Guitar Center Rant

[Michael Case]

Yes. GC price matches and can save me hundreds. I can set up my own basses and do anything the small store would do for free on my own. When I need real work done I go to a luthier, who isn't going to do it for free if I bought it from him or not. If someone goes to GC for repair work, that's their problem.

I don't even have that much loyalty to GC. I used to work for one of their sister companies and hated it. The only reason I worked there was for the discount. But if they have a product I want for the best price, I'm going to spend my money there.

I really don't have store loyalty. I love Bass Central, and they usually have the best prices, but me being local means I have to pay 7% tax which gets to be quite a bit at the $1000+ level. They usually help me out a bit, but some companies have set prices. A LOT of where I shop is based on who carries what.

Point taken, the funny part of all this is I originally posted because I hate how everyone claims to hate GC, but they are one of the largest instrument retailers. Basically I meant to say if you hate GC so much shop elsewhere. What's the damn point in pissing and moaning about a store where you continue to spend your money.

 

[gmstudio99]

To whomever it was that was ranting about dudes coming in their suits and ties:

Invalid Link Removed

 

[Michael Case]

Nice!

 

[ProfGumby]

To the GC vs the Mom and Pop argument, there is a shop in town that I go to for a lot of things, and there is one in my old Hometown that I have been pretty much a customer since I was 7 and was forced to play the trumpet (Mom's...jeez... )

My point is if a mom and pop, or small shop finds their niche, people will always shop there for more reasons than the cheapest price. Good service and competent sales staff go a heck of a lot further than lowest price.....

GC will never take over the music world, woe is the day that would happen. Customer service oriented friendly people will always have a place against the big boxes.

Well until they actually figure out that part of the equation. But as long as corporate bottom line is the goal, that will never happen!

I see some reason for some rants, as there are all too many folks working for big retail style music centers that don't know a tuning peg from a nut and all they see is a dollar sign. As long as this is the case they will function as big retail and not as a Music store.

 

[Michael Case]

To the GC vs the Mom and Pop argument, there is a shop in town that I go to for a lot of things, and there is one in my old Hometown that I have been pretty much a customer since I was 7 and was forced to play the trumpet (Mom's...jeez... )

My point is if a mom and pop, or small shop finds their niche, people will always shop there for more reasons than the cheapest price. Good service and competent sales staff go a heck of a lot further than lowest price.....

GC will never take over the music world, woe is the day that would happen. Customer service oriented friendly people will always have a place against the big boxes.

Well until they actually figure out that part of the equation. But as long as corporate bottom line is the goal, that will never happen!

I see some reason for some rants, as there are all too many folks working for big retail style music centers that don't know a tuning peg from a nut and all they see is a dollar sign. As long as this is the case they will function as big retail and not as a Music store.

I agree wholeheartedly, but rants alone are a waste if people keep spending dollars at these places. The trend has gone towards lower prices and people went to places like GC over mom and pop shops. Smaller businesses lost out and many died because they couldn't keep up with the big retailers. It had NOTHING to do with people on some forum ranting. GC doesn't care if captincool or doug gumbo on talkbass.com doesn't like the culture, employee attitude, or lack of competence as long as the cash registers keep ringing and they do. Rant all you want, but at the end of the day you're just wasting bandwidth. Action will get results.

 

[Visirale]

To the GC vs the Mom and Pop argument, there is a shop in town that I go to for a lot of things, and there is one in my old Hometown that I have been pretty much a customer since I was 7 and was forced to play the trumpet (Mom's...jeez... )

My point is if a mom and pop, or small shop finds their niche, people will always shop there for more reasons than the cheapest price. Good service and competent sales staff go a heck of a lot further than lowest price.....

GC will never take over the music world, woe is the day that would happen. Customer service oriented friendly people will always have a place against the big boxes.

Well until they actually figure out that part of the equation. But as long as corporate bottom line is the goal, that will never happen!

I see some reason for some rants, as there are all too many folks working for big retail style music centers that don't know a tuning peg from a nut and all they see is a dollar sign. As long as this is the case they will function as big retail and not as a Music store.

Big box stores without customer service aren't going to do well?

Why is Wal-mart the number one company in the fortune 500 then? GC has a very successful business model and I don't think much can get in the way from them completely taking over...

 

[Gnosticbass]

couldn't agree more.Gc is what it is the sales staff are a hit or miss as far as knowledge but the bottom line is price price price. I would be lying if I said i am never buying anything from there again. Shoot I have even been offered a job there what can I say.

 

[Michael Case]

Big box stores without customer service aren't going to do well?

Why is Wal-mart the number one company in the fortune 500 then? GC has a very successful business model and I don't think much can get in the way from them completely taking over...

"Nobody ever went broke underestimating the taste of the American public." H.L. Mencken

"There's a sucker born every minute." P.T. Barnum

 

[ProfGumby]

Big box stores without customer service aren't going to do well?

Why is Wal-mart the number one company in the fortune 500 then? GC has a very successful business model and I don't think much can get in the way from them completely taking over...

I never said they wouldn't do well...I said they'd never take over. Meaning there will always be small shops.

They (big box) may be the dominant force, largest source type thing, but this alone cannot put all the small shops out of business.

Now I say this as a guy who has 4 bases sitting here and one on the way, and one bought a year and a half ago and sold a year ago, all online and not from the local shop. My amp came from the old hometown shop and almost all the parts, strings and accessories came from the local shop.

As an example, Rondo Music. 3 of mine came from Kurt. The Perfect Bass, my new Squier (on it's way here) is from them. My 5 string bass came from Musician's Heaven. He is an Ebay seller, in business for several years with a Fender/Custom Shop Certified Tech that does a set up on every bass. All instances of Mom and Pop type stores with an internet/global reach. That is one heck of a way for a small shop to compete. All the big boxes have is price. Anyone can sell any name brand and beat each others brains in to have the lowest price. Service, availability or off the beaten path instruments or the only source of a specific brand make them an nice niche in the instrument sales world and a heck of a price competitor. I just stated that to be clear. Online sales probably do as much to the small shops as a big box can. And online can be a way to support a small shop.

If a shop has a niche, has a good tech and great service as well as custom ordering, they will stick around, IMHO. I will always prefer to deal with someone who knows me, knows what I have and like and has time to answer questions etc...price is not the only factor, nor the decision breaker for why I buy.

If a small shop is a price gouging, rude and unwilling to help, hack...well they won't be around long and GC, SA and the rest will eat their lunch.

Again, all IMHO.

 

[Visirale]

"Nobody ever went broke underestimating the taste of the American public." H.L. Mencken

"There's a sucker born every minute." P.T. Barnum

I agree with what you have said. But the buyers are speaking with their money...

"There is only one boss. The customer. And he can fire everybody in the company from the chairman on down, simply by spending his money somewhere else."
-Sam Walton

 

[Lowbrow]

Great googly-moogly, will you all PLEASE just let it die already?

 

[Michael Case]

I agree with what you have said. But the buyers are speaking with their money...

"There is only one boss. The customer. And he can fire everybody in the company from the chairman on down, simply by spending his money somewhere else."
-Sam Walton

True, very true, which goes back to my original point of the worthlessness of these GC Rant threads. People are still buying from there so for all the complaining they aint taking any action to change it.

I personally stopped buying from GC when they couldn't even correctly special order some DR sunbeams for me (they special ordered plain old high beams). I since stopped using DR altogether and buy my strings at a shop (not GC) in Manhattan. I also know of some local shops in Brooklyn that have done right for people I know and will spend money with them. Hell, I even like Sam Ash better than GC and would buy from them.

 

[Michael Case]

Great googly-moogly, will you all PLEASE just let it die already?

Man this is great fun, why not have some discussion. It keeps people awake.

 

[Visirale]

I'm sure in NYC where there is a big session and music scene all together, you probably have some great mom & pop stores.

Here in Orlando, the music scene is crap. We just have the big stores. The little stores sell all beginner gear... We have Bass Central, but I'd hardly consider them a mom & pop store... amazing service there, but they're also the #1 dealer for quite a few big brands.

 

[Michael Case]

I'm sure in NYC where there is a big session and music scene all together, you probably have some great mom & pop stores.

Here in Orlando, the music scene is crap. We just have the big stores. The little stores sell all beginner gear... We have Bass Central, but I'd hardly consider them a mom & pop store... amazing service there, but they're also the #1 dealer for quite a few big brands.

Even here it's getting hard for a local business. It's so damn expensive to rent space. I don't know how GC affords the huge stores they have in Queens, Brooklyn, and Manhattan they must get a discounted rent.

 

[GreaserMatt]

Wow, so today I go in, and I see what I have seen the past couple times, a '76 VINTAGE P bass, on the lowest level of hangers. Wow. Can they be this stupid? I also saw this one kid grab a bass and go to the guitar amps and plug it in.

Sad day, my friends, sad day.

I hate that place...

 

[GreaserMatt]

Oh wow...That is terrible, whenever I go, there aren't any other bassists so i'm usually all by lonesome!

+1; just a million gtr players (I also play gtr, so it's cool). Runs away....

 

[Glenn D.]

Big box stores without customer service aren't going to do well?

Why is Wal-mart the number one company in the fortune 500 then? GC has a very successful business model and I don't think much can get in the way from them completely taking over...

I can. Best Buy is rumored to be opening GC-level musical instrument shops inside some of their stores as a test-market. Only about 10% of the American adult population has ever been inside a musical instrument shop - what percantage do you think has been inside a Best Buy? Who do you think has more buying power and ability to influence their suppliers?

Glenn D.

 

[Visirale]

I can. Best Buy is rumored to be opening GC-level musical instrument shops inside some of their stores as a test-market. Only about 10% of the American adult population has ever been inside a musical instrument shop - what percantage do you think has been inside a Best Buy? Who do you think has more buying power and ability to influence their suppliers?

Glenn D.

Same situation different face. It's still a big box company pounding out the smaller stores. I don't care who does it, but it's going to happen...

 

[EBodious]

Even here it's getting hard for a local business. It's so damn expensive to rent space. I don't know how GC affords the huge stores they have in Queens, Brooklyn, and Manhattan they must get a discounted rent.

in my opinion, it is naivee to think that local mom & pops just can't hack it in the free market. big box stores use monopoly-like tactics to undo the free market and insure their success. things like getting tax-breaks and various incentives to open up stores (on the presumption that the town will make it back in the long run, but that doesn't always comes true). or making exclusive distribution deals (as in, we will buy more from you than all your other customers combined, if you stop selling to everyone but us). or working gray-area payscale schemes on their employees to keep costs down (which will also drain money from the local economy). ultimately, the goal is to make the playing field NOT level, so competition gets run out of town.

the negative effects are more quickly seen in "small-town" america where the local economy is smaller. it would be harder to see it in big cities. and it has taken over 2 decades of big box thinking for the national economy to see the negative effects, but here we are.

i think that if you see yourself as a long term part of a community (and understand and value community), then spending a little more (or spending more wisely if you don't have a lot) and keeping your dollars in the local community will pay back in the long term.