Guitar Center closes very first store ever

[obimark]

You'd be surprised. Although I don't work for GC, I do work in management, and it amazes me how many last minute changes will be put into place by the one or two people in charge at the top with no warning or conversation with middle and lower management beforehand.

Oh yeah--- the "genius" managers at my last firm decided to lay-off 1/3 of my office (around 20 people) and simply came down the night before and then did it the next morning. Nice and generous 3 weeks pay too! (After working there 6 years)
Turnabout is fair play though, as I am now in a position to block their amoral, pond-scum firm from doing any business with my new company.

 

[obimark]

There is a difference between someone being terminated from a job that continues to exist and someone being terminated because the position is eliminated. In this case the position was eliminated when the store closed. The laws about each are different.

Exactly- in all lay-offs I have been in, it is always worded "Your position was eliminated" this is to lower your ability to sue. And they kept on people doing the exact same position as well. (because they were cheaper)

 

[bearfoot]

It's what you get with big corporations. I'll tell you something, OP, this WILL be a net gain for you in the end. It's a great opportunity for somebody to open up a shop in the area, for one thing.

As for COBRA, good God. That's about $650/month, more for dental or HRA if you have any. I am on it right now, having gone through a transition. There's no way in hell I , or really any working class bloke, could afford that. Only reason I could make a payment is I have a large HRA I which can be used to reimburse the COBRA payment.

You have option to get different insurance than the cobra, thanks to the bipartisan efforts of a lot of people over many years. In my case, I couldn't make any comparisons because my info was held up at the State level, and I had no choice but to opt for cobra, having current medical needs. Once you make your choice, you're locked in (until you miss a payment of course).

 

[thebassguy86]

That really sucks. I grew up south of TH (Sullivan) and went to college at ISU. We only had the Conservatory of Music and the Guitar Shoppe there when I was in the area. Not sure if they are even around any more.

Good to see another Hautian in the TB forums. Both stores are still open - the keyboard place and the museum is what the music community has come to know them as now.

 

[Addison]

Semi-related story:

I worked for a Bay Area dotcom in the late 90's that experienced huge... and I mean HUGE growth. After the dust settled in early 2000, it wasn't sustainable, so they had to have layoffs.

Out of about 150 of us, they kept about 40. One by one, we were secretly asked to go into a small meeting room and asked to be quiet. When we were all accounted for the door was closed and we were told that outside the door, 110 people were losing their jobs and that we needed to wait in there until it was over. There were refreshments, breakfast and lunch waiting for us. Armed security stood outside the door to keep anyone who might lose their mind from getting in.

Luckily it stayed peaceful and there were no outbursts... I think the generous severance package they prepared really softened the blow. After about 2 hours, everyone was gone and we were invited to go down the block to a really nice pub for a drink. I never had a chance to get anyone's contact info, so I never spoke to many of them again.

It was on a Thursday. Friday was given to us as a paid day off, and we began to restructure on Monday.

It was very surreal, and I remember it like it was yesterday. Just thought I'd share.

Anyway, sorry to hear about your job... you'll get another one.

And it'll be better.

 

[TJH3113]

Sorry about your job loss. I hope you land on your feet.

 

[Ben B]

I've worked in places where the people who were being laid off only found out about it when somebody in management (along with one or two security guards) showed up at their desk to escort them down to personnel for "out processing."

I saw this happen at a previous employer. It was a computer software company. I guess management thought that if people had prior notice, they would start deleting data off of the servers or downloading viruses. I've heard that being escorted out by security guards during a firing or lay-off is pretty common in high tech businesses.

 

[okcrum]

As others have said, this is not new in the retail business, and doesn't necessarily reflect the state of corporate finances. It would be interesting to know if the landlord is local (without straying into politics). In Sedona, the Pizza Hut sat empty for years when the franchise moved out because of a landlord lease hike at renewal. The same happened to Rite Aid, when the offshore conglomerate who owned the property raised the lease to $1 million/month at renewal time. That space also sat empty for years. Staples is there now, but it took them a couple of those shuttered years to negotiate the lease deal into something they could live with.

 

[40Hz]

There was once a time when many st companies bent over backwards to disavow any real or implied "employment contract" when they hired somebody. But today, sone companies have gotten smart about it. One corp I did business with had almost all their employees on a one year employment contract. So you knew from day one that your position wasn't permanent. And that you would separate from service on your anniversary with the company unless it chose to renew you for another year. So with them, a contract renewal replaced your annual raise review. And since they paid top dollar and offered great fringe benefits, their employees were highly motivated to impress enough to be allowed to stay on for another year, many times at a higher contract amount if they truly impressed.

The company's philosophy was that it yielded two benefits to the company:

1. It discouraged people from getting too comfortable about their tenure with the firm - which in turn motivated them to excel at their jobs.

2. If they ever did hire somebody who wasn't working out, it set a fixed time limit on the employee's chance to correct matters. But either way, the most they'd ever be stuck with someone who wasn't cutting it was one year tops.

Tough love to be sure. But their people were all world class. And almost all of them liked the arrangement. Being aloha tupe achievers, they were the sort that took it as a challenge.

 

[alaskaleftybass]

View attachment 828351

Remind me to ask for your advice if I ever need to do some sleuthing!

Bassguy, I'm sorry to hear about that. I hope you find some work soon.

Brothers, this is the sign of things to come.

 

[Killed_by_Death]

The worst firing I've witnessed was a bunch of staff members who were already told months in advance that there would be cutbacks.

I was a contractor, which meant that I had a little more time before the axe came down.

One morning I got a call from a gal I knew (staff member) who wanted me to come open a door for her, because her ID/key card wasn't working on the doors. We had security doors.
I was usually in pretty early, as was she.

I went down there & opened the door, but soon after our phones were ringing again, but this time we were stopped from opening the doors by security.
They basically waited for these staff members to come to work, after they had disabled their key cards.

All the doors & some walls of this huge lobby were glass, so we could clearly see people crying & just going a little mental.
The gestapo rounded them all up, took their badges & basically told them to go home.

They canned 40 people that day, and I was one of the next 40 to go three months down the road. Luckily I lined up my next job first, which was a Y2K project.

Oddly enough, when I came back there to work 10 years later, about half of those same people who got canned that day were back working for them again, LOL!

 

[Killed_by_Death]

Remind me to ask for your advice if I ever need to do some sleuthing!

I actually did a few shorts stints as a Private Investigator in Bangkok.
It can get nasty though, if the GF/wife finds out who was following her.

The guy I was working for was in deep dirt too many times, so I chose not to take any more jobs from him.

 

[basspraiser]

Really sorry man.

I know this type of thing happens often.

I am in a business where I have personally seen it happen twice... I'm a business consultant and the plant closed while I was there... No notice... ( no I had nothing to do with it....)

Very sad... Especially with no notice.

Best wishes and prayers for a new venture for you...

Does make you think though.... What's next?

I actually just got back from the local CG... Had not been there in quite a long time but needed a guitar stand and a music stand light.

Very different from when I was there last.

Stock WAY down and only budget line basses.... Nothing to get excited about... Kind of sad the direction I see them going

 

[DOMIT]

So, Guitar Center closed its very first store ever today in Terre Haute, IN. I worked three and a half years at this location. The news came fast - they told us at 8a.m. that today would be our last day of business.

They explained that it's due to the landlords not compromising with executives about rent. Our lease was up in January and they've been in delegation since then. Obviously nothing came of it, so they closed our doors with no sign of relocation in the foreseeable future.

It isn't the first ever store... they closed the one right by the Galleria in Dallas. (But they have one about a mile or so up the street.)

I'm sure they'll find a site and be up and running again soon!

 

[Killed_by_Death]

I've heard that being escorted out by security guards during a firing or lay-off is pretty common in high tech businesses.

I've never been escorted out, but I have had my computer access accounts frozen, which makes total sense.
I recall coming in, getting a tea, sitting down at my desk & realizing I couldn't access anything. Then the boss came & just beckoned me, w/o saying a word. I already knew the score. It was January 2000 & I was finished with my Y2K project at General Motors (EDS). I had access to servers & mainframes in Detroit.

 

[Gaolee]

Most of my life has been in a notoriously unstable industry, to this kind of thing is pretty common. Because it's a known unstable industry, most people involved take it as it goes. Most of the time, it's not painless, but it's not brutal, either. The exception in my case was getting called in by the boss, told I was being shown the door, and then going back to my desk to clear out. My computer was already locked, so I couldn't even check any last emails or print out any contacts I wanted to keep in touch with. I was told that I couldn't have any of that information, even though there was no competitive issue with letting me stay in touch with anybody. I reconstructed the information over time, so whatever the point was, it didn't work anyway. So who knows.

The irony is that the company was headquartered elsewhere, and my boss, who had shown me the door, was canned in the same summary way a couple years later. He never saw it coming, since he typically strutted around and made comments about how he had been invited to go to the head office and work his way up the ladder but that he was too devoted to the local office. Getting out of there was one of the best things that ever happened to me, although it didn't seem like it.

I hope the same for you, OP. When the shock wears off and the rocky next steps are over, I hope you land on your feet and find yourself in a far better situation. It could be a blessing in disguise after some period of frustration, feelings of betrayal, and anger. Best of luck to you.

 

[40Hz]

I saw this happen at a previous employer. It was a computer software company. I guess management thought that if people had prior notice, they would start deleting data off of the servers or downloading viruses. I've heard that being escorted out by security guards during a firing or lay-off is pretty common in high tech businesses.

Most of my work is with finance or tech companies. That's exactly where I saw it happen. And for exactly that reason.

 

[alaskaleftybass]

I actually did a few shorts stints as a Private Investigator in Bangkok.
It can get nasty though, if the GF/wife finds out who was following her.

The guy I was working for was in deep dirt too many times, so I chose not to take any more jobs from him.

He comes across as a Rock and Roll animal, and yet-- there is another side to Super Freak.... sleuth debonair... a man of taste, for danger, excitement, women... and .... he is....

 

[Killed_by_Death]

I was no Columbo, LOL
It was fun to get paid for being sneaky though.

 

[alaskaleftybass]

I was no Columbo, LOL
It was fun to get paid for being sneaky though.