Surprised, but not shocked.

Sam Ash store closing.

Well, moving on…

I “had” a ½-hour lesson scheduled today at the music store at 4pm. I walked into the store and overheard one of the sales reps tell a customer that the store was closing. I asked him, “Did I hear you right? The store is closing?” He went on to tell me that they were no longer doing lessons at the store.

If you are familiar with the east side of Orlando near Colonial Drive and South Semoran Blvd, you have probably noticed that it has slowly become quite the ghetto. The Sam Ash store located on East Colonial Drive has been the only store open in the entire half mile plaza. Every adjacent store space in the buildings, have been closed for a number of years. The fact that this particular Sam Ash store has been open this long, is quite surprising. I remember how busy that store was 15-20 years ago. You’d walk in, and it would be a sea of people, with long lines at the cash register. Thanks to the internet and online retail shopping, those days are long gone.

The look of shell-shock was pasted on the faces of all of the staff at the store today. I felt badly for them. Some of them had just found out about the news yesterday, and are still reeling. I talked with my buddy Jeb, who I have known since our days together at the Lee Road location, way back in 1996. I could tell he was a little taken aback.

My student and her father showed up, and they learned the news. I told them that I was not going to stay as a teacher at the store. It would not be financially feasible for me to set aside that time frame for one lesson at the store. I handed him my business card and offered him in-house lessons.

What is my plan now?

I had already planned on visiting the Guitar Center music store in Winter Park tomorrow to see if they are hiring guitar teachers. A little birdie told me that someone came into the Sam Ash store recently and asked if any of the guitar teachers were available to be recruited (paraphrased) to work at Guitar Center. So, now I am even more motivated to see if they will bring me on.

Yes, I am a little disappointed in this news today, but I’m not totally surprised by it. The store is in a dead location next to the airport. The parking lot is always empty and so is the store itself.

My advise to you…

If you’re looking for a deal on music gear, now would be the best time to stop at that store on east Colonial drive and take advantage of the sell-off prices. You could probably get a huge deal on all kinds of stuff. The store will be open until they sell off as much as they can. (I’m guess, a month or two before its final.)

The manager, Andrew handed me a check for the lesson I did last Friday. So strange to get my first check only to find out that its the last check.