Harley Benton Closing USA Reverb Shop

[Sean]

Another sign of the times I guess. Tariffs are mentioned. 

 

Remember the politics guidelines we have. 

 

https://www.notreble.com/buzz/2026/01/17/harley-benton-to-close-u-s-reverb-store-ending-direct-u-s-distribution/

 

 

[LowB_FTW]

Given the announcement from a couple of days ago, I don't imagine this will be the last of such announcements from a wide variety of businesses.

It's crap for Harley Benton, because once the existing stock is gone, it'll cost the US buyers to order from Thomann probably about as much as it would to buy other cheap brands from the US. I guess US sales will drop off precipitously for Harley Benton once existing stock has been sold off.

 

Mark

[Dad3353]

49 minutes ago, LowB_FTW said:

...I guess US sales will drop off precipitously for Harley Benton once existing stock has been sold off...

 

Maybe with compensation from folk buying non-American products instead. 

[Cato]

There's a few more brands operating in that 'cheap but decent' price bracket these days, so I suppose if the new tariffs are forcing Harley Benton prices above those of it's direct rivals in the US it probably makes sense for Thomann to withdraw & concentrate on markets where they can still be competitive.

Edited 4 hours ago by Cato

[Jolltax]

I wonder how much more expensive US brands will become in UK?

[Cato]

1 minute ago, Jolltax said:

I wonder how much more expensive US brands will become in UK?

 

While the EU will very likely impose retaliatory tariffs on the US I can't see the UK doing the same.

 

It's not a game we can win.

[uk_lefty]

2 hours ago, Cato said:

There's a few more brands operating in that 'cheap but decent' price bracket these days, so I suppose if the new tariffs are forcing Harley Benton prices above those of it's direct rivals in the US it probably makes sense for Thomann to withdraw & concentrate on markets where they can still be competitive.

I see your point, but while I'm far from an expert in such things, I doubt anything in that price bracket is built in the US using parts built in the US. So "cheap but decent" just won't be a thing for US consumers any more. Will those of us in Europe face rising costs from Harley Benton to make up for the hole in their finances from losing US trade...? Who knows. I don't think anybody wins in this, sadly. 

[Aidan63]

China hasn't seen much if any downturn in exports to the world, including to the US, over the last year despite the tariffs and political interference, there are plenty of Chinese made US owned brands in the musical instrument industry, so all that seems to be changing is the old brands are losing sales or having to increasingly manufacture abroad, but final QC in US is expensive, so how that model works for some of these companies will likely change, it was part of the final nail in coffin for G&L. PRS have said they will be scaling back their SE production I believe as the market has become saturated and sales reduced with so much used product diluting new sales.

[80Hz]

A quick glance at the big US retailers (i.e. Sweetwater, Guitar Center) suggests slim pickings in the budget bass sector outside of Squier and Ibanez. So I would assume there is still space in the market for alternatives in the low end, especially for comparatively exciting brands such as Jet, etc.

 

However this doesn't seem to be in evidence from any of the big retailers, nor does there seem to be a big push to exploit their buying power into developing a cheap house brand such as Andertons have done with East Coast (or, indeed, Thomann/Harley Benton). Or is there some big selling budget line that I'm missing?

 

In terms of consumer sentiment in the US, the sense I get from the news etc is that it's not great, but it's difficult to know how that translates into consumer behaviour. If you have, say, $300 to spend on a bass, do you seek out the best new value, buy used, or save up for something with the F logo?

 

The last observation I'd make is that HB only ever seemed to dip a toe into direct US sales - it was all done through Reverb, so they weren't even operating their own storefront, and I think they only warehoused a selection of models there (that's the sense I get from some of the big YouTubers, anyway).

 

It'll be interesting to see what comes out of NAMM in a few days in terms of budget brands.