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RIP Daddy's Junky Music


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Posted

http://boston.cbslocal.com/2011/10/26/dadd...-all-locations/

Damn - they closed a few stores first, but now the whole New England chain is gone.

I bought all the gear I currently own from Daddy's. Very sad day for me.

I've bought a variety of stuff over the last 30 years from them. Gonna' be weird, but I hope it at least helps out the mom-and-pops

Posted

I ordered tons of stuff, via their catalog, 15 + years ago. One of the most interesting was a P bass, advertised as 1960's with original case. When it arrived, there was no case, or gig bag. And, it was a 70's P bass. I called in and asked why they said it was a 60's bass. They told me to check the neck stamp. I did, and somebody had taken a sharpie, and written "1963" at the end of the neck, lol... Nice try.

Didn't they stop shipping gear a few years back?

Posted

That news made my stomach turn a little.

I have purchased so much stuff from them.

GC recently stopped putting used items on lay a way. At that point I thought I still have Daddys.

I feel bad for everyone that still has out standing credit with them, items on lay away, instruments at their repair shop, the employees, etc.

My Edwards is the most recent purchase from Daddys and that was well over a year ago.

I have been dealing with the Manchester Music Mill or Buckdancer's in recent months.

Sad..

Posted

To be honest, I haven't seen anything worth buying at a Daddy's store in at least 15 years. Sorry to see them go for all of the reasons backinit mentioned. but I will not miss the stores themselves.

Posted

One of the best days ever was getting my license and taking a road

trip with my friend to the Salem store and saw an Ibanez flying V on

the wall. the second best day was one day walking in and seeing a

Hamer special, hanging on the wall for $199... OHSC too.

Frank Rindone was one of the salesmen in that store.

I had a good relationship with Bob who was the Manchester

store manager for a while, He found me a mint standard custom

elliot easton's lefty firebird and a rare flametop eclipe. I think

my best deal might have been an early cunneto mary K relic

strat for $899, probably worth 3 grand right now. and a 70's

fender jazz bass neck for $5 (nashua store opening auction

in 1981)

Definitely agree with the "decline" comment. About a year ago,

my buddy and I started wondering what was going on with them.

The quality of inventory went way down, they carried alot of

imported stuff and it seemed to really degrade over the last

year or so... Something ugly must have happened to not

even have s store closing sale.

Posted

I had been in the shrewsbury store a few times. Didn't like em that much, but hate to see another brick and mortar die.

Edited to add... I didn't realize they shut down as of last night. I figured they were going to liquidate. If I had a layaway, zoiks! Hopefully the lawyers will get all that taken care of.

Posted

Their mail-order stuff was always a kind of "cross your fingers and hope for the best". I scoured through one of their stocklists once (which were also as randomly organized as they were vague) and found a "Hamer Doubleneck". Figuring that the worst I could do was a Cali, I ended up with a rare 81 guitar/bass combo. The guy on the phone couldn't even tell me the configuration!

Posted

Before the internet, their mailer was my source for gear I couldn't find at my local dealers as well. I couldn't count the Mesa Boogies, Jackson and ESP stuff I bought way back when through Hirsch - he probably still has my old mailing address from the early to mid 90s on file.

Posted

Very easy to spend way too much money at the Mass Ave store when I was living right across the street during my Berklee days.

Back then we had Daddy's, Wurlitzer, Cambridge Music, LaSalle, Jack's Drum Shop and one other store whose name I can't remember all within a block or two.

Wurlitzer is long gone, Cambridge Music closed a year or two ago, LaSalle no longer has a Boston location. Jack's moved to the cape. The only places I can think of that are left are the Guitar Center near Fenway, Mr. Music in Alston and Guitar Stop in Cambridge. Nothing like having a half dozen stores within a couple blocks.

Posted

Wow.....what a shame. Fred Bramante is a great guy and not the typical "musician-turned-store owner without a clue about business." He was the NAMM Treasurer in the early '90s.

He also ran for governor of NH in the mid/late '90s.

I'd scoped out a building on Long Island back then (blueprints/demographics, etc,) trying to get him to open a Junky's here when he was expanding the chain. If it wasn't for him being in the midst of the governor run it might have happened.

That's a whole lot more people joining the unemployed.

If someone that experienced and connected has to fold shop, it's not a good barometer of what is coming down the pike.

On a related not....driving into NYC the other day....almost HALF of the many huge billboards on the LI Expy. at the last half mile entrace to the Midtown Tunnel ARE BLANK!!!! That has NEVER happened before in my lifetime. Scary.

Posted

I bought a few things from them over the years, Hirsh was a great guy to deal with. Sorry to see them go but I saw the writing on the wall when they closed up the internet sales.

Posted

Interesting tidbit:

This guy Hirsch who's been referenced a couple of times here is Hirsch Gardner, the drummer for the band New England. His daughter and mine went to high school together.

Posted

Very easy to spend way too much money at the Mass Ave store when I was living right across the street during my Berklee days.

Back then we had Daddy's, Wurlitzer, Cambridge Music, LaSalle, Jack's Drum Shop and one other store whose name I can't remember all within a block or two.

Wurlitzer is long gone, Cambridge Music closed a year or two ago, LaSalle no longer has a Boston location. Jack's moved to the cape. The only places I can think of that are left are the Guitar Center near Fenway, Mr. Music in Alston and Guitar Stop in Cambridge. Nothing like having a half dozen stores within a couple blocks.

Ed Roman's East Coast Music Mall, was on the back corner by the dorms.

Posted

had a nice talk with a local competitor tonight, who by no

means thought it a joyous occasion. one of the comments

was that he felt Daddy's had a weak web presence

given the size and rescources it had and #2, the low trade

in values offered by daddys were a frequent complaint

among his customers over the years. (which I would

confirm first hand :lol:

He also felt there would be opportunities for other stores

to step up and fill the voids in the various areas, Music Mill

in Manchester, NH for example, who has actually been

growing in a down market.

Posted

They didn't hit the web fast and hard, so they tanked. End of story. Almost all of the "small-time" stores like Dave's guitars up in WI, BCR in PA, etc etc have huge web presences, and great customer service.

Of course, I for one, think they really need to find a way to close the "sales tax loophole". I am in NJ, so I almost always end up paying sales tax anyway, as it seems everyone has a distributor in NJ.

Posted

I know one of the managers who sued. Not a great guy to be honest but ... I had alot of friends that worked at Daddy's and bought alot of stuff there. Too bad all around.

Posted

Hey. Yes, we lost the Daddy's in Chicopee, MA as well. I liked networking with the guys there. My shop is up in Northampton, MA and we do used instruments, consignments, etc. Lots of older japanese electrics, and new Eastman, Recording King, G & L, and others. Focus on the older obscure stuff. Trying to keep it interesting and fun. check out www.birdhousemusic.com. take care, Glenn

Posted

Hey. Yes, we lost the Daddy's in Chicopee, MA as well. I liked networking with the guys there. My shop is up in Northampton, MA and we do used instruments, consignments, etc. Lots of older japanese electrics, and new Eastman, Recording King, G & L, and others. Focus on the older obscure stuff. Trying to keep it interesting and fun. check out www.birdhousemusic.com. take care, Glenn

Hmmm. Four total posts and he joined HFC the day Daddy's died.

No opportunism here, nope, none at all. Just another well-wishing fellow retailer. :lol:

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