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Guitar center is going under!

#201
Razman said:
The GC near me (that opened recently - 3-4 years ago??) has a small bench where a guy works on guitars; behind it are all the 'Allparts' items like pup covers, jacks, etc. I've not used him as I do almost all of my work myself.

One of the last remaining mom & pop shops is owned/run by a very good guitar tech who is continuously busy. Until he cleaned up his shop at some point this past year, I thought he was in danger of sever injury or potential death due to avalanche from the mountain of old string packs, wrappers & old strings piled up in the corner behind his work bench. Nevertheless, he's worked on my instruments before, and is one of the main guys in town for performing tech work.

There is another chain in town besides GC (George's Music) and the independently owned shops left are small but solid. One has a section devoted to dj/turntables/recording stuff, another shop is larger but does some PA work for churches, so he stays busy. The main independent place closed down about 5-6 years ago - always liked going there for their variety; they were about the size of a GC.

Pawn shops do a lot of business now - gems can be found in them on occasion. Same with flea markets.

Raz
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Wished our Pawn Shops hadn't all been bought up. They used to be great fun to shop. Now that the main chains, "Cash Pawn America" etc. have bought them out, you have real chowder heads behind the counter going to Ebay etc to price things way above reality. On Occasion you can make a reasonable offer stick, but it sure isn't like it used to be.
 
#202
Berniez40 said:
Wished our Pawn Shops hadn't all been bought up. They used to be great fun to shop. Now that the main chains, "Cash Pawn America" etc. have bought them out, you have real chowder heads behind the counter going to Ebay etc to price things way above reality. On Occasion you can make a reasonable offer stick, but it sure isn't like it used to be.
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This is very true. There are a few independents in town, but if you have a relationship with the shop managers you can get some good deals. It also helps to frequent them often and make offers on gear that has sat out for a while.

The Value Pawn chain stores in my area use time-based price reductions. I was able to buy and then flip a nice 410 cab earlier this year as a result, and picked up a DSLR for a good price the same way. Cash America has stricter corporate standards, I think - but deals aren't impossible. If something sits for a while and especially if you can show that it has some form of damage (like a speaker that doesn't work, or some other blemish) then BAM - make the deal.
 
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#203
One thing I do appreciate GC for is that they will usually buy my gear from me when I can't sell it locally or don't want to sit on it and wait for a buyer. I know I'm losing out on more profit this way, but most of the items I've brought to them I usually break even or make a little $ in the transaction. Sometimes the market is slow, or non-existent. It's nice to have the option - at least for now.
 
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#204
Razman said:
One thing I do appreciate GC for is that they will usually buy my gear from me when I can't sell it locally or don't want to sit on it and wait for a buyer. I know I'm losing out on more profit this way, but most of the items I've brought to them I usually break even or make a little $ in the transaction. Sometimes the market is slow, or non-existent. It's nice to have the option - at least for now.
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This is true, though last time they truly low-balled me. I went to the local Music Go Round. They offered me 25% more than G.C. with an additional 15% increase if I would do it as trade in credit rather than cash. Had I been jonesin' for something in their store, that would of been a 40% difference. --That's something for you to take note of in the future if you have a local Music Go Round with decent management. I gladly took the 25% increase.
 
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#205
Berniez40 said:
This is true, though last time they truly low-balled me. I went to the local Music Go Round. They offered me 25% more than G.C. with an additional 15% increase if I would do it as trade in credit rather than cash. Had I been jonesin' for something in their store, that would of been a 40% difference. --That's something for you to take note of in the future if you have a local Music Go Round with decent management. I gladly took the 25% increase.
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Unfortunately no MGR’s I know of in Florida. Picked up a guitar from One in my home state of Minnesota a couple years ago - love those stores!
 
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#208
In my personal experiences I have never had an issue with GC or their sales/floor staff. 99.9% of the time I am disciplined enough I go in there with a certain agenda of why I am there and do not move away from that. Now that's not to say I don't come across a "golden ticket" of a deal from time to time...chances are I may not need it but man gotta have it! ;)

I always try to support my local Ma and Pop music stores first though.

Guess just have to see what happens next year or in the coming years. A massive liquidation sale could be nice though....
 
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#212
So I got a GC gift card for christmas... Been trying to check the value on their website and it's not working at all... I tried using the whole pin and just the last 4 numbers but no luck. I am probably just not doing it right but it makes me worry...

Should I just checkout with a cheap item and see how much is left if it works?
 
#214
I have another question hopefully someone can help me with:

I have been browsing their used gear to use my giftcard, and I came across a mislabeled listing. The listing says Hotone Effects Lift Up for only 30$ but the picture is of a Hotone bluetooth multi FX pedal which goes for like 200$...

So should I risk buying it and see if they ship the pictured pedal? Would be a killer deal if they do ship out the wrong pedal, I would almost feel bad except that they are the ones who messed up the listing...

Alkali Ike said:
If the card was activated at time of purchase, a GC cashier should be able to swipe the card and tell you how much is on it.
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Sadly I don't live too close to a GC, so I was hoping to make it work online. If I can't figure it out I will have to make a trip to their store though...

What do you think about the miss listed pedal? Would they ship the pictured pedal or pull a bait and switch? :roflmao:
 
#218
geowis said:
I came across this story.

Guitar Center’s $1 billion in debt reveals this truth about musical tastes – Daily News
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Eilif said:
No one denies that Guitars aren't selling like they used to, but GC's woes have as much to do with bad deals, buyouts by private equity firms and debt loads than declining guitar sales.
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Given they sell keyboards, drums, PA and recording gear, all kinds of pedals and accessories. etc, must not do much for their bottom line; guitars is not the only thing they sell..................................
 
#219
Jeff Scott said:
Given they sell keyboards, drums, PA and recording gear, all kinds of pedals and accessories. etc, must not do much for their bottom line; guitars is not the only thing they sell..................................
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Very true. I don't know what their other department sales are like, but as has been discussed elsewhere in this thread, the ridiculous debt they are carrying from their buyout and sale is the real -and likely insurmountable- problem.

GC has got enough money in it that it's almost like a too-big-to-fail bank and this has allowed it to survive longer than makes any kind of sense.
Except that it isn't a bank and it will fail.
 
#220
geowis said:
I came across this story.

Guitar Center’s $1 billion in debt reveals this truth about musical tastes – Daily News
Click to expand...

This article almost reads like one of those "Millennials are killing the _________ industry!" Every company going under is looking for a scapegoat for their failures. Look at Gibson. The CEO had the nerve to blame retailers like Guitar Center, even though several former retailers pointed out how it's just not worth the hassle of being a Gibson retailer.

The fact of the matter is, Guitar Center just sucks at what they do. Most questions you might have for the typical GC employee would only net you a dumbfounded look. If you walk into GC and pay for a new instrument off the wall, you'd be lucky if they even asked you about setting it up for you, or putting new strings on it, because you know damn well it's been sitting there for months and has been touched by every greasy handed teen that walked in there. That's the kind of thing that's just downright unacceptable to me as a consumer. For some reason, they just don't get it.

Hell, it takes 15 minutes to buy a set of strings because they insist on your phone number, address, email address, etc.. It's like "Yes, I forgot to order strings online a week ago and now I'm in a pinch and need them now, just take my money and leave me alone."
 
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