Best Buy the new Guitar Center?
Tuesday, October 28th, 2008I walked into the west side Best Buy over lunch and was surprised to discover a huge new music center in back of the store. It was chalked full of DJ equipment, keyboards, guitars, amps and accessories of all kinds. Everything was surprisingly high-end, from $4,000 Yamaha and Korg keyboards to top of the line Gibson electric and Martin acoustic guitars. There were even isolation rooms for trying out the amps and making serious noise. It literally was like walking straight into a Guitar Center.
The lone employee in the music area happened to be the head of the department, a young guy who was eager to tell me how their Madison store was one of the first Best Buys in the nation to host a musical instrument expansion. He said he was able to select and hire his own staff, so as to guarantee having floor help with expertise in music and music equipment. Even he was surprised at how much money the corporate folks at Best Buy were pouring into this new market endeavor.
So will this curious and unexpected new Best Buy idea catch on? I’m not so sure. In fact, I’d say probably not. But I’m always supportive of any store promoting the sale of musical instruments and music tech, so good for Best Buy on taking this chance.
Maybe their hope is that all the kids who are buying the stacks of Guitar Hero II “guitars” lining the video game isles will wander over to the music center and consider learning how to play a real guitar or some other actual instrument, rather than just rhythmically tapping the buttons of a glorified joystick in the shape of a guitar while a video game’s soundtrack scrolls by…
