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    UK music retail chain PMT placed into administration, permanently closing all stores with immediate effect
    United Kingdom

    UK music retail chain PMT placed into administration, permanently closing all stores with immediate effect

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    18 Comments

    1. fishkaboom on

      That’s a big shame although not too surprising. An amazing local independent music shop near me closed a couple of months ago, it’s looking like there may not be an option to try instruments out in person in the not too distant future.

    2. blue_rizla on

      Ah this is shit news. The same link shows that GAK went under in April, I didn’t hear about that either.

      The margins in music shops have always been shit and the carrying cost of their stock has always been very high. I think the prices on the name brands of Squiers and Epiphones have been quite aggressively lowered in recent years (adjusting for inflation), it’s very hard to make money when the biggest section of your customers are buying £150 guitars that you only make £30 on but need to also find the space to store for weeks. And half your potential customers are buying them from Amazon instead.

      Feels like there should be less of a focus on super-budget instruments now or it’s going to take out all the brick and mortar shops. I don’t think it’s too much of a problem if entry-level guitars start at £200 rather than £100, it’s still not prohibitive compared to almost every other lifetime hobby.

    3. Wonderful_Welder_796 on

      People are broke, unfortunately. When that happens, all the fun stuff people spend money on go bust. Especially when there are more economic alternatives. I made sure to get my guitar from Denmark St in London. But honestly, going online would have saved me some money I would have needed, and on top of that, the sellers in the particular shop I went to felt pretty pushy which is no doubt a consequence of the shitty sales environment they’re in.

    4. DanHero91 on

      Sad to see them go, I haven’t been able to play guitar for around ten years due to surgeries and JUST got back into things last year, and a PMT had the guitar I’d wanted for 20 years somehow in stock (Tom DeLonge ES 333). Was great heading back in there.

    5. setokaiba22 on

      I have never heard of PMT or seen a store but horrible news for staff

      Just had to google its 11 stores. “Largest musical instrument chain” probably says it all in the climate.

    6. MIBlackburn on

      This leaves just GuitarGuitar and Gear4Music for big brands now, doesn’t it?

      But there have been lots of closures in the last few years. PMT, GAK, JG Windows and lots of indies.

      I’m lucky that I have a really got independent guitar shop near me that still gets a lot of custom, when I was last in picking up a 12 string Squier, they had several people coming and going, either buying or getting repairs/set ups. I could have saved about £20 on mine if I bought online, but they did a quick set up and checked it worked before contacting me for pick up, which is something online lacks. Shame my local doesn’t sell synth/keys stuff, although my wallet is lucky because of it.

    7. blissedandgone on

      Brutal. Going to PMT in my teens was so exciting just to try all the pedals. Hope another rises up.

    9. Effective_Stomach945 on

      I remember the one at Romford station with the big rat on the shop face, then it closed and moved to a bigger location just off the A12, shame to see it go

    10. covmatty1 on

      Such a shame, having a music shop available is such a lifeline.

      I used the one in Northampton quite a lot, and tried to make a point of buying things in there even if they were a few quid cheaper somewhere else online, because the value of having a physical shop over that small amount of money would hopefully pay itself back if I ever needed a new microphone/string/cable last minute on the day of a gig when I couldn’t edit for online delivery.

      Now I think about it, both of my main basses, my first digital piano and all the accessories, and my effects unit were all bought from PMT.

      Sad to see them go, they were always so nice and enthusiastic about their work, and music generally.

    11. flings_flans on

      Ah bollocks. PMT bought out Sounds Live in Newcastle which was my go-to shop for gear. Now that’ll be a big old empty space again.

      There is a small guitar shop in a market town not too far from me which I patronised occasionally too, guess I’ll be doing that more now. They only sell budget stuff.

      Hoping Guitar Guitar lasts. That would be era ending. We also lost Windows of the Central Arcade recently too. Bad times for music retail in Newcastle and elsewhere 🙁

    12. quelque_un on

      Crap, just bought an expensive synthesiser from them last week, as they were the cheapest store. What does this mean for my warranty?

    13. namboozle on

      Bought my first electric guitar from PMT. Used to love going in and trying everything out before spending a small fortune.

      The biggest shame is these large stores are often the only way you can try out larger instruments and equipment.

    14. kristmace on

      This is such a shame. The Leeds store was the only place in West Yorkshire that stocked the full range of new guitars from all the big brands. They just couldn’t compete on price.

      I was in the market for an acoustic guitar last year and I spent 2 hours in PMT trying guitars from £500-£3000 across numerous brands. In the end, I decided to get a Martin DX1E. £600 in PMT, £500 on Thomman or £375 for a very nearly new one on Reverb.

    15. mat_caves on

      May be an unpopular opinion but I think music retail shops need to focus more on second hand instruments to get the sales volume up.

      A new guitar that can be had for hundreds of pounds cheaper online, especially with the option to send it back if you don’t like it – that’s always going to be a tough competition especially in a cost of living crisis.

      A used guitar though that’s a little bit more expensive but you know it’s been checked out and set up by a luthier before reselling, with warranty and other protection that you don’t get buying ‘as is’ direct from an individual online – that becomes much more worth the expense.

    16. BounceBurnBuff on

      Several factors at play here:

      1) Forgive the boomer way this will sound – music has moved on from the guitar hero for some time, and when I stopped going to our local PMT it was because they began to prioritise LOADS of acoustic guitars in store over other instruments. This was during the ascension of Ed Sheeran and other singer songwriters overtaking bands as the face of guitars.

      2) Rock music in general has seen a declining market share due to having an immense up front cost to get into compared to other genres you can use a laptop to create. There is no reason to shell out for an IRL drum kit unless you are already in an immensely privileged position to have the money, space and time for it. People will pick up the hobbies they can afford, and music is especially one of the areas where content creation boils down to sponsorships and little else. “Hey, check out this bass Harley Benton sent over while I playthrough a track I didn’t use it on” and other similar examples.

      3) Which brings us onto cost. Today’s equivalent of the first guitar I bought myself, a Schecter Blackjack C7, if almost 4 times the price for worse features, and given how bad quality control was getting when I bought my last guitar just before the pandemic, I’d have zero confidence throwing that kind of money around on such a product now. These are luxury items, and even cheapo Fender strat knock offs are mostly 3 figures or knocking on it for entry level.

      So with the music scene broadly favoring non-instrument focused content, a cynical industry pushing boutique products, and the increasing barrier to entry and outlet for picking up band instruments, I’m not surprised we are seeing PMT and others close shop. The money that is left is in the high end products to a niche clientele, which a company like Andertons caters to with Gibsons and such.

    17. Expensive-Analysis-2 on

      Used both PMT and GAK fairly recently. I bought from gak literally a couple of weeks before they closed. The service was poor. Which was a surprise. I never had any issues before. I thought I won’t bother using them again. Turns out the decision was made for me. Feel sorry for those who lost their jobs.

    18. One-Inevitable1861 on

      Genuinely sad to see this shop go. I used to live one road over from the Southend store, it was a 2 minute walk, that store marked a lot of my achievements when I was growing up. For passingmy GCSE’s at 15 with passes my Dad bought me a Slash Epiphone. Then for passing college, a Ibanez Bass. And finally when I turned 18, some pedals. Me and Dad would go in there and browse, try out different instruments and it’s how I fell in love with Rickenbacker. The staff were always friendly, was super sad when that branch closed a few years ago.

      Will miss ya PMT!