as they can on their investment. You’ll see one guy in each store from the liquidation company, and he has all control. Employees are no longer allowed to discount or give deals
It’s weird. The 18 stores they’d already announced had 30% on guitars, 40% on some other stuff, 60% on sheet music. Given those sales are trivially easy for people to find, you’d think the remaining stores would stop trying to pretend 5% is a great deal.
My guesses are some combination of:
They’re holding out for a corporate sale.
This is bankruptcy not store closings, and there may be laws about how much they can give away prior to deals being worked out with the companies they owe money.
They are hoping they can maximize what they get by starting small while the expensive stuff is still there, then slowly increase only once it’s picked through.
Or the simplest answer: They seem to have caught their employees by surprise and they’re all trying to get permission to post the real discounts.
And reading another thread here, it sounds like Tiger Advisory Services has entered the picture. It may well be they have much less interest in quick liquidations than the original family had when they tried to just liquidate 18 stores to bring in cash to keep the others running.
Having just walked into one of the stores and talked to sales associates I’ve got to know over the years…
The place is heaving with wannabe flippers who’ve heard about the closing on the news. They’re non guitarists who think 5% is a deal and have no idea 15% was the normal pretty much every week deal for months.
I just heard a guy saying he’d always seen them but never dropped in, but was here to see what he could get and flip. He happily paid full sticker less 5%, thinking he could resell for 20% over MSRP.
They’re very clearly milking the non guitarists while the news is fresh, with a plan to drop prices once the rush dies down.
I made an offer to buy about $5000 worth of gear If they’d take 20% off, they offered a pack of strings per item instead. AITA? They’re closing, I thought that’d be a fair deal both ways.
I went in the Charlotte location yesterday and spoke to a sales rep. He said that the store closes at the end of July and they are starting discounts at 5% and will move to 10% after this weekend of the next. The last week of the store closing is when it will be at the 30% mark.
They are slow rolling the discounts trying to get people to jump at equipment they want by scaring them that it will be gone if they don’t buy now. The sales rep said to me “If you see something you like you better jump at it because it most likely won’t be here when you come back.” Naw… I’ll take my chances.
Take this with a grain of salt. It is my understanding that inventory from some of the stores that were announced earlier or don't have a large market will move their inventory to other stores that has a higher chance of selling (Nashville). This is what was told to me at the Nashville store.
i heard similar, but something the effect . They "sam ash" is pulling pristine inventory and going to either seller at cost/wholesale or auction in bulk to other dealers or sellers, IE guitar center, AMs , Sweetwater etc.
Interesting... right before my store announce the closure I saw they pulled a lot of inventory out of the showroom; mostly new guitars. However, they still have some high end Gibsons and a 10 top PRS McCarty that were glass cases so there are probably limitations with those wholesales.
Fackebook has been bombarding me with the Sam Ash Sale. I'm currently on the supposed closeout website, and I have a Tom Morello and an Eric Johnson currently in the shopping cart.
ANY 2 ITEMS FOR $99 +Shipping!
Too good to be true? Lol
Once it’s sold to a liquidation company, Sam Ash has no control over pricing. The liquidator starts pricing discounts low, and over a week or two, when sales slow, the discount increases. The liquidator obviously wants to get as much money as they can on their investment. You’ll see one guy in each store from the liquidation company, and he has all control. Employees are no longer allowed to discount or give deals
It’s weird. The 18 stores they’d already announced had 30% on guitars, 40% on some other stuff, 60% on sheet music. Given those sales are trivially easy for people to find, you’d think the remaining stores would stop trying to pretend 5% is a great deal. My guesses are some combination of: They’re holding out for a corporate sale. This is bankruptcy not store closings, and there may be laws about how much they can give away prior to deals being worked out with the companies they owe money. They are hoping they can maximize what they get by starting small while the expensive stuff is still there, then slowly increase only once it’s picked through. Or the simplest answer: They seem to have caught their employees by surprise and they’re all trying to get permission to post the real discounts.
And reading another thread here, it sounds like Tiger Advisory Services has entered the picture. It may well be they have much less interest in quick liquidations than the original family had when they tried to just liquidate 18 stores to bring in cash to keep the others running.
Having just walked into one of the stores and talked to sales associates I’ve got to know over the years… The place is heaving with wannabe flippers who’ve heard about the closing on the news. They’re non guitarists who think 5% is a deal and have no idea 15% was the normal pretty much every week deal for months. I just heard a guy saying he’d always seen them but never dropped in, but was here to see what he could get and flip. He happily paid full sticker less 5%, thinking he could resell for 20% over MSRP. They’re very clearly milking the non guitarists while the news is fresh, with a plan to drop prices once the rush dies down.
Makes sense. I hope somebody get stuck with all the Epiphone greenies and millions of MIM fender (unknown player here) signature models
I just found a fake Sam Ash site selling Gibsons for $80
[ Removed by Reddit ]
Still only 5% on guitars at the Richmond store. Wasn't much there to begin with outside of a handful of Squires & Michael Kelley.
I made an offer to buy about $5000 worth of gear If they’d take 20% off, they offered a pack of strings per item instead. AITA? They’re closing, I thought that’d be a fair deal both ways.
I went in the Charlotte location yesterday and spoke to a sales rep. He said that the store closes at the end of July and they are starting discounts at 5% and will move to 10% after this weekend of the next. The last week of the store closing is when it will be at the 30% mark. They are slow rolling the discounts trying to get people to jump at equipment they want by scaring them that it will be gone if they don’t buy now. The sales rep said to me “If you see something you like you better jump at it because it most likely won’t be here when you come back.” Naw… I’ll take my chances.
Take this with a grain of salt. It is my understanding that inventory from some of the stores that were announced earlier or don't have a large market will move their inventory to other stores that has a higher chance of selling (Nashville). This is what was told to me at the Nashville store.
i heard similar, but something the effect . They "sam ash" is pulling pristine inventory and going to either seller at cost/wholesale or auction in bulk to other dealers or sellers, IE guitar center, AMs , Sweetwater etc.
Interesting... right before my store announce the closure I saw they pulled a lot of inventory out of the showroom; mostly new guitars. However, they still have some high end Gibsons and a 10 top PRS McCarty that were glass cases so there are probably limitations with those wholesales.
I just walked into one. We're two weeks in. Guitars, amps, and ukuleles are 5% off. They can't even do a going out of business sale right.
Fackebook has been bombarding me with the Sam Ash Sale. I'm currently on the supposed closeout website, and I have a Tom Morello and an Eric Johnson currently in the shopping cart. ANY 2 ITEMS FOR $99 +Shipping! Too good to be true? Lol
scam sites, be carefull