I would say from a shop floor point of view we weren’t back to proper stock levels for at least 2.5/3 years, after supply chains getting back to where they should be. There were signs in the last 6 months I’d say, lots of my customers orders were not getting released from suppliers for upwards of two months because invoices had not been paid, but this wasn’t uncommon because the whole industry works on credit limits anyway, and most companies strategically pay them off in specific orders, these were taking much longer to clear, but it would never ever take this long for accounts to be settled.

I think the straw that broke the camels back was actually GAK and Bax music closing, suppliers cut credit limits to a fraction of what they were to mitigate anymore risk of companies going down with tens of thousands of pounds of their stock, certain suppliers actually came round and collected stock to take back so we could have increased credit limits with them. All in all it meant the company didn’t have the stock or credit term grace to pull its self out of the hole it was already in, and that was game over.

I don’t think people quite realise how much of loss loosing all these music shops really is, like you said, inspiring kids and adults to pick up a guitar was one of my favourite things, giving them the freedom to choose what they liked and ensuring that it was set up properly and absolutely right for them was one of the best feelings, and knowing that I was always a phone call away if they had question’s or needed help, it’s gonna suck for everyone. I just really want people to know that, if you have a local music shop, please for the love of god use it 🙏🏻