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| - Long & McQuade is the the kind of store where I need to bring the exact amount of cash I need for my purchase into the store with me and leave my credit card in the car! It's important for my happiness, but also deadly to my bank account.
I dream of the days of locally owned mom & pop music stores, but Long & McQuade does a whole lot of things right that I would love to see a lot of them learn from.
While it may be a result of the buying power they have by being country wide, they have a credit system structured to deal with musicians. It's probably no secret that a lot of musicians don't have the best credit and using numbers alone would be nothing short of a ship wreck to most credit companies. What Long & McQuade understands is just because you're some punk kid working a minimum wage job, you're a punk kid working a minimum wage job with a guitar addiction! You want it, need it, and will starve yourself before giving that guitar back. As long as you make your payments to Long & McQuade they will treat you like royalty and they don't give a damn about any other aspects of your life.
The rental section is awesome! I'm been renting from here since my highschool days of throwing terrible punk rock concerts in community halls and they'd let me use a twenty dollar bill as a deposit. Now as a full-fledge member of the adult world (I'm still waiting for my membership card) I often rent PA systems and lighting for events. They always have what I need at a fair cost, and with theft insurance for around $4, it takes away a lot of the stress. This kind of stuff gets stolen from time to time. Someone once stole my 4x10 bass cab out of the back alley. What jerks! Had it been L & M's gear I wouldn't have had anything to worry about!
Even though the sales guys aren't commission based, they still know their stuff and they're always around when you need them... mostly... I do like that you can get someone to help you our regardless of whether you're making a large or small purchase. I make many, many small purchases before I walk in and drop a fat wad of cash in exchange for a stack, but the service that I get when I'm just there to pick up a few odds and ends, some drum sticks and guitar strings, makes all the difference.
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