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Sweetwater is okay for PA stuff. I've bought mics, cables, stands, and a few other things from them but they seem to focus on the fair pricing good service model over just going for the lowest prices possible.
I still have an old WW&BW paper catalog from around 2000 at the bottom of a shelf in my studio. Every so often it bubbles up when I'm looking for something else and I flip through it just for nostalgia. I realize it's only been a marketing front for years, or at least more of a marketing front than it actually always was. I stopped at the original store (before the one with the pond and instrument statue) back in '97 when driving cross country. I was expecting to see something like what you see in the pictures and videos of SaxUK but even then it was a lot like a Guitar Center with most of the retail floor space dedicated to rock band stuff - guitars, drums, keys, and PA equipment. Based upon the pictures I saw I think the location with the pond and statue was more like what I was expecting but it didn't last long. I went there once but because I had unknowingly crossed the time line I was there over an hour before they were going to open and I didn't feel like waiting. It looked like a very nice building but I don't think they could generate enough foot-traffic with just wind players to justify the place.
What's sad if the WW&BW name goes away is it's an indication that wind players no longer make up a large enough demographic or represent enough economic value to be marketed to separately even if it is just a facade.
I still have an old WW&BW paper catalog from around 2000 at the bottom of a shelf in my studio. Every so often it bubbles up when I'm looking for something else and I flip through it just for nostalgia. I realize it's only been a marketing front for years, or at least more of a marketing front than it actually always was. I stopped at the original store (before the one with the pond and instrument statue) back in '97 when driving cross country. I was expecting to see something like what you see in the pictures and videos of SaxUK but even then it was a lot like a Guitar Center with most of the retail floor space dedicated to rock band stuff - guitars, drums, keys, and PA equipment. Based upon the pictures I saw I think the location with the pond and statue was more like what I was expecting but it didn't last long. I went there once but because I had unknowingly crossed the time line I was there over an hour before they were going to open and I didn't feel like waiting. It looked like a very nice building but I don't think they could generate enough foot-traffic with just wind players to justify the place.
What's sad if the WW&BW name goes away is it's an indication that wind players no longer make up a large enough demographic or represent enough economic value to be marketed to separately even if it is just a facade.