Guitar Center Files For Bankruptcy

[Funkybot's Evil Twin]

Guitar Center has filed for bankruptcy. Sounds like they'll still be around at in some shape or form at the end of this but not a good sign.

And I know a lot of people think big music retailers like Guitar Center and Sam Ash are evil, but they were frequently the only place you could go out to try new gear in person. Smaller music shops just didn't carry a ton of Fender guitars and amps, or Gibson, and the ones that did, never had huge stock. And pedals/amps? Forget it. Guitar Center, Sam Ash, and maybe like Manny's on 48th had a decent selection of things. Smaller shops just didn't have the selection. Got my Rhodes at a great price at Guitar Center, got to play an OB-8 there (which I'm kicking myself for not buying - wasn't into synths then), and an Andromeda. Only time I ever laid hands on either synth. Used to love just tinkering with all the gear.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/22/busi ... uptcy.html

[vurt]

be worth keeping an eye on deals from other shops, as manufacturers try to dump stock they had earmarked for gc.

may well have a long term effect on manufacturers too, i imagine there are some where the majority of their business would be with gc.

strange new world.

[jancivil]

I really came to like Guitar Center, I have been given some tremendous deals in there (several things at cost), leveraging the fact that salescritters need to sell and will deal if you know how to talk to them. This is kind of a shame if you ask me. The first virtual setup I had, all the software was bought at the old one on Mission Street around 9th.

[foosnark]

And I know a lot of people think big music retailers like Guitar Center and Sam Ash are evil, but they were frequently the only place you could go out to try new gear in person.

Ha, I have not once been able to successfully try anything in their synth/keyboard department.

In fact, the service at GC is so bad I once gave up trying to buy a cable from them because I couldn't find anyone who would ring it up.

But there were no alternatives to go to for synth gear locally because they'd all gone out of business, probably because of GC.

[Winstontaneous]

I frequented several Northern California GCs from 1998 to 2016 or so.
Quite a selection, and I once got them to knock $400 off the price of a used Pedulla bass because of scratchy pots...I took it home and a couple shots of contact cleaner sorted the problem right quick.

Either every single store had a guy named Trevor there, or "Trevor to the accessories counter" over the GC intercom is universal code for "Meet me at the dumpster in 5 to smoke a doob!"

[Funkybot's Evil Twin]

And I know a lot of people think big music retailers like Guitar Center and Sam Ash are evil, but they were frequently the only place you could go out to try new gear in person.

Ha, I have not once been able to successfully try anything in their synth/keyboard department.

The service sucked at each of the North Jersey stores I'd been to, but the benefit of that was they left you alone to just play whatever you wanted. But yeah, it was a pain in the ass when you'd want to get rung up on something and no one was around.

[digitalboytn]

The service sucked at each of the North Jersey stores I'd been to, but the benefit of that was they left you alone to just play whatever you wanted. But yeah, it was a pain in the ass when you'd want to get rung up on something and no one was around.

They were probably all outside at the dumpster

[Frantz]

They have a fancy "flagship" store in Times Square, NY. I used to occasionally pop in and take a look at the synths. They had a decent selection of synths set up that could be played with.

I was always surprised how empty it was before the pandemic. Given how large the store is and how expensive Manhattan real estate is, that location could not have been profitable. Once the pandemic hit, that store must have become a real liability.

[VitaminD]

They bait and switched me on price when selling one workstation keyboard to them several years back. Online estimate with photos sent to them they returned a high price to buy it from me. Package it up and drive 45 mins there only for them to give a much lower offer, claiming the guy who gave the online quote didn't work that day so they couldn't honor it.

Their in person quote was pulled quickly off of ebay (I watched) for a lesser version also with less keys in notably worse condition. Wouldn't budge on price despite pointing out differences and condition.

It's crap like that that made me dislike Guitar Center. The store itself was nice, but the staff and policies always felt slippery like used car salesman to me. They were (are) the Gamestop of musical instruments sales.

[Hink]

they recruited me, never would I work there, this was when I left MARs and went to Daddy's Junky Music (a now defunct northeast u.s. chain). I worked with a lot of people who had worked at GC including my department manager. They had a very high employee turnover rate , if you didnt make your fade two months in a row you were gone no questions asked. The gear totals were brutal but the PM too, heard too many horror stories.

At MARs we started not on commission, we didnt have that to worry about PM at first but after the first year they took two bucks an hour from us and put us on commission. (that was the beginning of the end for MARs and I jumped ship for Daddy's, if I am going to be on commission I could clean up at Daddy's) We actually had a reasonable draw a MARs to make but our commission varied by PM, up to 15%. I know GC was similar but at least a dozen people told me the fade (we called it a draw) at GC was very tough to make. At Daddy's we had a low draw, we also got a piece of every thing we bought or took in trade for the store (that was sweet)*

They would send me to GC to walk around the store and sit in the lot and count big and small sales, I lived 30 miles away and no one knew me and at least half our staff was ex GC (before commission). One thing some people dont know is the lowest prices new products can sell for is set by the vendor, not the store, not the salesman...Roland, Fender, Gibson, Yamaha, all the companies are quite strict on this. Fender then would often simply not allow another dealer close to an established one. When I was walking around I was looking for such unauthorized bargains and chatting up staff.

After I left Daddy's they put a GC in Nashua New Hampshire across the street from the Daddy's I worked at...I bought a couple things there but if one has any sense of these things you could smell commission bs (when we went to commissions within two weeks customers were asking us if we were on commission)...for instance I needed a quick mic cable once, I went into to GC, it was behind a counter and when I asked for it the salesman immediately grabbed the most expensive monster cable.

This news does not surprise nor does it bother me, times are changing and online you dont get the nonstop yes, but how much is it really crap to put up with...dont miss music retail at all

*one time long after getting out of retail I won a used Roland A33 on ebay, it was in my town so I met the guy that night. I asked him on the phone where he got it, he said "Daddy's", I asked if he remembered the salesman, he said a short guy with long hair...imagine his surprise, but not only did I sell it it to him, I took it in trade or bought it for the store, it still had the sticker with my employee number on it that I put on it...ftr I got it for 200, the price I has set for it that he paid was 400...I can tell you now that I set the price at 400, the minimum price at 380 and likely gave him around 140 if it was a purchase, no more than 180 on a trade...more likely I gave him about 165

[pekbro]

That's one thing about Maui, we never had any of those chain stores in the first place. When I was a kid,
I can recall about 4 or 5 music stores, now there's 1. They can survive as they are the only game in town
and are supported by all the musicians on the island, in one way or another.

There is a GC in Honolulu, I was gonna take advantage of their ability to freight in large items, but then
I found that sweetwater will just ship stuff to me for free.

[mumpcake]

My local GC took over a Musician's Friend showroom. Short version: I liked it better as MF.

What I hate most about them, though is their marketing. "Greatest Holiday Deals Ever" every non BF holiday, usually same as most other days of the year. And then the coupons that exclude nearly every manufacturer except maybe some off-brand mic stands.

[cryophonik]

I’ve gotten many good deals at GC over the years and it sure is convenient to have that much supply in stock to try before you buy. My two biggest complaints are, one, the aforementioned terrible or at least inconsistent customer service and, two, their habit of selling open-box items and items that were simply restocked when someone returned them for being defective. I’ve been bitten by that numerous times, including a “brand new” Push 2 that I bought, got home and found the USB cable that was not in its (already torn open) plastic bag and a unit that wouldn’t power on. Someone else had returned it and they just stuck it back in their inventory. I’m pretty sure they did they same thing after they refunded my money.