Went into Guitar Center, Wow

[Mantis Tobaggan]

They are no longer carrying numerous bass guitars according to their website.

 

[denhou1974]

Unless they're "losing" to Musicians Friend or Music 123, since they are essentially the same company and 90% of their merchandise ships from the same warehouse.

There are tons of online retailers to compete with. Most of which don't need multiple brick and mortar storefronts loaded with expensive inventory. Hence their reduction in said inventory. However I don't think that's enough to save them.

 

[Smooth_bass88]

Wow! is right. I walked into Guitar Center yesterday and they were selling D'addatio XL Nickel Wound bass strings for $9.99/ea. I bought 2 sets!!

 

[gregmon79]

they still had 'em in the hollywood ca store a week and a half ago and they had lots of premium ibanezes, but they didn't have any fender amps except for practice amps, and the store was clearing out TC, had dropped danelectro sometimes this year. they didn't have any ibanez mikros (which are sometimes listed on their website as their best selling bass, so it seems silly not to have them) nor any violin basses - they always have had at least one in stock.

in fact, they have removed or aren't replacing so much inventory that they had rearranged the entire guitar and bass section to have wider walkways, which i've never seen done there and i've been going to that store since 1972.

The ones around me in the Southwest burbs of Chicago are doing the same thing, decreasing inventory and increasing open space on floor areas. They are all wide open. It almost looks like theyre going out of business.......

 

[lowendblues]

I was at the Dayton Ohio store over the weekend. Nothing really blew my skirt up, but they did have some nice Fenders, a few Squiers and even a used Rick 4003.

They did have a complete selection of fender rumble combo's that I enjoyed checking out.

 

[Doner Designs]

Over the past 10 years I have witnessed the demise of a few different hangouts. I used to like to haunt bookstores. They no longer exist for the most part.

GC and Sam Ash used to carry lots of American Fenders, Gibsons and Musicmans. Now it's pretty much limited to imports.

The sales tax thing is a killer on a big ticket item - it's like an extra 5-10% discount when you buy online.

 

[socialleper]

That remodel is terrible IMO. They somehow shrunk the store.

I think its because they moved the drum dept or something. They wanted the upstairs space for something else and built into the guitar floor. I don't mind the design, I just think it is a little dark in there.

 

[Bluto]

The local GC in my area has changed over the years. The place used to be packed with stuff and going there was a strain on your nerves with wanna be EVH's noodling loudly. Now the racks are gone, the amps arranged into pods and the wannabes have left. The Bass selection is now all sub $300 range and few MIM and MIA Fenders. What sucks about the selection change is that you don't get the chance to try something before buying it or ordering it online resulting in an online purchased based off of online reviews and youtube videos. That seems kind of a flimsy way to make a decision on an instruments your going to sink money into but that is where we seem to be heading. Unfortunately GC seems to be it in my area besides the student driven stores.

 

[Corevalay]

The GC near me used to have all nicer basses. MIA's, Stingrays, Sterlings, etc... Recently I went in there and it's almost all lower-end basses.. Squires, MIM, Musicman Sub's. It was very strange to see a very apparent shift in the gear they were carrying.

 

[socialleper]

Not one MIM, MIJ, or MIA fenders or any other brand! I didn't go in for a bass but felt I should check out their stock. I the VM jazz basses look very well made but all were very heavy, not that it matters in terms of time. I must saying the neck joints were outstanding and very tight.Times must be really tough that they had no fenders,music man, Warwick Rock bass, Or higher-priced Ibanez.I remember a time when it was the opposite.A lot of the lower priced basses nowadays are made much better than they used to be and that's a good thing but still no real options.for people who don't live near big city may have to go to my mom and pop Store and those stores cannot always afford to carry much stock. Sorry for any errors, dictated but not read

That does sound a little odd to me. I frequent their stores often, looking for that rare used item that catches my eye, and find that they rarely have anything BUT Fender, Ibanez and Music Man.
Something is definitely going on. The inventory of the stores is shrinking and the "aisle widening" is just a result of that. As a guy that thrives on selection their changes over the last 15 years have been a real bummer for me. I worked at the Sherman Oaks store back in the late 90s and their brand diversity used to be much better, especially for basses. We stocked Zon, Warwick, Alembic and Pedulla. We carried Bag End, SWR, Eden, Hartke, GK, and Ampeg amps/cabs. Their pedal selection has always been pretty shoddy.
Musicians Friend and GC are linked at the hip, so the fortunes of one would be money in the pocket of the other. If GC is losing sales to MF that isn't a big deal. Lack of interest in their stores would have more to do with that.
They knocked off the hard press selling, which is good.
I don't think the MI store as a model is in that much trouble because the Sam Ash stores near me are virtually unchanged. If anything they are expanding their brands and have started carrying more interesting pedals.
I don't know what is happening over at GC but it saddens me.

 

[Bass Master General]

I live in NYC. The Guitar center selection is awful here. mostly half broken ibanez/fender/musicmans. and recently, the union sq store decided to move all their basses higher up on the wall. so unless you're fairly tall, you cant reach the second row of basses. This is doubly annoying for me as im often asked to reach or put back basses for other players because of my height.

sam ash is okay, but mostly just the one on 34th. They have a decent selection and at least their stock is playable/set up.

Also they do carry Fodera basses there. Sadowsky and rickenbacker as well

That GC on 14th is only good for the Ramones display in the window. Otherwise I go to Brooklyn, although that location is often a total mess... I once saw a guitar there sitting in a demo stand with its neck broken, sticking out at a weird angle from the pocket...

 

[brian1e]

I was there the other day. They still manage to have a decent selection. American and import Fenders, Squier models, EBMM and Sterling, Ibanez, Yamaha, Epi.
On Nov 27, a Sam Ash store will be opening 10 minutes from the local GC, so we'll have to see how that plays out.
I suggested they could probably ratchet down the the number of wankers by making the amps coin operated. One of them brought up that point at a sales meeting, and almost got fired. Lol!

LOL. For that kind of coin, wankers would expect a video screen. Think Guitar Hero. GC could use their extra space to open such an arcade, and market it as education.

On a serious note, it seems to me that GC expanded too quickly and now have more stores than the market can support. The Houston area used to have only a couple of stores. Then it seems like overnight (actualy several years) they now have about 6. The large Galleria area store is pretty well stocked with most things high to low end, and a lot of used. The other stores are just kind of lame.

 

[hover]

Over the past 10 years I have witnessed the demise of a few different hangouts. I used to like to haunt bookstores. They no longer exist for the most part.

Same here. Only option locally is B&Noble, which is really only good for the Starbucks, and show rooming their Kindle-things. Practically every book they have there is thumbed through (so no longer pristine as new condition) and then bought elsewhere cheaper. I don't do that, but I do have an e-reader too.

 

[Immigrant]

What sucks about the selection change is that you don't get the chance to try something before buying it or ordering it online resulting in an online purchased based off of online reviews and youtube videos.

That made me wonder… How much has GC been hurt by people going in and test driving instruments then buying them somewhere else (even MF) online? One complaint that is prevalent regarding GC is how banged up their "new" basses can be. How can they NOT be thrashed with all the noodling going on?

I used to like GC a LOT. Anyone who remembers music stores charging MSRP and getting a good deal meant haggling down to a somewhat lower price surely remembers how GC moved in and two things happened:

1) Local stores had to lower prices to compete or
2) Close their doors because of unwillingness to change or inability to make ends meet. (Same argument that usually is used towards big box home improvement stores)

 

[BboogieXVII]

I think they are calling it "inventory control" scaling back on high end and selling tons of cheap instruments. Also, just because it's called "GUITAR center" doesn't mean they aren't selling a lot of other things, I don't think they are going out of business anytime soon. They are the WalMart of music instruments for sure but that's the business now.

Maybe this is opening up room for some small retailers to sell higher end products?

 

[buldog5151bass]

Fact is, since so many people are buying on line, and not using the stores for anything other than to test drive before that, for most stores it makes no sense to carry the more expensive instruments and amps. We reap what we sow, people.

My local GC is this way for basses, but my local independent shop carries more of a range.

 

[tbz]

I think its because they moved the drum dept or something. They wanted the upstairs space for something else and built into the guitar floor. I don't mind the design, I just think it is a little dark in there.

Politely I'm going to have to disagree with you. Ive shopped at that location since they moved there in the late 90s.

That remodel took a large open showroom with tons of display space and turned it into a smaller, cramped layout with less actual visible display space.

It was done to make their diminishing inventory there less obvious. It reduced the visible space so massively there really can't be any other rationale....

 

[DeliriumTremens]

At the GC I work at we have USA standard/deluxe 4 and 5 string Fender, 4 and 5 string Musicman, Rickenbacker etc...

 

[dawind99]

They definitely vary from location to location as we're hearing here. We have one in Portland, ME and one in Newington, NH both an hour from the shop. It's been my observation that they all have some sort of character (for lack of a better term) and focus more strongly on a certain product base; the Peabody. MA store is pretty well rounded with a focus on acoustic instruments, recording gear, and.....DJ stuff. I have always had good luck perusing their used gear all over the country and have had items shipped to the Newington, NH store or my house and if you're not happy they take it back, no charge. Fair enough. It's difficult to choose an instrument online but many are pretty standard and all require some attention before being your personal player.
And, that's all I got

 

[tbz]

On a serious note, it seems to me that GC expanded too quickly and now have more stores than the market can support. The Houston area used to have only a couple of stores. Then it seems like overnight (actualy several years) they now have about 6.

Yeah the original owners of Guitar Center, and Bain when they bought their stake, honestly didn't do any homework on this whole "growth" thing.

It's like they looked at profit projections for prior years and never thought "well, people may not need more than 1-3 guitars". Unfortunately they did not really track their saturation points, or test them. Does 50% of the country want to own a guitar? How many want more than one? Etc etc. They kept expanding despite not having a handle on those crucial questions.

To be fair GCs "minimal haggling" prices were not common when they started expanding. Before GC you would go to a semi-grungy music store and pay whatever you talked them down to. If you knew your stuff you'd get a deal. If you were grandma and they were having a bad week....you'd pay a bit more.

Then GC comes around during the music boom of the late 90s and brings the Target/Walmart/Macy's department store approach to the industry. They moved the instrument purchasing process into the mainstream.

Unfortunately they never really accepted that guitars aren't jeans, groceries, towels, etc. You do not need to replace them often. They are incredibly sturdy and are built to last for 20-50+ years.

So. Yeah trying to be the Walmart of musical instruments was just a bad call to begin with. IMHO.