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They're baaaack! (Bass Merchant Colchester)


Grand Wazoo
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Got an email from a friend informing me that BMC are back in business having found premises in a Disco/DJ warehouse somewhere near Thurrock, Lakeside (Grays, Essex)

[url="http://www.bassmerchant.com/"]http://www.bassmerchant.com/[/url]

I assume they are either flogging whatever was left of their gear after their solvency closure. [i][b][size=2](read bankruptcy) [/size][/b][/i][size=2][size=4]or they might even have been taken over by new management / owners, who knows? I wouldn't be the one to speculate till I see it with my own eyes. I hope that the issues other forum members had with them i.e. ordering and paying for stuff which never arrived or arrived well dodgy are behind them if it is a new management.[/size][/size]

But hey, you never know a bargain might be lurking in there and they are only a stone throw from my work, so I'm gonna check them out tomorrow and report.

[i][size=3][b]WATCH THESE PIXELS! :P[/b][/size][/i]

Edited by Grand Wazoo
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Yep, another thread a few months back.

[url="http://basschat.co.uk/topic/162783-bass-merchant-rescued/page__p__1472300__hl__bass%20merchant%20moving__fromsearch__1#entry1472300"]http://basschat.co.uk/topic/162783-bass-merchant-rescued/page__p__1472300__hl__bass%20merchant%20moving__fromsearch__1#entry1472300[/url]



Garry

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Nice, but they'll have to work hard to compete with Bass Direct. Bass Direct for me, is what we've needed in this country for so long but something the Americans have enjoyed for ages, a bass shop with a great stock and a great site. Mind you, this Streamer:

http://www.bassmerchant.com/bass-guitars/4-string/h14622308.html

looks very nice indeed. Owning a limited edition Streamer myself, I can quite safely assume this one will be great, even if it is a bolt on!

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[quote name='dave_bass5' timestamp='1335340910' post='1629383']
AAAAAARRH LAKESIDE...Noooooooo. Now im going to be tempted to go with the GF next time she goes shopping :-(
[/quote]

It could be worse! You know when things are getting serious when you get invited to Ikea! The ultimate nightmare. Not only the boredom of shopping there but the next day spent putting all the useless carp together!

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[quote name='mentalextra' timestamp='1335345151' post='1629453']
It could be worse! You know when things are getting serious when you get invited to Ikea! The ultimate nightmare. Not only the boredom of shopping there but the next day spent putting all the useless carp together!
[/quote]

True That, my flat looks like a Ikea Showroom owing to the fact that my GF practically lives there. :-(.
The last time i went to Ikea i popped back to use the loo and couldn't find my way out. seriously. Never again. I now refuse to go shopping with her.

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Riiiiiggghhhttt, I've just been to visit the Bass Merchant place and..........




I ain't saying nothing about it. If you are interested go and find out for yourself :P




Me.... I need to train myself to find better ways of wasting 25 minutes of my life, and a few miles/fuel litres gone to waste...just to find the damn place.

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[quote name='Phantomnin' timestamp='1335469079' post='1631803']
Aww seriously, what was wrong?
[/quote]

Well put it this way, even the bloke who works there is deeply depressed, the company who took them over which is a Disco Lightening and PA rental / sale firm gave them 2 walls and half a room in which to display 47 odd basses (those I could care to count) with a few amps scattered under, and no room to sit and try stuff. Having recently visited the previous Bass Merchant before it went under, I recognised most of the gear on display is very much what was left there before the takeover.

Finding the place was also difficult in the end I had to phone them to be directed, you need to find a sign that says Electromarket or something because there's no sign say Bass Merchant anywhere, the guy that works there "Chris" said they've promised him a sign but it's just not happening. What it transpired from the 15 min I was there is that the idea of the owner company is to sell online more than in the store, which is why they don't give a stuff as to what the display space is reduced to.

Nice place if you are running a disco club though... but as for a bass shop... even Denmark Street is better.

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I agree with the Grand Wazoo..... Its a nightmare to find, the stock seems familiar and unless your needs are lighting and/or PA's there isn't really much to look at. And the pedal i was after had been sold on Ebay... they hadn't updated their website....

Its nothing like their old shop, which is a great shame.....

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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.

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I'm quite glad its still going, and what the old BM did lack was a decent upto date website.

I will however miss the old showroom. I first went there when I was thinking of moving to London (couldn't have been more opposite; I found myself more comfortable in Newcastle) and we took a detour as I wanted to test Markbass gear. Not only did I get very good service, I also got to try Aguilar cabs (and the DB112/212 are STILL the best cabinets I've heard so far). It was a VERY fun shop, and I went back 2-3 times. Then, I started to buy everything over the phone. I had some hiccups, but Darren was true to his word and everything was ironed out before the store closed down. A big shame, because I did trust the BM, and the prices were VERY low if you bought a few things at once.

BD has an awesome way of updating stock. Any specialist wanting to compete bass-wise needs to at least match BD's site.

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I went there to look for some new kit (Genz Benz shuttle and Fender Jazz ) and Chris wasn't around. There was a load of disco stuff but only some bass gear in boxes and I was told "Oh yeah there's a load of boxes but I don't know what's in em"(!).
Don't think I'll be using BMW again - Bassdirect are excellent and Mark is really informed. I miss dealing with Darren and Chris as they're both good guys.
Has anyone used Guitar Guitar in Epsom? They seem to have a large array of basses and amps (judging by their website)??

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[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.

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[quote name='Grand Wazoo' timestamp='1335912671' post='1638109']
Yes Guitar Guitar in Epsom is a good place for bass and they stock Aguilar too.
[/quote]

disagree. Rude and uninterested staff, i was not happy since i had travelled to visit the store in the hope to have a decent play on sadowsky basses.

However, the staff who said they worked there on bass day were nice. So maybe its hit and miss on what day you go. Also in terms of stock, not meaning to sound like a snob, but its pretty much the same mid-range stuff you get at dawsons, PMT and so on.

Bass direct and Bass gear are leaps ahead IMO

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  • 6 months later...

[quote name='Spoombung' timestamp='1354120784' post='1882353']
Just found out they have officially ceased trading. It never looked good at that silly warehouse full of disco equipment next to IKEA. It was a far cry from the Essex place. What a shame; I liked the guy who ran it.
[/quote]

they have ? i popped in there this saturday just gone, wasnt much to look at maybe 25 basses most of which had disco lights stacked in front of them but they seemed to be trading although i feel guitars werent really their thing

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