Mark Purchase

[quote name='basstech' timestamp='1335900812' post='1637830'] I miss dealing with Darren and Chris as they're both good guys. [/quote] You know Chris still works here right? Saturdays are a bit difficult for him right now and you'll have to ask him about that, but Chris is still about. It's like I said, building these things takes time, and there will be plenty happening here. You've seen the start of something, not the finish.

Hi Guys n Gals, First time poster here so bare with me :-) Just reading some comments about the new Bass merchant store and I wanted to give you some details as to what's happened up until now. The opportunity came up in December to merge Bass merchants with our existing store. Since then, we have had to build a new demo facility and showroom which has taken time to complete (builders are often slow, and when there is an existing operation running this only aids in slowing the build down), so completion of the actual building only finished April 1st. We have now started stocking more lines because prior to the build completion having stock with no showroom is not a sensible idea. It has then taken another month or so to start seeing new products arrive, but to give you an idea in the last week we've had: TC electronic, Fender, Genz Benz, Albion (new brand, very good gear for the money), MusicMan, Warwick, Hartke . and over the next few weeks we can expect more and more new items and brands to arrive. which will inevitably take up more room in the showroom (we now have 67 Basses on display for example with a view to get this over 120 by Oct/Nov). One of the most difficult things with the brands is that many are sceptical opening new trade accounts at the moment with the retail market in the UK being so flat, so hence a lot of fun meetings have taken place behind the scenes to get the brands in-stock. We have a new sign going in. Part of our refurbishment was to install a staff canteen to the building which involved plumbing, so we have to incorporate some pipework into the sign on the front of the building which is why there is currently a cheap banner out front, but again this is coming! It should be massively easier to find soon enough. During the period December to April, the focus has been to develop the Bass merchant on-line presence with a new refurbished website, and an eBay store which is still under construction. Without this on-line presence the future of the brand is in jeopardy (its a Woolworths situation). No website no mass sales, no mass sales, no store. The longevity of the all important showroom and community that comes with being a retailer in this industry is dependent upon strong on-line presence and on-line sales too. This does not mean all attention will be on website sales because where's the fun in that! What this means is that there is a stable platform for Bass Merchant to still be around in 10 years time. I was a huge fan of the previous Bass Merchant store, which I can imagine was a fantastic place for players to come and really get an idea of what was available. But this store took 5 years to grow to this level, and Rome was not built in a day. The whole business has had to be re-mapped from scratch, and unfortunately this does mean things have not happened as quickly as we would have liked. The point to my post is, that your post may have been a little premature. We are just getting started! And there are masses of plans in place to grow the showroom, grow the brands, introduce new products and even develop our own brand of equipment (which will offer fantastic value for money for those on a tighter budget). We are about 1 month away from getting the store up to the standard your used to so don't be changing your allegiances just yet! Now to match the last Bass Merchant store will take a bit more work, but it will get there..... Just watch this space. I do love a bit of feedback though. It actually feels good to know how much of an impact this will have once its complete.