I thought this purchase was completed a long time ago - several big retailers are all commonly owned. I suspect all it is, is that M&A are just retiring the WWBW name.

 

Music and Arts is owned by the same group that owns Guitar Center, Musicians Friend, WWBW, and Music123. Vulture capitalism at its finest. Just a reshuffling and likely some debt restructuring. They (Bain) tried to kill Guitar Center after they completely gutted it and it just (still) won’t die.

 

A membership of 250 music stores is a powerful conglomerate across the country!

I had no idea Music & Arts had any brick-and-mortar stores, let alone an alleged 250.

In any event, as soon as Sweetwater launched a full-fledged Band & Orchestra unit, it seemed to step into the shoes of the old WW&BW as the leading online vendor for people like us (at least in the U.S.).

 

+1 on Sweetwater. Just ordered a whole horn pull-through swab. Reasonably priced, free shipping, a personalized email stating item shipped. Delivered very quickly as well. Worth looking into for sax related items!

 

Well, if you count all the Guitar Center stores and all the others the parent entity (Bain Capital? EWWWWW) owns, yes, 250 sounds about right. You have to realize that for these corporate/private equity entities, minor details about brand names and such are small beer; they'll redefine the terms of engagement as they see fit. There probably are NOT 250 separate locations with a sign out front saying "Music and Arts" but if it's all in the family, it's all in the family.

 

There probably are NOT 250 separate locations with a sign out front saying "Music and Arts" but if it's all in the family, it's all in the family.

I used their website to look for a store in my area, and the only thing I found was a listing for a place called "Lewis Music Studio." Weirdly, that location does not appear in the separate list of all M&A stores in the state, so I don't know whether they consider it one of their stores or not.

 

Pretty sure I saw some Music & Arts stores in the D.C. area? Checking via Google maps confirms it...

 

Yes, There are, and have been for years, many Music and Arts stores all over the country. They are the largest rental fleet option and network of retail/ repair shops in the US…which is why they were attractive to vulture capitalists in the first place.

 

WWBW has been sharing inventory with M&A for quite some time now.

 

They all share inventory. Take a look at the storefronts for GC, MF, and WWBW: same products in/ out of stock, same prices, same specials/ coupons all the time. The only thing unique to GC is the used inventory and that’s because they have brick and mortar stores. I think a lot of folks just didn’t know they’ve all been the same for quite some time now.

For the folks making things up about numbers of stores because you haven’t personally seen them before and your Google machines don’t work: There are 305+ Guitar Center stores and 253 Music and Arts stores. They are not at all the same storefronts, but Music and Arts has been under the umbrella since 2005.

 

I just wish they (all "sister stores" of GC) had knowledgeable staff who could choose good products and price them appropriately. I'm surprised they would be able to compete with even the few local sole proprietor music stores that remain, which are usually staffed with very knowledgeable musicians. I remember when WWBW was a great place to buy saxophone gear if you weren't in a city (when I first started playing), and saw its decline as Dennis Bamber sold it to GC.

 

For me, WWBW died when they closed their brick and mortar in South Bend. In High School we used to fill my sisters van with band geeks and checking out all the cool stuff they had. I bought my first real jazz mouthpiece there.

 

I became a member of the 'Customer Club' (#59xxx) so long ago that I don't know if it was in the '70s or the '80s, but you ordered out of the catalog, and you could call it in on a phone and use a credit card or fill out the order blank in the catalog and mail it with a check. The internet was a boon for them but at the same time it signaled their death. As more internet options arose, I ordered less and less from WW&BW. One thing that peed me off was when they went digital and abandoned the old 'Customer Club' with it's 'customer number' and 15% discount. There was a fee to join, $25, and they had no intention of returning that to the members. I think they should have done that as a gesture of good will, but they didn't. That's when I simply turned the page, and many alternatives were there, including what has become the 800 lb gorilla, Amazon. Yeah, its too bad, but in my view, that guy that started it was a creep, and they NEVER had quality customer service - everything was like pulling teeth.

 

Outside of a maybe 4 or 5 very small independently owned B&O stores in SC catering almost exclusively to middle/high school rentals, Music & Arts is the only brick and mortar music stores in South Carolina. Every large-ish town here has a M&A storefront. They tend to carry a decent selection of reeds, and every so often you might see a Custom Z alto in the store. Otherwise, YAS62s and some Eastmans are the best in-store horns you’ll get to try there.

 

my large city has both music and arts and guitar center stores still open

 

M&A is the neighborhood music store in the kind of place where Applebee's really is the neighborhood grill & bar.

 

WWBW used to have a storefront in NYC and I tried some nice sopranos there, like the solid silver Yani. They had a trial period for horns and mouthpieces (45 days for mpcs, 1 week for horns), which I miss greatly. Nothing like taking a horn home or a mpc and living with it for a while, instead of buying without trying and reselling if it doesn't work. That was their main redeeming feature to me.

 

WWBW was really lost when Dennis Bamber sold it to Guitar Center. The South Bend, Indiana location was the best place to go check out anything in musical instruments, including percussion. It has been many years, but Sweetwater in Ft. Wayne, Indiana, is beginning to fill the shoes of the old wwbw. I purchased a Couf Superba II from Dennis Bamber himself in an early small store called The Woodwind.

 

Yeah, those were the days. I remember going to the South Bend store and getting a dozen Links to play test in one of the booths.

 

I still have a few of their catalogues from 20 years ago they used to be my reference library and wish book. Better than a lingerie catalogue when contemplating life in the bath room!

I still look up the price of mouthpieces at times for reference and they have the mouthpiece tip charts in them.

 

I still have a few of their catalogues from 20 years ago they used to be my reference library and wish book.

Me too. It's interesting to be able to document how prices have changed over the years, and also to be reminded of certain brands/models of equipment that were once hot stuff but are now largely forgotten.

 

Welp, I guess my WWBW credit card is probably worthless now.

 

It’s not. Check their FAQ linked to on the OP’s link.

 

I've been at all three locations, unless there were more. 1st one was a house, then a larger warehouse type location then the purpose built location off the expressway. South Bend is only 90 minutes from Chicago so I went several times.

 

The monumental saxophone and trumpet sculpture is still visible from the highway entering Southbend

 

Sadly, there were fewer and fewer venues to purchase music gear.

I always read on this forum about people going to brick-and-mortar stores and trying horns and mouthpieces.
I don't read about many people actually purchasing something at the store, other than reeds and such.

The music and art's store near me seems to make money by giving lessons, with a small sales room at the front of the store.

 

Most likely, this is a big nothing burger...just some restructuring. I would be surprised if the wwbw website goes away. I remember this tread from 2006...

https://www.saxontheweb.net/threads/wwbw-declares-bankruptcy.49137/#post-403774

For us little shops, wwbw was always like the "Walmart" next door to the "Mom and Pop". It was nearly impossible to compete with them, so when they announced bankruptcy in 2006, little family-run retailers got excited. Short-lived though...wwbw continued to kick our butts as if nothing had happened. I remember arguing with Eric(?) Alexander (Alexander Reeds) that I could buy Alexander reeds from wwbw cheaper than I could wholesale from him. I wanted to carry his reeds, but there was no way to compete. Sadly, this was true for a lot of products.

 

I remember arguing with Eric(?) Alexander (Alexander Reeds) that I could buy Alexander reeds from wwbw cheaper than I could wholesale from him. I wanted to carry his reeds, but there was no way to compete. Sadly, this was true for a lot of products.

Unless you got the same or similar wholesale price, indeed. You have a higher overhead, too.

 

I have a friend whose family owned a "discount store" - if you remember these. Basically the same kind of thing as a K mart, but family owned, one location in a small town.

At one point Walmart was running a special on fishing reels, and their retail price was cheaper than the family store could get them from the wholesaler. His dad went down to Walmart with a pocket full of cash and bought every one they had in the store, took them back to his own store, and put them on the shelf.

The family store didn't last too much longer.

 

Between Portsmouth and Manchester NH we have at least 2 guitar centers(fairly large stores) and a music and arts store (medium sized, and with 5-6 rehearsal rooms)

I only go to these when I need something quick, but I have shopped online with wwbw for many years

 

They don't appear to have Rigotti Gold reeds for sale! Now I'll have to look for another source for Rigotti reeds.

Edit: I just went to the WW&BW website and they still have the Rigotti reeds listed. So, I guess I can order them there. I'll find out next time I try ordering some. Has anyone here ordered some Rigotti reeds from them recently?

 

I purchased Rigotti reeds from WWBW about a year ago. I have since switched to Sweetwater. Sweetwater ships out quickly. They remind me of what WWBW used to be like.

 

WWBW had the advantage of being local to Elkhart. A small town store would buy a $1,000 instrument for $500 plus shipping. A larger dealer would pay about $400 due to quantity plus shipping. WWBW would not pay shipping as tehy could just drive over to the factory and run the horns back to the store. Even a mega store who has to ship inventory is screwed..

 

Well, now I think I'll go to Sweetwater. I tried to log into my account at WWBW and for some reason they wouldn't accept my password. I made a new one and they still wouldn't accept it. I tried opening a new account and that didn't work either. Guess I could call them and mess with it over the phone, but I'm not inclined to go through the hassle. Don't know what in hell is going on there, but I've given up.

I'll give Sweetwater a try when I get a chance (have plenty of reeds right now, so there's no hurry).