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Mystery Shopper: Groove Street, Brussels

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Mystery Shopper: Groove Street, Brussels

The latest Guitar Jar Mystery Shopper finds us at the Groove Street guitar store situated in Brussels, Belgium.

…you really could walk in to the store and purchase a guitar, amp and a couple of effects that could suit your playing style completely…

Last week, my 9-5 took me to Brussels, the “Capital of Europe”. This was my first trip to Brussels and it has to be said, it’s a nice city, completely different from what I expected.

After doing the tourist thing of visiting The Grand Place, Mannequin Pis, the Cathedral and eating countless Belgian waffles (if someone even mentions the word “Waffle” I’m likely to puke, I’ve eaten so many), I whipped out my phone and promptly Googled for a nearby guitar store.

“Groove Street” is the name of the store, not the name of the road the shop is situated on. The shop is situated on “Rue Royale” and is around a 20 minute walk from the Central Station. Fortunately, the the Cathedral and The Grand Place are close by (as well as countless museums) so there’s plenty to do if you’re popping over to Brussels for a couple of days.

The shop itself is fairly small, but well presented. First off, it’s worth mentioning that the store seems geared towards the electric guitarist. Whilst there were some acoustics in store, I literally only counted about 6 on the shop floor, tucked away at the back.

For electric guitar fans, you’ll be pleasantly surprised by the selection on offer. Groove Street chooses their stock well, sporting a modest but effective mix of guitars that caters for all tastes and genres. A beautiful Fender Stratocaster Custom Shop model caught my eye, as did an Epiphone ES335 finished in a gorgeous sunburst finish.

The shop features a heavy representation from Reverend Guitars – up close, they look fantastic. The friendly shop owner proceeded to inform me that they are designed in the USA, manufactured in Korea then shipped back to the States for assembly/setup. The range of Reverend Guitars on show was impressive and could easily cater for shredders through to blues purists.

Groove Street has a good selection of boutique guitar effects for sale too. Two large glass cabinets displayed a wide range of highly usable effects from leading boutique manufacturers.

Personally though, it was the amplifier range that ticked all my boxes. Although it’s fairly common to see a selection of Marshall and Blackstar amps on show in many guitar shops, there’s something wonderful about seeing a Marshall half-stack “in the flesh”, plugged in and ready to go. The stack in question featured a Plexi reissue head and matching 4×12, with a custom made Strat-style guitar plugged in ready to rock. I didn’t have the courage to ask if I could have a go, but I’m sure the shop owner would have been more than happy to let me turn it up to 11 😉

Summary

Groove Street is a humble, modest guitar shop. The guy who runs it is very friendly. I asked him if he often gets visits from tourists, he replied immediately with a firm response “every day, all the time”.

The aspect of the shop that I particularly like is the range of electric guitars and amps on offer. Although it’s a modest selection compared to some of the larger shops I’ve visited in the UK, the selection could cater for all players, of all styles. You really could walk in to the store and purchase a guitar, amp and a couple of effects that could suit your playing style completely.

Overall, a good store that has to be visited if you’re ever staying in Brussels. Afterwards, you can treat yourself to another waffle… *puke*

Have you visited Groove Street in Brussels, Belgium? If so, please give your Mystery Shopper comments below.

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About the author:

Sam is passionate about talking all things guitar related and started GuitarJar.co.uk to help encourage all guitarists in their guitar playing journey.

1 Comment

  • My electric guitar is not the most expensive, it had some problems which could be easily fixed. So I told the salesperson/guitarist what needed to done to make the action on the guitar better.

    After the guitar was ‘fixed’ and I tried it out in the shop, I was told that the strings were old and that they should be changed every month. I thanked the salesperson/guitarist for his wise words, but the problem was with the guitar and not the strings. I found that the action was higher than previously, it was evident that it had not been lowered in order to avoid the buzzing at the top of the neck. The frets had not been levelled as requested. I had also pointed out the fact that the nut needed to be adjusted. This was not done and consequently certain chords played at the bottom of the neck were still out-of-tune. The salesperson/guitarist told me that I was ‘pressing too hard’ on the strings. I replied that I had been playing the guitar for many years and that his conclusion was at the least misguided. It was evident that they hadn’t adjusted the nut, which was the root cause of the problem.

    So my advice would be to avoid this shop and to find another guitar shop that actually knows how to repair your guitar. I’ll keep you posted when I find one

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