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Guitar Center may go under too ...... get your historic while you can

goldtop0

goldtop0

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8,937
Tom Wittrock said:
GC owes them millions of dollars. :ganz
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Same old story.........you gotta pay your bills in reasonable time or............:dang.......the chain of creditors suffers........in the end it's (a) bad business.
 
buckaroo

buckaroo

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tripletime said:
acoustic guitars are selling - electric guitar are extremely down in sales
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Another perspective:

Perhaps the new guitar hero of today plays a Dread or an OM style...maybe thru a large diaphragm condenser mic to a somewhat quiet audience...In the midwest USA I see as much or more of that in live performance offerings as electric guitar players. And Martin and Collings acoustics sell like hotcakes at the local (non franchise) dealers.

I think the guitar is going nowhere any time soon...but the styles of music featuring guitar are morphing a bit. They are trending a bit more acoustic; remember the folk boom of the 1960's and early 19070's? Hell even Fender started making acoustics back then.

As Les Paul advocates it is an active process to adjust to the paradigm shift from electric to acoustic and still see a reference to the proverbial "guitar hero". But the hero is still there to a significant degree; the hero just appears different and less overt. An example might be someone like Chris Eldridge from the Punch Brothers.

Just my thoughts...

Buckaroo
 
U

Uncle Gary

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Well, I asked about sales last time I was at my favorite music store (not GC). The owner told me his sales were up 4% last year. Not a double digit increase, but hardly doom and gloom, either. He, at least, is optimistic about the future.
 
Tom Wittrock

Tom Wittrock

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tripletime said:
oh - and your proof ?
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One of my most recent trade magazines [probably MMR Or Music Retailer]. Headline about the wrong info put out on electric guitar sales.
I'll see if it's still around the store somewhere.
 
JPP-1

JPP-1

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If your looking at Retail sales as a proxy for public interest in guitars you also should add sales of used guitars.
 
FenRx

FenRx

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Guitar center has been going out of business for the last 15 years
 
L

lespaul1970

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... good riddance. This place stands for everything wrong with Music stores in 2018. Years back I had a friend who knew NOTHING about music,let alone guitars or Pro Audio, etc. He calls me up one day and says "guess where I got a job? Guitar Center!" I was like "YOU!? GUITAR CENTER!? You don't know anything!" His response? "They asked me CAN YOU SELL? I said YEP, and they put me out on the floor." Sad. We need to go back to Mom and Pop shops where they actually know and care about the customers. These places have made the whole experience like buying a car. Everyone got sucked into their game because they have selection and the lowest prices. But that won't sustain itself forever. So many real, local shops closed due to this crap. SUPPORT LOCAL PEOPLE!! I hope it's farewell to the corporate giants of Musical instrument sales...
 
CDaughtry

CDaughtry

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rockabilly69

rockabilly69

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Cliff Gress said:
They were named Organ Center at one time, then Vox Center. They need to rebrand to whatever youth wants fast.
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Changin' gears is something they know how to do, but this time, I think there world domination plan caught up with them...

Funny story...

I worked for them for one year as a Pro Audio manager in one of their smaller stores. I did it because I had just quit my day job, and I was soon going to quit all jobs in pursuit of a musical career. While I was there, employees got all items at just above cost, so I figured I'd work there and get everything I need to outfit both my studio and PA systems. It worked out great, because I did exactly that. Some of the deals I got were incredible. When GC decided they couldn't sell something, which many times were items that were typically expensive and so not that popular with the young people that frequented the store, they would drop the price way below cost to clear it out. I got things for penny on the dollar so to say. That was the good part about working there.

The downside was... the store I worked at was brand new, so our crew got extensive training from the travelling GC people, a group of IT guys and sales managers who arrive to set up stores. I couldn't believe how they insisted we crush all the mom and pop stores around. They told us that, if someone came in to buy something that they were looking at in another local store, beat that price by at least 10%, and no matter what, don't let them walk. And it didn't take long before they knocked out 90% of the stores in my local area. There was just no way they could compete. Luckily it didn't take long to get the equipment I needed, so a year later I quit, and got on with my career as a musician.

Now looking back on the way they crushed those local stores, I'm glad they are in the shitter! You know what they say, "what goes around, comes around".
 
Wilko

Wilko

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GC's troubles have more to do with creative finance from "private equity firms" like Bain capital who strapped the company with debt.

Without ridiculous moves by Wall st., many of our favorite brands would not be having trouble at all.

If one were to write up the business books including the real assets and sales,I'm sure we'd see a solvent company that is profitable.
 
renderit

renderit

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Wilko said:
GC's troubles have more to do with creative finance from "private equity firms" like Bain capital who strapped the company with debt.

Without ridiculous moves by Wall st., many of our favorite brands would not be having trouble at all.

If one were to write up the business books including the real assets and sales,I'm sure we'd see a solvent company that is profitable.
Click to expand...

I saw all I needed to about Bain on Batman the Dark Knight ! I thought he defeated them ?
 
deytookerjaabs

deytookerjaabs

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rockabilly69 said:
The downside was... the store I worked at was brand new, so our crew got extensive training from the travelling GC people, a group of IT guys and sales managers who arrive to set up stores. I couldn't believe how they insisted we crush all the mom and pop stores around. They told us that, if someone came in to buy something that they were looking at in another local store, beat that price by at least 10%, and no matter what, don't let them walk. And it didn't take long before they knocked out 90% of the stores in my local area. There was just no way they could compete. Luckily it didn't take long to get the equipment I needed, so a year later I quit, and got on with my career as a musician.

Now looking back on the way they crushed those local stores, I'm glad they are in the shitter! You know what they say, "what goes around, comes around".
Click to expand...



That's interesting because I remember being able to get pretty decent deals at GC then at some point they just started playing hardball all over the place. Now, most of the time (in my experience) the best I can get is a price match only with a major retailer before tax, then that 10% gets tacked on and yuck. I'd rather that 10% go to the mom/pop shop when possible.


When I lived a few blocks away Chicago Music Exchange changed management and bloomed their inventory then my frequent GC shopping practically ended full stop because I knew CME would beat any price/tax out the door so it was an obvious choice for new gear. And, really, since then I've not bought a new anything (besides maybe strings/picks) from GC even here in Nashville, too many better options.
 
goldtop0

goldtop0

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Luckily in NZ we haven't had a 'get the deal at all cost' chain of stores.
In the last 20 years we have seen the family music stores absorbed into a store chain in our provinces and major cities, this leaves us with 3 major chains throughout the country.
And where there used to be a 'piano' store there isn't now and a brass and woodwind store is a rare thing nowadays also.......mind you they always were with our small population base.
Any number of musos like myself prefer to buy from overseas and mainly the USA when buying a guitar or an item of higher $ value......excluding amps in most cases as they're costly to freight here.
 
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