Guitar Center seems to have the Barnes & Noble problem, that is, they provide a valuable service in allowing you to browse, compare, and try out products, but they attempt to make their money from the product itself, which you can buy online from a non-brick-and-mortar store for cheaper. I've been to Guitar Center much more often than I've bought anything from there.
And both of these companies, being national chains, have the capital to out-compete local independent book / music stores, but because they're a chain, they won't inspire loyalty. I might feel like I should pay a little more to buy a book from Greenlight Bookstore instead of Amazon; I don't really feel like I should extend this courtesy to Barnes & Noble.
How do we solve this problem in a sustainable way?
Ok, so bass player here... First, if Guitar Center has done more to improve the sound and lighting at local churches across America than anyone, ever. As far as instruments go, I love smaller, local guitar stores because they often carry product you just don't see in the big stores outside of the used gear department. I've ran into all kinds of cool stuff ranging from some really nice amps made in some local dude's barn to custom shops, to one store that was importing insanely nice boutique brand guitars directly from Japan (I picked up a short neck bass there and played it for a decade before I gave it to an aspiring player).
Guitar Center was cool and all, but really, I don't need 168 perfectly mass-produced bass guitars to choose from. If I'm going to drop $2000+, well, that goes a long way towards something custom from a local luthier. So much of music is about expressing yourself... If you want to sound like everyone else, play the same guitar the same way as everyone else. That said, Guitar Center and Sam Ash really do a great job making pretty good equipment affordable and more importantly, easy to get.
I think this might not be a solvable problem. If you have a brick and mortar store, you're going to have to use it to drive value in ways that an online business can't. If your business model doesn't really support your expenses, it's a problem for your business model, not for anything else.
Other stores solve this problem by using the brick and mortar locations as warehouses that can ship as fast or faster than amazon at a competitive price. This also enables same day pickup at a lot of stores, which amazon struggles to do.
Stores that don't have the volume or margins (like guitar center) to support the physical locations are in for some hard times.
I thought manufacturers in at least some product categories would feel they had to step in to provide showrooming options. But with some minor exceptions e.g. camera manufacturer displays with an employee there to answer questions like at B&H, they really haven't. There are probably still enough physical chains to muddle through (Best Buy, Staples, Home Depot/Lowes, etc.) to cover a lot of the mainstream big ticket items people would buy.
As for Barnes and Noble, I'm not sure they provide a particularly valuable service. I can see previews of a lot of books online, read reviews as I browse, and get most things in print in a couple of days. I'm actually not sure the last time I was in a B&N.
Private labels. Many furniture stores and clothing retailers do not have this problem, because the items they sell are all their own label. It’s sort of impossible to showroom them because you wind up buying it from the same company anyway.
And both of these companies, being national chains, have the capital to out-compete local independent book / music stores, but because they're a chain, they won't inspire loyalty. I might feel like I should pay a little more to buy a book from Greenlight Bookstore instead of Amazon; I don't really feel like I should extend this courtesy to Barnes & Noble.
How do we solve this problem in a sustainable way?