You are right diddle,
My local music store was celebrating but reguardless, I was at a GC in Lexington shopping for a drum kit when I called my Favorite local store owner and they beat GC enough that I drove from Lexington to Louisville to buy from my favorite local store. I was looking at Tama Star Classic Birch and Gretsch Renound at GC and I ended up buying Star Classic Birch in Louisville.
I know that I will get better service at my local store. Also, the GC in Lexington had Adult musicians working there, not kids. One of them is a friend of mine. Very good guitar player.
Nutty
I did the same thing Nutty. My local guy beat GC on a Pearl Master Series kit by a huge amount and I know that I can rest easy knowing the entire transaction will be right. For quite some time I've noticed a very negative trend in GC here in northern Virginia where a once professional staff has now been replaced with kids who could care less about service. In fact they act offended if you break up one of their pow-wow sessions for any type of assistance. The only time I use GC now is for emergency items that I can walk in, find, pay for, and get out. As one post stated, they are the "Home Depot" of the music industry. That may be true, but when I want straight 2x4's I don't shop there either.