Sam Ash Clearwater store closing-any scoop?

Haven't seen this here yet, but I suck at searching anyway.

Was on that side of the bay today hanging out with a former co-worker.  The Sam Ash store there (housed in the old Kapok Tree Inn property) was way busier than normal.  Because, according to the signs, it's closing.  I presume to move elsewhere, but no indication of that.

I know the property has a long, storied history overall.  The Tampa newspaper had an article earlier this year about some of the family infighting going on with the current LLC that hinted at some financial turmoil.  Wondering if time has finally caught up to the place and what the future holds.

The Miami Lakes one is closing too. That was their first South Florida location in like 1996 or so. They have others around here that are probably doing better, Margate and the Dolphin Mall one.

I was going by the Miami Lakes one a couple months ago and had a few minutes, so I went in for the first time in easily 20 years. There was a lot of Michael Kelly and low end Ibanez, nothing that lit me up at all. I heard about the closing earlier in the week and had no interest in going. Nothing there I wanted, even dirt cheap.

Don't know about any family drama. Maybe tgp will make something up that's lawsuit worthy.

Damn,  that's a cool store...     any word on the Sarasota store?   last few times they haven't had a ton

of interesting stuff, but I like stopping in there.      

Ok here is the scoop that I got today at a Chicagoland Sam Ash. They were closing and were only told on Wednesday. Signs were delivered, notices given. Sam Ash is closing stores nation wide and it is rumored that a sale of the company is coming. They are closing profitable stores, shrinking the footprint to make it more sellable. 

Sad news for me.

I spent 11 years working in the Queens & Brooklyn stores and 4 years in the HQ in Hicksville.  Got to know the family personally and enjoyed working there in the 80's-90's.

Apparently they're closing 18 stores.

Well, they made it to 100, and that's impressive.

Aren't the old Tampa, Sarasota, St. Pete Sam Ash stores what used to be Thoroughbred Music? 

Bought my very first pedal (Dunlop Cry Baby) from them by telephone back in 1985 or 1986.  Bought a Washburn Wonderbar from them later that year . 

In 1990 I visited the Tampa store with my wife of a couple of days.  They were so apologetic for me dragging her in there they gave her a Thoroughbred Music frisbee (and then we had kids and they lost the frisbee ).

My guess is that they are getting rid of stores and might be online sales only.

They might keep distribution centers for online order shipping only.

Their online sales were doing bigger numbers than the stores were quite a long time ago, and they offer free 2 day shipping on most items with a purchase of $49.99 or more.

I was talking with Sammy Ash many years ago about the stores and he had said back around 2018 that the online sales were doing fantastic, while the stores were doing poorly.

I was in the Margate store yesterday-they still have a decent selection of used gear. No indication that they were closing, although the acoustic room had a lot of empty spaces on the wall. 

It is with a heavy heart that we announce that all Sam Ash Music Store locations will begin store closing sales today.

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Wow. Sort of surprising, sort of not surprising.