My Swee Lee Experience
Well I'm really sorry but I'm not a local so perhaps my experience could be different. I've been in and out of Swee Lee (150 Sims Drive) for these past few days, first, I bought my bass guitar which is an Ibanez GSR200, I went there fully decided that it's the bass guitar that I needed. So I went to look for an available staff to assist me and he's a long-haired malay but a thad looked like a Filipino rock star(from Yano cross-bred with Slapshock), so I told him what I needed and asked if they have an available stock for the color I want (which is black) then he checked for a while and said they have it so I asked him to get it for me so I can have a try and if it's good i'll buy it, he agreed and went some place to get a new stock, when he came back, we tested it, he played a few bass lines and I played a few bass lines. Then I said I'll take it. Deal is done. No unnecessary BS, no loitering around and talking crap about how bad this and that stuff is, which I know a lot of locals do that, they are time-wasters. Unfortunately, SL sales staff don't know how to handle time-wasters, so they tend to be rude to this kind of people. Am I happy with their service? I don't care, I got what I needed that's the whole point.
For the second time, I came back to SL, coz I need to get a bass amp, the sales staff who attended to me on my bass guitar still remembers me unfortunately he's busy with another customer so I didn't even try to bother him. So I went to the amp section and found what I needed, and it didn't have a price tag, at that the time the store is filling up with people, dads with sons looking for a new guitar or drums, moms with daughters looking for trumpets or keyboards. So I stood right in front of the amp that I want to buy and looked for some chap that I can waved in to come for my needs, then there's an old guy who suddenly popped up from nowhere and told me the bass amp that I want is on sale at $120 and I am standing right in the last piece, which means the only stock left is the display/test unit. I didn't have the second thought so I took the amp, from experience, I know that display/test units are the toughest ones that's why they don't sell those things until the last item in the warehouse has been cleared, same thing is true when buying guitars, but don't follow these pattern for other things. So I got the bass amp, put it in the taxi trunk and I felt it rolled over several times back there. And I could say it's really tough. Am I happy with their service? I don't care. The whole point is I got what I needed.
The third time I went to Swee Lee was to buy a bass stand, Singapore humidity is the worse, putting up my bass in bed or couch I would expect it would be a molten candle in the next day. So I went to 150 Sims Drive. I asked for the bass stand and this time the staff has real trouble with his English. I suppose the rest of the non-locals in this forum has clues on what will happen. Right, so finally I saw the bass stand I was looking for, I grabbed it and head over to the cashier. End of the sale.
To me, Swee Lee is nothing special is just like another neighborhood store like Cheers or 7-11 because I'm not really buying some premium items such as Gibson Les Paul 30th Edition, or the Yngwie Malmsteen Marshall Rig or some over $100K musical ensemble. I just buy what I need to achieve the sound, melody and the harmony I want. End of story.
