Guitar Center Struggling

[Wilmingtonian]

Yep. Like Mark Twain said:

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At some point they weren't rumors anymore...

 

[JRB]

If GC were to die, I'd survive. I'm one of those "well to-do hobbyists"
I am much more concerned about the specialty bass/gear stores, of which are fewer and fewer every year.
I'll probably forget some, but these are ones I frequent:

Bass Club Chicago
Rocket Music
Bass San Diego
Mesa Boogie Hollywood
TheBassShopSeattle
The Bass Place
Chicago Music Exchange
Bass Central (but it's been years)
The Amp Exchange (but it's been years)

I am with you, and sadly Bass San Diego has a message on their site they are closing. One less.

 

[willsellout]

The SE I go to at Sweetwater doesn't bother me if I haven't bought anything for a while. She's always there when I do buy something or have a question. So, it works fine for me, and apparently well enough for her. She's been there something like eight years now, and that's about when I discovered Sweetwater.
li

Sounds like you have Lindsey Becker.

 

[CryingBass]

If GC were to die, I'd survive. I'm one of those "well to-do hobbyists"
I am much more concerned about the specialty bass/gear stores, of which are fewer and fewer every year.
I'll probably forget some, but these are ones I frequent:

Bass Club Chicago
Rocket Music
Bass San Diego
Mesa Boogie Hollywood
TheBassShopSeattle
The Bass Place
Chicago Music Exchange
Bass Central (but it's been years)
The Amp Exchange (but it's been years)

I like your CHI-centric history. Bass Club Chicago are some cool dudes, got my 8:88 there.
Got some pedals from CME. But admittedly, way too much with Sweetwater. Got an ARP 2600 FS on order with SW that will never arrive, but that's not SW's fault ( a long story ).

But as a casual observation: Regardless of GC or anything else, most of us on TB don't have any issue locating gear...

 

[Michedelic]

That was the closest one to my house. Village Music, Encinitas, 1981. In retrospect, the "cranky old guy" was probably in his thirties. Old enough for me as I was 14. He knew I occasionally bought violin and trombone stuff. Asked him what I should get, a guitar or bass. Both my parents played guitar - a lot of people did. But nobody played bass and I liked the sound. So he told me this and it changed my life:

"You want girls, go play the guitar. IF YOU WANT TO WORK, get a bass."

I got a bass and he wasn't kidding. Every damn guitar player in school had my number by the next week. I hardly knew how to tune the damn thing. Didn't matter. Nobody else had one!

To this day I've never had to hunt gigs - I get called.

Say what you will about your local music store, but you can't get career advice like that at Guitar Center.

All the guitar players may have gotten the girls(maybe), but they ended up working at GC.

 

[Michedelic]

GC, for the most part, has devo’d into convenience stores.

 

[trickyric]

All I can say is I recent ran across a used bass, and even amid the pandemic, they are not dealing at all on prices. Maybe just this location I was corresponding with. But you can't tell me they don't have an option to drop prices on used gear, just to move it. After all we are in a BUYER'S MARKET.

Looking at a Ric 4003 they want over 1800 for. I was just wanting to see if they'd knock 20% off. I know they pick up stuff at real low values. Because I've been there and done that trading in something, and really got taken to the cleaners on the deal. Guess the hens are coming home to roost.

GC offered me a new Rick 4003 for 1770...

 

[MultiScaleMale]

All I can say is I recent ran across a used bass, and even amid the pandemic, they are not dealing at all on prices. Maybe just this location I was corresponding with. But you can't tell me they don't have an option to drop prices on used gear, just to move it. After all we are in a BUYER'S MARKET.

Looking at a Ric 4003 they want over 1800 for. I was just wanting to see if they'd knock 20% off. I know they pick up stuff at real low values. Because I've been there and done that trading in something, and really got taken to the cleaners on the deal. Guess the hens are coming home to roost.

I've heard that the system will not allow a price drop in the first 90 days. But I haven't actually worked there and seen the system, but it would seem to line up with most experiences.

 

[Jeff Hughes]

Where I grew up, the music store circa 1970 was run by a cranky old man who played violin and didnt let you touch anything. Everything was behind the counter or a glass case. And it smelled funny.

In Ferndale Michigan, there used to be this amazing music store with an incredible selection of amps, guitars, keyboards. It was a remarkable collection of instruments that were not mint.

Every time I went there, there were no customers, and the person working there wouldn’t let you try anything out unless you were going to buy it. But how would I know I wanted to buy it if I couldn’t play it? Ah...the conundrum.

There used to be a furniture store chain called Art Van that was like GC in their advertisement and financing offers. They just closed for good before the pandemic.

Given furniture is a much bigger market than instruments, I don’t know how GC will fare.

 

[Eddie LeBlanc]

GC offered me a new Rick 4003 for 1770...

Which store?

 

[40Hz]

At some point they weren't rumors anymore...

Ain’t over till they legally close the corporation.

GC is big enough that the industry still needs them. And they owe enough that none of their major creditors are so stupid as to want to receive pennies on the dollar in settlement by forcing them to liquidate.

There is something to the notion of being too big to fail.

Business adage:

“When you owe $10K and can’t pay it back it’s your problem. When you owe $10 million and you can’t pay it back it’s the bank’s problem.”
​

 

[DJ Bebop]

No kidding. Yep. They're still imposing a, police-enforced, fourteen day quarantine on incoming travelers. Maybe later this year.

He was just getting into cross-stepping, as in that picture.

 

[trickyric]

Which store?

Margate Fl.. but if you put one in your cart and wait for them to email the price I am pretty sure you can get it anywhere

 

[Wilmingtonian]

Ain’t over till they legally close the corporation.

GC is big enough that the industry still needs them. And they owe enough that none of their major creditors are so stupid as to want to receive pennies on the dollar in settlement by forcing them to liquidate.

There is something to the notion of being too big to fail.

Business adage:

“When you owe $10K and can’t pay it back it’s your problem. When you owe $10 million and you can’t pay it back it’s the bank’s problem.”
​

Of course, but Mark Twain is still dead.

 

[40Hz]

Of course, but Mark Twain is still dead.

OK. But rather than us pointlessly keep going back and forth, why not come talk to me when GC actually does close for good and we can resume the conversation then.

 

[Wilmingtonian]

OK. But rather than us pointlessly keep going back and forth, why not come talk to me when GC actually does close for good and we can resume the conversation then.

I'd suggest the back-and-forth stops when you realize I was joking about Mark Twain's above/below ground status, the familiar quote and the inevitability that any viable person or business will at some point no longer be merely rumored to be dead.

 

[janesaid]

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

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I, nor anyone in this household who have all worked the last 3 years.. have received any 1,200. But I will buy something from them when they open. There is an older bass I been looking for I seen they get from time to time, so....

 

[40Hz]

I'd suggest the back-and-forth stops when you realize I was joking about Mark Twain's above/below ground status, the familiar quote and the inevitability that any viable person or business will at some point no longer be merely rumored to be dead.

Agree. And I did get the joke and your point the first time. But fun as it is for us to swap anecdotes back and forth, I get the feeling it might get old pretty fast for the rest of the folks slogging their way through the thread. So I thought it best we stop while it was still fun.

 

[vvvmmm]

Perry’s music ....

As an example re how attitude works, about a year ago I complained to Perry's that their 50 listings on the local Craigslist did not disclose that they were a dealer, and their response was, "Mind your own business."

I do, I did, I mind my money which they will never see, and also the opportunity to call out poopieheads.

 

[Gaolee]

Sounds like you have Lindsey Becker.

Yes. I even asked her not to put the little bag of candy in the box, and the box has been free of that stuff ever since. I don't like candy very much. It's pretty nice when they both listen and remember.