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Guitar Center Struggling

Figure 40 hours a week of lessons times 6 instructors, that's a nice chunk of change.
Some stores have more instructors, some less.

Most folks take the $199 per month package...every 5 people at that rate is a Grand.
So yeah, lessons definitely keep music stores going.
If 6 instructors got 40 hours worth of lessons a week between them, I'd be very surprised.
 
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Tried to buy pickups from them 2 years back, they didn't dispatch for so long my bank auto withdrew the payment. GC wouldn't communicate by email, so bought from BestBassGear.com instead.

No sympathies for a business that doesn't value my custom

That’s why it’s only strings and chords for me now. Tried to special order my Breedlove acoustic bass from them about 18 months ago. Said it might take 60 days to get. Called a popular indie store in a nearby burg. Got it in less than 3 weeks.
 
I hear a lot of bad about GC but in my humble opinion their used gear alone is worth the price of admission as well as their generous sales and return policies.
Their new inventory for bass generally sucks though.
I don't see the allure of Sweetwater, sky high prices , obnoxious follow up calls and emails and honestly the last 2 people they have assigned me to as rep's suck. A month or more ago I emailed him requesting a price for something I was seriously interested in and never got a reply. Next! Someone else might want to pay MSRP for a fireball and a bit o' honey but I'll look elsewhere
 
Guitar Center has been in financial distress for years now. This is nothing new. They have billions in debt that they will never be able to pay off. I'm surprised they have lasted this long. The pandemic is just one more nail in the coffin.
Very true.

Years of debt and yet their owners, "Ares Management", stock prices are good.

Sounds crazy asking folks to dig deep and buy stuff from GC while the owners do nothing.
 
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I hear a lot of bad about GC but in my humble opinion their used gear alone is worth the price of admission as well as their generous sales and return policies.
Their new inventory for bass generally sucks though.
I don't see the allure of Sweetwater, sky high prices , obnoxious follow up calls and emails

Your comment made me think of this
FB_IMG_1590384760124.jpg
 
My last 5 bass and 2 amp purchases were from sweetwater. I love the weight choices and pictures. Used to buy Mars Music way back before they closed down then guitar center. I was giving guitar center a chance today to see if they had any bass combo amp deals for memorial day. Seems not. .. so my money is going elsewhere again.
 
basically, except when * you * want to talk to them lol

A few years ago I was the director of operations for a small cannabis company. It was mostly putting out fires due to a very poorly engineered assembly line system. One day I was at my wit's end and just cracking over this one problem we had with not getting enough output to meet our forecasted orders. I got a phone call and decided it was great time to step outside and clear my head."hi there! This is Mike with Sweetwater how are you liking your purchase of guitar Pro 7 you made last year"
honestly it was great to talk to someone for a moment and just get out of my head but that was definitely a unique situation!
 
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I ordered a mic, USB interface, and a mic stand from GC last week. Despite the website saying that the items were in stock and ready to ship, it was going to take 7+ days to get the USB interface and mic stand out the door (so 10-12 days total with shipping). I canceled those items and ordered them from Sweetwater, who had them out the door in less than 24 hours.

I expect shipping to take longer right now, but 7 days ain't gonna cut it.

Disappointed to hear that their financial situation is so grim, but maybe it's passed time to file BK, clean house, and get their act together.
 
It's not just Guitar Center, it's so many who make a living on music or music related activities, musicians, soundmen, retailers etc. Gov't Mule is even selling T-shirts to help their road-crew in these times. It's holding on by a tread for a lot of people. I'm not a Guitar Center kinda guy, when I can, I shop at the specialty stores like Bass San Diego, but I find no joy in seeing any business that hires musicians go down.
 
I bought a Digitech multi-effects pedal at the Honolulu/Pearl City store just a day or two before the guv and mayor shut down the entire state and Honolulu. Got some great customer service from the salesperson and store manage on duty. (Nothing but good things to say about that store and my local San Antonio store.)
When I left Hawaii on the 15th they were still closed. Sheesh, those folks really got hit hard out there. The tour/entertainment business is really going to have a hard time.
Here's what the airport looked like Fri. May 15 @6:00PM on my way out, this is the Delta and United counter:
View attachment 3841612
My grandson and I were supposed to be there right now.
He is bummed out. I had to explain to him that we could get arrested going surfing :(
It's hard to understand when you're 12.
IMG_3625 (2).JPG
 
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At one point in time I spent a bunch of money in that store... I don’t know about locations other than the Denver ones but the customer service went down the drain hard... I don’t care if you don’t greet me when I come in or ask if I need help, but if it takes me 20-30 minutes to check out because no one ever is around or in any hurry I get irritated. Also... every time I have asked for an opinion or had a legit question I never got a strait answer or they lied to me. So sorry to the good guitar centers everyone talks about but let the ones in Denver fade away. We got a few local music stores that are much better anyhow.

There's a new privately owned one (one year old) that opened in Broomfield called Monkton Guitars. I visited it this past Christmas while at my sister's. Really nice six string selection and now stocking Sterling basses along with vintage pieces. link: Home | Monkton Guitars | Broomfield, CO
 
No love for the chains. Support the locals. They are your friends and neighbors. They are the ones who have been a critical backbone of your music scene. So IMO I don’t care at all if GC is struggling as they are usually built on the ashes of the small business who sold you or your parents your first bass.

I’m also not shocked that Sweetwater is doing well because they have a high service model.
With all due respect, I remember when the locals ruled the roost with an iron fist if you didn't like the prices tough luck! and before the internet, many musicians couldn't afford instruments or equipment GC has allowed millions of people the opportunity to make music also they pay taxes and hire locals who also pay local taxes helping whatever community they live in. The shops that survived are shops that have great reputations and offer services GC does not.