Jan 1, 1999 12:00 PM, MIX STAFF

Whenever a Wal-Mart or Home Depot rolls into a town, it often sweeps away the independently owned and operated retailers who served those communities, often several generations' worth. And when a pro audio/MI superstore moves into the outskirts of town, local music stores experience what their counterparts in hardware, pharmacies and book sales have already gone through.

Hewgley's Music opened in Nashville in 1956 and stood in the same downtown location all of its 43 years-until last September, that is. This past fall, co-owner Jim Broadus, who had started working there as a clerk in 1962 for store founder J.G. Stone and who had purchased the business from Stone in 1983, announced the store's closure. Broadus attributed the decision to a number of factors, including Nashville's rapid growth, which has virtually eliminated free parking downtown ("Who's going to pay $10 for parking to buy a $5 set of strings?" he muses), as well as the closing of Opryland last year. But at least half of the decision is attributable to the arrival in 1997 of Thoroughbred Music, with MARS moving in the following year.

"It's not a level playing field anymore," says Broadus, who asserts that the superstores can buy wholesale from manufacturers at significantly deeper discounts than any independent retailer can. "They get a much better cost basis when they buy in those kinds of volumes."

But that phenomenon is doing more than just changing the rules; it's also changing the very fabric of the manufacturer-retailer relationship. "The manufacturer's rep is becoming an endangered species," say Broadus. "The superstores can make one phone call from their corporate headquarters and supply 22 stores simultaneously. The relationship between the retailer and the rep is no longer going to exist, and that means that the kind of hands-on knowledge about equipment that reps could convey one-on-one with retail sales people isn't going to be there anymore. And that will hurt the customer in the long run."

Broadus is not angry with the superstores, saying that it's a reality affecting numerous other retail sectors. However, he cautions that customers may be trading price for service wherever it happens. And in the musically dense environment of Nashville, he specifically notes that the city's musician base is crowded with endorsers who often undercut the retailers. "You have thousands of people in Nashville who endorse everything from guitar strings to guitar straps," Broadus says. "I used to design sound systems for Opry performers, and after I spec'd out a system for them, they'd say, 'See you later, Jim,' and go right to Peavey and buy the components direct for less. Gibson and Fender both have offices in Nashville just to handle all their endorsers. It has a big effect on sales here, and I don't think the chains have figured that one out yet."

Broadus, who expected to take a sales position with a major MI manufacturer after the store closed, had one prediction for the future of pro audio/MI retail: "In five years, one of them won't be here."

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