I am very excited today to announce a small evolution of our direct-to-consumer business model: Bliss + Mortar.
This has been a bit of an open secret for a while, but my good friends Blair and Brandon over at Eastside Music Supply (www.eastsidemusicsupply.com) in Nashville, TN have continued to carry Chase Bliss products in their store despite us being direct-to-consumer. I always thought there may be a handful of exceptions to our direct-to-consumer model, and we’re at a point now where it makes sense to give it a name.
Bliss + Mortar will be physical locations where you can try (and buy) our pedals in person. They will be stores and gear communities that are linked to Chase Bliss in an authentic and special way.
I’ve known and been friends with Blair and Brandon for over a decade. They, along with their staff, know our products inside and out. We are all buds and hang out and they have cool dogs and stuff. It just feels right to work together. Simply put, we want to support their business and the community they’ve built and they want to do the same for ours. I recently visited their shop to do a little event with our pals from Old Blood Noise & Andy Othling and this here is that video to introduce them.
We’ve decided that we are going to add a store or two per year in this way. Bliss + Mortar stores will not be allowed to sell our products online, only physically on-location. We plan to do somewhat regular in-person events at these select locations to really make it a true partnership.
If you are a store that would like to be considered for Bliss + Mortar, please contact me and we can have a conversation about that. However, I really do have to be honest that this is an extremely limited thing. We already have all of our plans made for 2023 and 2024. And I have a few ideas already for beyond.
Now, you may be getting confused at this point what our model actually is. In short, it’s direct-to-consumer with some very rare exceptions. It might help to spell all this out in a glossary of sorts:
Bliss + Mortar: The thing we are talking about now. These are places where you can try and buy things in store, but you can’t buy things online from them. To buy things online you need to visit a HUB on the interwebz.
HUBS: These are the most typical places to buy pedals from us (through our website). This is also where we ship & repair pedals. We currently have two hubs. One is Amsterdam and services the EU (www.chasebliss.eu). The other is in Minneapolis and services most everywhere else in the world (www.chasebliss.com).
JAPAN: We still work with a traditional distributor in Japan. They are called Umbrella (https://umbrella-company.net/) and they are the best. There are many shops in Japan where you can try and buy Chase Bliss pedals.
Ok, I think that is it for now. Thanks for reading and head on over to Eastside Music Supply if you live in or visit Nashville! They have an absolutely amazing store, vibe, and pedal selection.