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Guitar Center Struggling

#201
I'm old enough to remember when shopping malls were cool places to hang out and chit-chat with the girls at Hotdog on a Stick or Orange Julius...
GC had that kind of social vibes. Bands were formed in Guitar Centers (I know. I joined two of them in the late 80s!) On the downside, if you wore short hair, they would send you straight to the Keyboards dept! :D Only black or bleached-blonde hair allowed near the guitars! :roflmao::laugh:

Seriously, the social component has vanished. Therefore people go where they can get the best kind of treatment (Sweetwater). I have gotten a few amazing "Stupid Deals" form MF...
 
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#202
Ellery said:
One M&P around here I'd like to see crumble is Fullerton Music. They follow you around like you're going to steal something and when you have a question they challenge your intent to buy. I would get bad service, not return for a few years, forget, come back, get rude service again. The owner clearly has a target market and if your appearance doesn't fall into that class of people, they chase you out. If they don't like people with long hair and heavy metal tshirts, they shouldn't carry electric guitars and distortion pedals. Duh! (photo of their guitar & bass section):
No noodling

No noodling

Of course this sign was placed over by the BASSES and away from the guitars! Perhaps they were...
Click to expand...
image-jpg.586540
 
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#205
JimmyM said:
Well you may be right. But no business deserves my support simply because it exists a few miles from my house. They have to give me a reason to shop there. And if a mom and pop gives me a reason to shop there, I will shop there.
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I agree, I wouldn't shop at a place I actively didn't like, but for me being local factors into the equation. Support of the local scene, support of the local economy, and just plain diversity of options around me. I'm not saying it's more important than everything else combined, but I am saying I'll pay a little more, or wait for them to order something they don't have, or deal with other minor things. I do the same thing with books, alcohol, groceries, auto stuff, restaurants, general labor (landscapers, housekeepers, etc), I did it for music when it was an option, so doing it for gear is the least I can do.
 
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#206
Sid Fang said:
I suppose guitar shops might be considered "essential services" in places like Nashville. I would have said Austin as well, but Austin has tragically become much more tech than music.
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Oh yea I know it’s not essential but the amount of loopholes other businesses get through let the make money while speciality type shops are going under. I’m all for being careful with cleaning, masks, shields or whatever.
 
#207
Xjenrbcjsmsbfjw said:
You're absolutely trying to make a case for something, whether you want to call that 'convincing,' is your call. Every word there is just more opinions that we disagree on. We're at an impasse here. You don't know better, and neither do I.

Edit: the 'rose colored glasses' shtick is just plain condescending, along with the 'I know better.' Nothing 'rose colored,' about it. Those places were good to me, I don't know why they weren't to you.
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It's called having a different opinion. Having a different opinion does not require that you need to change yours. Not sure why you're struggling with that.

The same goes for the condescension. You seem to take someone else's experiences as being offered as proof that you are wrong. The rose colored glasses was not aimed entirely at you, which you could've figured out by reading the entire thread. I didn't respond to your post to hurt your feelings or worry about them for whatever that is worth. Just looking back.
:D

The places that weren't good to me had reputations as places that weren't good to customers, period. I didn't feel singled out, that's the way they operated. As someone trained several times in customer service and blessed with common sense I've seen that it's a fairly dumb way to run a business. Again, I wasn't alone in noticing that but if it makes you feel better to think my experiences were anamolies, cool.
:D
 
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#208
Ellery said:
One M&P around here I'd like to see crumble is Fullerton Music. They follow you around like you're going to steal something and when you have a question they challenge your intent to buy. I would get bad service, not return for a few years, forget, come back, get rude service again. The owner clearly has a target market and if your appearance doesn't fall into that class of people, they chase you out. If they don't like people with long hair and heavy metal tshirts, they shouldn't carry electric guitars and distortion pedals. Duh! (photo of their guitar & bass section):
No noodling

No noodling

Of course this sign was placed over by the BASSES and away from the guitars! Perhaps they were...
Click to expand...

Sounds like the kind of store that you can use to check something out for the five alloted minutes and if you like it buy it elsewhere. While some stores may not deserve that, some do.
:D

I stayed away from the largest local independent store for fifteen years because the salespeople were jerks, repeatedly. If you don't want my money, cool.
 
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#210
Doner Designs said:
Looks like Guitar Center (which also owns Musician's Friend and Music 123) is struggling amid the pandemic. Meanwhile Sweetwater just expanded again. Not sure what's happening with Sam Ash. Whatever you may think of individual retailers, competition is good for us consumers.

We have a special relationship with Sweetwater because they do photography of our charity projects, but I also have many great memories of browsing the local Guitar Center and Sam Ash stores with my son over the years as well as buying his first guitar and my first bass (among other things) at the Guitar Center in Villa Park, Illinois.

Let's hope they all make it. When they reopen pay a visit to your local store and buy something. We can all afford to buy a set of strings, picks, lesson book, etc and some can put that $1,200 toward a new bass.

Guitar Center Downgraded After Distressed-Debt Exchange

Invalid Link Removed
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Doner Designs said:
Looks like Guitar Center (which also owns Musician's Friend and Music 123) is struggling amid the pandemic. Meanwhile Sweetwater just expanded again. Not sure what's happening with Sam Ash. Whatever you may think of individual retailers, competition is good for us consumers.

We have a special relationship with Sweetwater because they do photography of our charity projects, but I also have many great memories of browsing the local Guitar Center and Sam Ash stores with my son over the years as well as buying his first guitar and my first bass (among other things) at the Guitar Center in Villa Park, Illinois.

Let's hope they all make it. When they reopen pay a visit to your local store and buy something. We can all afford to buy a set of strings, picks, lesson book, etc and some can put that $1,200 toward a new bass.

Guitar Center Downgraded After Distressed-Debt Exchange

Invalid Link Removed
Click to expand...
They never have any basses in stock ?!
4200 guitars 12 basses on the wall ?!
I’ve had mixed experiences with GC, years ago we had great discounts and a good relationship with the managers .. around 2012 that all changed and it seemed like they were blocked from giving us a “pro” discount that we had gotten for years. I still enjoy the occasional visit , don’t really care for the new personnel and attitude.
 
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#214
Doner Designs said:
Looks like Guitar Center (which also owns Musician's Friend and Music 123) is struggling amid the pandemic. Meanwhile Sweetwater just expanded again. Not sure what's happening with Sam Ash. Whatever you may think of individual retailers, competition is good for us consumers.

We have a special relationship with Sweetwater because they do photography of our charity projects, but I also have many great memories of browsing the local Guitar Center and Sam Ash stores with my son over the years as well as buying his first guitar and my first bass (among other things) at the Guitar Center in Villa Park, Illinois.

Let's hope they all make it. When they reopen pay a visit to your local store and buy something. We can all afford to buy a set of strings, picks, lesson book, etc and some can put that $1,200 toward a new bass.

Guitar Center Downgraded After Distressed-Debt Exchange

Invalid Link Removed
Click to expand...


I have always found Guitar Center to be truly Satanic.

Example: I went into a GC and asked if they had any Orange bass amps. I had never heard one and wanted to try one out. The clerk said no, though the GC could order one. I said good, please do. The next next asked me if I planned to purchase it. I said I don't know, I have never really heard one and would like to. Next I was informed if I didn't plan on purchasing it, the Guitar Center would not get one in stock.

My logical response, how can I commit to purchasing something I have never heard went apparently beyond the clerk's level of comprehension.

End of story.

stevieg
 
#215
Last two guitars I bought (Fender American Ultra Jazzmaster and Gretsch G5440LS) came from Sweetwater. I haven't been to Guitar Center since a really bad lowball on a trade in. Store employees generally good, but the store manager -eh.

I've got a great relationship with the local Sam Ash store. My Ric 4003WS is from there along with a few others. They don't always get the basses I'm interested in, though. I haven't run into that problem with Sweetwater yet. Yeah, I hope they all survive so I can feed my habit when the urge hits.
 
#217
I think the biggest problem with GC's operation/business model is staffing stores with "musicians" who aren't knowledgeable about the gear they sell, and don't care about helping customers(especially newbies) make wise buying decisions. I'll gladly pay a little more at a mom-and-pop music store with a professional staff, even if I have to special-order some items. GC's entire business model is based on high volume of sales, even when that means little or no instrument setup and hiring people who will push preferred products over "best fit" products. They may have a big selection, but too often it goes straight from box to sales floor without basic setup or inspection for flaws/damage/missing parts. "Tune it (maybe), hang it, sell it."

When actual, caring musicians who know their stuff are on staff, they seem to be hamstrung by poor management.

The same problems can be seen in other sectors. For example, Steak'n'Shake used to be my favorite burger place; now, the food and prices are still pretty good but service is terrible at many (most?) locations, so I just don't bother going there. Poor management is killing a formerly-great chain, and that is undoubtedly the result of problems above the local-store level.
 
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#218
If it hasn't already been pointed out a few dozen times....Unlike Sweetwater and Thomann. GC has millions upon millions (if not a billion) of dollars tied up in stock and hundreds of brick and mortar stores around the country. The other guys might have a few gigantic warehouses and a single large public headquarters building.
Most of the brick and mortar stores are leased rather than owned properties again in contrast to the wholly owned warehouses. GC has thousands if not tens of thousands of retail employees nationwide. The other guys, in the hundreds to low thousand. Get it? OVERHEAD is the name and it's why Amazon killed off SEARS and the other big box retailers too.
 
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