Over four years after the COVID-19 pandemic, local guitar stores continue to adapt to industry changes brought about by the pandemic.
Ever since the first lockdown, the market for instruments and equipment sales changed completely, according to Alan Estevez, owner of El Diablo Amps & Guitars in Minneapolis.
Today, customers are much more willing to shop online whereas musical instruments were previously sold almost entirely in person.
“Back when you could go to a guitar store, the culture was to go in and try a guitar,” Estevez said. “When you couldn’t anymore, it became okay to never have tried the guitar.”
Because COVID-induced supply line shortages halted the mass production of new guitars, demand increased drastically, according to Nate Westgor, owner of Willie’s American Guitars in St. Paul. He said being stuck at home inspired many to use their newfound free time to pick up an instrument.
“Now, basically one in four people you know play guitar,” Westgor said.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Willie’s shifted to an appointment-only model, which has stuck ever since. Westgor said sales have almost doubled since shifting to appointments only because customers, especially women, can shop for instruments without being bothered by older men who would hang out at the shop without buying anything.
At the beginning of the pandemic, Willie’s was completely closed to the public, fulfilling orders through curbside pickups and deliveries.
Estevez said sales in 2020 were the highest they have ever been, eclipsing the record year they had in 2019. Although stay-at-home orders limited how many employees could come into the store, he said El Diablo had so many online sales during the pandemic that he had to find ways to bring in as many employees as possible to keep up with the demand.
Estevez said El Diablo has sold guitars online since opening in 2012 and was an early user of the online music sales website Reverb. El Diablo is one of the 300 biggest sellers on the platform.
Estevez said Reverb has become an online behemoth in the music industry.
“It’s the Amazon.com of the market,” Estevez said.
Beyond allowing brick-and-mortar stores to continue doing business during the pandemic, online sales gave stores access to an audience of clientele outside of the region, according to Dale Hanson, owner of Vintage Strings in Minneapolis. Hanson, who personally repairs and sets up every guitar sold by Vintage Strings, said he has shipped orders all over the country and even internationally.
Certain niche instruments, like accordions or discontinued guitar models, are more sought after by international buyers, Hanson said. Reverb made it easier for him to sell some of the more unique instruments in his shop.
Stores without Reverb pages or online sales had to find alternative ways to deal with the impacts of the pandemic. Cadenza Music is a store in St. Paul that still does not do any online sales, according to owner Dan Lehn.
Lehn said over half of Cadenza’s business is music lessons. All of their instructors had to teach online during the pandemic.
Lesson retention rates were actually higher during the pandemic, and dropped off about 40% once stay-at-home orders began to lift, Lehn said. He attributed the higher retention rates to people wanting to do consistent activities during the pandemic.
Nowadays, music stores are reverting back to how they conducted their businesses before the pandemic.
Guitar prices skyrocketed during periods of manufacturing and shipping shutdowns but have started to drop as people are less desperate to get their hands on a new axe, Estevez said.
“Business is slower now that the irrational exuberance is gone,” Estevez said.
Despite the increased business brought on by the feverish demand of the pandemic, store owners are glad to see the market revert to normal. Even though fewer people are coming into stores and more are purchasing instruments online, Westgor said he is happy to see how much interest in music has expanded since the pandemic.
“In times of trouble, it’s the musicians that stand up,” Westgor said.