Guitar Center going bye-bye?

[PowerTube]

I've been hearing rumors for a while now.

http://www.ericgarland.co/2015/02/03/end-guitar-center/

[DRM]

That video clip in the article made me laugh so fucking hard.

[PowerTube]

That video clip in the article made me laugh so fucking hard.

Yep. Such talent! It's even better than what I usually hear in my local GC here.

[DRM]

That's the soundtrack to every music store everywhere in the country.

[straycat]

Just a matter of time using their business model.

[Rich#6]

Guitar Center used to be my go to place. My first experiences with them is at the first big store they had that was in an old grocery store on Milwaukee ave in Chicago. With their used stuff I have had so many bad deals I won't buy online anymore from them.
A store model that has to stock 3/4 of their guitars that most people don't want to buy who would guess this wouldn't work. and Oh yeah let's buy a few failing online stores to have more webpages of the same thing.

[shreddermon]

Meh, saw this before. They're certainly in a downward spiral. But it likely ain't as "doom and gloom" as the article portrays. Not yet, at least.

[jgcable]

Better hope they don't go OB. Where will all the local musicians work? You know... they are the ones who rehearse 3 times a week and bring $20K worth of gear to the local clubs so that they can walk out with about $300 total (which breaks down to roughly $75.00 per man) for a show that generally takes them almost 8 hours to accomplish between loading, transport, unloading, setting up, sound checking, performing, breaking down, loading up, transporting and unloading.
You see... when you have hair down to your ass and tattoos everywhere and floppy ear lobes and piercings everywhere you really only have 2 choices for employment.... Guitar Center or the local tattoo shop.

[BYeh1]

That article is an incohesive rambling that doesn't come close to supporting the author's thesis that Guitar Center is dead. GC's problems are mostly financial, some operational, both of which are solvable.

It's true that GC's over leveraged balance sheet needs to be restructured, probably in a Chapter 11 bankruptcy to reduce the debt to a more manageable level, which will allow the company to restructure and emerge in much healthier financial and operating shape. But closing down unprofitable stores and restructuring debt doesn't mean GC's headed for Chapter 7 liquidation. No chance that happens in the next 3 years. I'd gladly bet him money on that.

[Rich#6]

my closest store's manager's band-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B-v7rFddwmI

[PowerTube]

The first step they need to take is to stop pissing off their customers. Period. It seems that the newest employees always seem to have less of a clue than the last ones.

The 80's were awesome in Austin, TX. There were local guitar stores all over the place and the employees generally knew the gear.

Then:

Me. "So why is this amp $100.00 more than that other one?"
Them: "This one has reverb and an effects loop."

Now:

Me. "So why is this amp $100.00 more than that other one?"
GC: "Uh..... this one is, like, BETTER, dude!!!!"

A bunch of 18-20 year old dumbasses that have no clue, but they'll put a lie out of their asses in a heartbeat to make a sale. And lately they've hired a couple of clueless girls with rotten attitudes.

[xenophobe]

Doesn't surprise me at all. GC lost favor with me when they stopped acting like a mom-n-pop store. Sure, they've been corporate forever, but they didn't act like it.

[BYeh1]

Big box retailers have killed off mom & pops in nearly every vertical, from department stores (Wal-Mart, Target) to electronics (Best Buy) to bookstores (Barnes & Noble) to fabrics (Jo-Ann) to music instruments (GC), etc.

Its the same trade-off that American consumers have consistently chosen... large selection and low prices over mom & pop service. This consumer preference has been the driving force thats reshaped the American retail industry over the past 30 years. Their massive economies of scale allow big box retailers to purchase their inventory at huge volume discounts compared to mom & pops, and to stock 5-10x more SKUs in inventory. They then deliver this value (huge selection & lower prices) to consumers.

If consumers were willing to pay more for mom & pop service/expertise, guess what... the big box retailers wouldn't have won.

How many of you would pay $50 more for a guitar just to have a more knowledgeable salesperson? You wouldn't. We'd rather do our own research online (including chatboards like JCF), then go to the stores to touch & feel before buying in-store or even at an online music retailer.

Btw, online retailers have been slowly killing the big box retailers over the past 15 years. It's the Darwinian market forces at work. Businesses that deliver value to consumers will win and kill those that don't adapt.

[PowerTube]

Big box retailers have killed off mom & pops in nearly every vertical, from department stores (Wal-Mart, Target) to electronics (Best Buy) to bookstores (Barnes & Noble) to fabrics (Jo-Ann) to music instruments (GC), etc.

Its the same trade-off that American consumers have consistently chosen... large selection and low prices over mom & pop service. This consumer preference has been the driving force thats reshaped the American retail industry over the past 30 years. Their massive economies of scale allow big box retailers to purchase their inventory at huge volume discounts compared to mom & pops, and to stock 5-10x more SKUs in inventory. They then deliver this value (huge selection & lower prices) to consumers.

If consumers were willing to pay more for mom & pop service/expertise, guess what... the big box retailers wouldn't have won.

How many of you would pay $50 more for a guitar just to have a more knowledgeable salesperson? You wouldn't. We'd rather do our own research online (including chatboards like JCF), then go to the stores to touch & feel before buying in-store or even at an online music retailer.

Btw, online retailers have been slowly killing the big box retailers over the past 15 years. It's the Darwinian market forces at work. Businesses that deliver value to consumers will win and kill those that don't adapt.

I agree with everything you said, except with a caveat on the part I bolded/underlined. They might carry more inventory, but they don't really have a bigger selection. They follow the "80/20" rule, where years ago the bean counters determined that 80% of the customers buy 20% of the available products. That's why they stock a bazillion Mexican Strats, Squiers, Jackson JS Series, low-end Ibanez RG's, and so on. And in my humble opinion, they totally cater to the 15-year old beginner crowd. That's why you never see a decent Jackson, Ibanez, real ESP and such in there anymore.

[xenophobe]

Big box retailers have killed off mom & pops in nearly every vertical, from department stores (Wal-Mart, Target) to electronics (Best Buy) to bookstores (Barnes & Noble) to fabrics (Jo-Ann) to music instruments (GC), etc.

Its the same trade-off that American consumers have consistently chosen... large selection and low prices over mom & pop service. This consumer preference has been the driving force thats reshaped the American retail industry over the past 30 years.

While I agree with you in general, GC wasn't always like it is now. A little more than a decade ago is when things started to change into the corporate homogenized Musician's Friend's outlet. Before that each GC was kinda different and unique... from the way they treated you, how the store was set up, what products they displayed, some stores focused on a lot of high end and other stores were more like pawn shops. They were one of the larger chains that didn't act like a chain. And until you actually visited one, you never knew what it was going to be like Some were great, some were horrible, but that made it fun... take a day off and cruise 3 or 4 of them if you could. I miss those days.