I walked off the job as a keyholder at a GC recently. Called my boss and handed my keys over to my fellow keyholder. Put in almost 4 years with the company but the treatment from corporate of the brick-and-mortar staff had become a complete slap in the face. It wasn't right of me to quit in that manner but I'm in a much better headspace having gotten out of there.
I had one job where I pulled into the parking lot and got one leg out of the car and I just couldn't make myself move any farther. Finally I went back home and called them later that afternoon and quit. Best move ever.
I once had a job as a roofer. The boss wouldn't pay me the entire pay check he owed me. So I quit. After almost getting into a large fist fight at 40ft off the ground. I walked off the roof leaving him and his son in law on the 3 story house roof. I kicked out all the ladders behind me stranding them on the roof. Then I turned off the air compressor so they couldn't finish the job, I did a burnout on the customers driveway for 40 feet. Then I backed up at 30 mph and slammed on the brakes. Leaving a full truck load of the previous jobs roof tear off shingles in that drive way. I gave the boss the finger while I did another burnout down the driveway and out of the subdivision. The first stop sign I hit I went from PO'd to laughing so hard. He deserved it. That is how you quit a job. No regrets.
@@averagejoe4521 the last minute notice of a "Merch party" is what killed it for me. Started July 4th 2003 and turned in my keys as an AM Dec 31, 2006.
GC put the nail in the coffin of countless small music stores that had created an entire generation of avid guitar players. They killed off countless music product brands when they either throttled them to zero profitability or refused to carry their products. They were a curse on the music business and I’ll look forward to the day entrepreneurs rush into the vacuum GC will leave behind. It can’t happen soon enough.
They put 2 of my friends out of business, along with 3 or 4 other 'mom & pop' music stores in our area. Now I heard they are about to close the store. Run in to town, & put many small businesses out of business, and then close themselves several years later. Thanks GC!!
@@cantyouhearmeknocking1961 When the small store carnage was at its worse manufacturers were giving GC deals that the small stores could never compete with. Buy 150 ABC fuzz tones and get an extra 30 % off. Only GC could buy or sell in that kind of quantity. The retail price would be $100.00, the small dealer paid $50.00. With the extra 30% GC paid $35.00. GC would put them on sale for $50.00 and the Mom and Pop store put up a Going Out of Business banner in the window. Some of those manufacturers discovered GC found a better deal and didn’t need the ABC fuzz tones anymore. More than a few brand names vanished.
@@cantyouhearmeknocking1961 This happens with Walmart too. They go into a town, kill off every business but law, accounting, fast food, then the community has no other economic (and to a point reduced cultural/social) infrastructure. Then Walmart corporate closes the doors and leaves a vacuum to suck wind and a town to rebuild its economic, cultural and civic life. Awful.
I bought my PRS special semi-hollow from Sam Ash online. When I received it I found a hand written note inside the case from Sammy Ash saying something like "this is a beautiful guitar, congrats, hope you enjoy it". I late found out that Sammy Ash often checks out the higher end guitars that goes out and sometimes writes little notes for customers. It was interesting and I like that someone that really loves music/gear is running the company.
I like Sam Ash but it's too bad their website is absolute trash and individual stores are not searchable. Even small mom and pops have usuable websites.
@@Hulkhoagie1 Yeah, they have been making improvements to it lately, but they have a lot more work to catch up. I am lucky to have a really nice Sam Ash near me that I have been going to for over 25 years.
@Adam Walcott I recently bought something from Sweetwater. A couple of weeks later they checked up on me if I'm satisfied or have any question with my order. Sweetwater rocks!
About 10 years ago, my old man worked at a Music and Arts store for about 15 minutes and he hated it. Predatory sales behavior and unscrupulous management abounded.
I used to work at a local GC a few years ago. For the most part, everyone tried their best but there’s sooo much more that can be done; they need to restructure their model. Management was always forced to push us to push products people didn’t necessarily want (GC cards, “pro coverage”) They’re just doing what they have to, but it’s frustrating when you’re trying to sell a boss pedal, telling someone it’s bulletproof, and your manager tries to push a 2-3yr warranty on it “just in case” 😂 Ironically, used gear gets the most attention (they’re at least cleaned, restrung, and sometimes even given a light modification/setup) Most everything “new” simply goes from the box, to the hanger on the wall; and never sees any attention from staff, short of realigning the price tag. I went in recently, to my old store, and was told that their commission just got (further) reduced. That’s another big problem they have. They can’t retain quality staff cause the pay sucks. Every store is understaffed, to cut costs; and as a result, the customer interactions are rushed, and the product on the walls are neglected.
Please explain to me what the 2 year warranty covers.I bought 2 guitars delivered and paid the $100 2 year service warranty.The guitar arrived broken and they did nothing They dint even offer to do a set up.The tech was too busy trying to get laid.
@@davidfoster5906 WHAT? WOW what a mess! hey you got a very popular name Mr. Foster! Good luck on the rest of the journey...I like to buy my guitars from pawn shops and do my own upgrades...I find that maybe we expect a lot more when buying things brand new.
@@davidfoster5906 the warranty gives you a gift card to replace the product. What do you mean broken? That’s a vague term for guitars. Most guitars don’t come with free setups. You could’ve just returned it if it showed up broken.
It's truly a shame that they are such a dumpster fire because the used section alone is worth the world if you known what to look for. Them going under would be a terrible thing for the market, regardless of what you think of the business. I have had my fair share of ripoff through them, but you gotta admit...the redeeming quality of that business is the used section, in my opinion.
Absolutely agree! 90% of my gear buying is from GC used. It’s fun to hunt around on it and catch deals and they prob have the largest used selection of any retailer. My local GC is great too, super helpful staff and way better experience than any other GC location I’ve been to recently. They’re still my go to store.
Agree. Their used section is where it’s at. At 40-50% margin, I’d wager it’s been as good to them as it has to us since most of the quality stuff sells almost immediately.
GC was an amazing place once upon a time. My first visit to one in 1984 as a teen on summer vacation in SoCal was the best. Walked into the then, Santa Ana location and of course was overwhelmed and amazed by the walls of guitars. I left that day with a $2,500. Jackson Rhoads Custom, which then was like getting an Echopark because unlike today, Charvel/Jackson was an elite, boutique-ish brand. Because I walked out with the highest priced guitar in that showroom, my salesman, Ron Wolf, arranged with Charvel for me and my grandfather, who bought me the axe, to have a private tour of the San Dimas factory the following summer. That was GC of old. In 97 I worked at the Tempe GC for 6 months. One of the worst jobs I ever had. Now, I have a good relationship with my local GC. I've left there with some amazing deals. They treat me well, but the GC of today is not the GC of the past. I see the poor morale and have seen some good people leave over how they are treated by upper management.
I remember how deluxe the Santa Ana store was! It was huge! Man how loved that place! All these years later and my son now works there. However in a Missouri store.
Bought my Bass at the Tempe GC, it popped a big wood chip off by the strap peg, they warantied it, but the bass they shipped in wasn't the same bass, it seemed like it was made out of a much lighter piece of wood. Still hate that bass, because its not the bass I bought.
I used to go into the Santa Ana store all the time back in 84, 85. They used to let you haggle back then; we always assumed (correctly) that we could get 30% or 40% knocked off the retail price, every time. Mostly I remember the marshall full stacks that were always in the front window display.
$2,500 in 1984 is like $7,200 today. OF COURSE they are going to bend over backwards for you...because you bent over frontwards for them! Your Grandpa was a good man, if I'm to believe this story.
I use Sweetwater for the kind of stuff that you don't try out like mic stands, strings, etc. The service and the attached reputation is so good that GC would have to restructure to catch up.
Guitar Center is one of those places I loved having around as a kid. The older I got, the more I really liked locally owned guitar stores instead. Granted, we had a bunch of great ones in the Detroit area. I don't think GC should go away entirely but it would be cool for more people to go hands on at locally owned stores.
Yeah, we had some great stores. Andersons, Massimino's, Joe's Music. We still have Huber & Breese on the East Side (great store and people), and G.C. in Roseville. Joe's closed last year. Not many left.
As GC’s Ntl. promotions Mgr. at the time, I opened both the Detroit area stores (Southfield and Canton) and had a great time with the local crews at most of the stores we opened. In 1998, I moved onto Mgr. Of Store Opening when the current guy wanted off the road and since I had done so many as the promo mgr., I guess I was the logical choice. After the Austin grand opening me and a couple of the regional dept. guys from drums, guitars and PA came out with us to party at a new drum dept associate’s house - they tell me I had a great time! I’d still like to thank everyone who was there again for not letting me drive back to my hotel that night and then getting me up so I could make my flight back to LA the next day. Great people! 😮😂😂
My local guitar center workers are always upset when I go shopping. The salesperson I was trying to purchase a guitar with was trying to juggle five different customers at once and was getting a bit upset. I didn’t make a purchase that day. Every place is understaffed now.
It seems like the flagship stores in the "big music cities" get the attention. Probably to keep face. Those stores tend to keep up and actually have helpful people running around, but the majority of Guitar Center stores feel like an understaffed Good Will store with pictures of Slash
It’s such a bummer, I remember going there just to hang out and play some of the newer fenders and les Paul’s in 05’ 06’… the people there were great and helpful…. Went into the same store last month to check it out and it was a wasteland of boxes and 2-3 people on the floor stuck on the phones avoiding all contact at any cost it seemed… it was such a great place back in the day…
I was in the one in Round Rock Texas recently and it was the exact opposite. The sales people were relentlessly pestering me. I was like damn! Give me a chance to at least look around a bit.
I worked for GC back 2001/2002 and it was a blast and all the salesman were in wedding bands and party bands. I was in the warehouse playing out every weekend it was awesome. The people they hired back then were 100% pros in every department. Things are way different now I must say.
I went to Hollywood GC yesterday, walked in and saw 2 guys singing and jamming (awfully) in the acoustic room. I walked out in less than 2 min. Trash store
I said this on a different video, I went into my local GC looking for a semi hollow. In their used section they had a Epiphone Casino that played beautifully. Up on the wall was a 335 that I wanted to try. The salesman told me and I quote “you just played the casino, it’s the same thing” I just turned and walked out. I’ll get my guitar somewhere else. I don’t know if it was because I’m an absolute beginner, he had a bad day. No idea. Just because I’m a beginner doesn’t mean I’m stupid about guitars.
You might have missed a gem because it's more important to feel superior than the scrub kids at GC hah... You simply say, "Yeah I know, I want to play that one" Kid gets a ladder, you might find a gem
@@JasonMcFly he refused to get it down. At that point I’ll find a gem somewhere else. It had absolutely nothing to do with feeling superior. Jason I’m a disabled veteran, I can get a free guitar and 10 lessons through the VA. I was trying to do for myself without government help. I bought picks and strings for my son who was with me, he bagged the items threw them on the counter and walked off. Tell me again what I did wrong?
Used to work for GC in Buffalo back in the day. Management would celebrate every time a beloved local music store would go out of buisiness because of them. F Guitar Center.
I live in Buffalo and the GC's here are a joke. They dont carry anything other than their display models that everyone beats the hell out of and they dont maintain. Twice I went there looking for a guitar and both times they had just the one display model and they were so beat up that the hardware was already starting to corrode, chips in the finish, buckle rash etc. Cant even get a discount on it. They want to sell you used condition for brand new price. Even the amp they only had the floor model. I just bought one the other day... do you have a new one in the box... nope. Do you have the owners manual with warranty card... nope. 5 guys in there. 4 of them doing nothing and they act like they hate you for asking for help. There are no mom and pop shops here anymore. Not any worthwhile anyhow. I just order from Sweetwater now. If I dont like it they send me another one or I just send it back and get a refund.
@@sols.2525 I love Twin Village Music in Lancaster. It's a shame they lost their Fender dealership because Fender doesn't support small music stores anymore.
My biggest gripe about Guitar Center is what it has done to smallerr shops. When I moved to DC in the eighties there were dozens of small music and guitar shops all over town. GC killed almost all of them. Chuck Levin's is still here and House of Musical Tradition, but not many more. And now, that they have a lock on most markets they are mismanaging so badly that they may go away and we will be left with nothing. Last time i went to a GC I wanted an SM 57. They didn't have one. An SM 57. They also didn't have an SM 58!! I haven't been back.
Same thing happened in my area. A fun day for me was going around to all the local independent shops and checking out their inventory. GC wiped them all out.
Man! Baxter got the timeline right. Before 2008-2009 I would go to all kinds of clinics, seminars & competitions at Guitar Center. All of a sudden they stopped having them except every Blue Moon. 2 years ago I bought a used Epiphone Dot (In EXCELLENT condition & that I LOVE!!!) from there to help bolster the restructuring. I hope they hang in there!
I quit GC 2 years ago. I was the last ops lead in the company. We saw which way the wind has been blowing and it surprises me they haven't gone all the way under.
GC was my favorite place to go when I was young. But recently it seems my local GC employees don’t know much about the items they are selling and i was sold a new amp and the footswitch and power supply were missing. They refused to replace the missing items and offered a “deal” on the replacements. GC is slowly dying while Sweetwater slowly picks off their customers.
The last major purchase I made at Guitar Center, was a Pro Tools Digi002 system along with a bunch of related gear back in 2006. After that I bought a bit of extra stuff after that, but sometime in late 2008 I noticed a significant change in attitudes toward appreciation of the customer, and significant stiffness in working with the the staff. That is when I moved away from them and toward boutique guitar shops for guitar gear, and buying online for studio materials.
Not long ago I went into GC in my area for some locking tuners and they only had 1 Gibson 6 in-line set. I have a 3+3 headstock. The fact that the Gibson 6 in-line was all they had was freaking mind-blowing to me. What kind of guitar store only has a single set of locking tuners in stock? Like, bruh.
During the holidays, I went to several GC’s in the Phoenix area with plans to trading in some unused gear towards a Fender Custom Shop strat. I couldn’t even get someone to acknowledge me. Finally gave up and went to a Sam Ash and while they were also busy, they at least took care of me in between other customers.
You're better off, they've been low balling and ripping off trades and people selling used gear something fierce for years now. Unless that's just my local GC
Better than what they used to do and hover around like vultures any time you picked up a guitar worth over a grand. Now, post-covid, it's pretty much the opposite. All the GC's I've been to are like ghost towns, with just a few emplyees and barely that many customers. No wonder they're in financial trouble! Never thought I'd miss the days of walking into GC and being overwhelmed by out of tune smoke on the water turned up to 11
I went to guitar center the other day, my god, none of the basses were set up to the point where i could fit my thumb between the string and the twelfth fret on some of them.
Maybe if they stopped running Guitar Center like GameStop runs GameStop. I don’t even want to go there anymore. I used to get excited about it. Now it’s full of “Hey! What can I do for you?” employees who just started shaving and treating seasoned employees like “You sell ‘X’ number of these blue Snarks, or else!!!” It’s become a joke.
I just blew $3,500 at the GC in Boston I bought all new stuff untouched and brand new packed in boxes. I got a good deal and am satisfied. The only thing is that GC isn’t like it used to be, less workers and most of the stuff I wanted I had to order it right from the store online because they didn’t stock it. The guys were still nice and helpful though. But I remember those GC Glory days!
I have approximately 45-50 guitars, have sold a couple recently, so not positive. Not one of them were purchased from GC. I did however trade a Hagstrom and some cash for a nice Casio keyboard for my son and got a fair deal. That was about 5 years ago. Probably the only thing I’d ever buy from them would be some patch cables or used pedals. Sam Ash appears to be run better from the times I’ve been there. They’re across the street from each other in Raleigh.
I love our local Music & Arts - the staff are all terrific, and they are so patient with idiots like me. My pre-teen daughter took drum lessons with them for a bit and now she’s the drummer for her school jazz band - they provide such an important service to community and to school bands and orchestras. On the other hand, I’ve never felt welcome in any GC. The guitars on display weren’t tuned properly and not set up well - it’s really frustrating sometimes. Guitars are personal investments - you should take a sincere interest in the person playing and provide guidance in their musical journey. It’s not unlike healthcare - some providers have awful bedside manners. You can tell which stores have great “guitar-side” manners as well. :)
I bought a bunch of guitars and all my amps used from guitar center when I was young like a kid in a candy store. Now I am old and still have most of them. The store is not what it could and should be now at all. Depressing but thanks for the memories Guitar Center.
My local Guitar Center in Albany, NY is kind of a mess. The guitars on the wall are mostly all out of tune, have terrible action and often have dust and fingerprints on them. How can they sell a guitar that has bad action and is out of tune and out of intonation. The guitars you want to try are higher up and under lock and key and you would have to find someone to take them down, but usually, there either isn't enough staff or the staff is too busy to help.
My last trip to Atlanta's flagship store up I-85 in November of last year. They weren't accepting trade ins and apparently a decent portion of the employees walked off that week. They are definitely on their way out.
I'm in northern CA, and the stores are a bit dingy, not very organized or attractive really. I notice they are now Fort Knoxing the guitars with locks. They STILL use the same B.C. checkout system, and yeah, there was just a single guy at the register, and about 7 people wanting to transact business. I'm not much of a fan, but I've done my share of purchasing with them.
Everybody loves to rip on Guitar Center (including me) but it's important to remember that WE NEED GUITAR CENTER. They keep other retailers competitive, from local mom & pop places to Sam Ash and Sweetwater. Not to mention, Have you ever dealt with the complete toolbags who run most mom & pop stores, with their absurd "you can't play it unless you're going to spend money TODAY" policies, super limited stock and knowledge, and super high prices? For every incredible small boutique shop, there are a dozen trash guitar stores run by awful people. As much as Guitar Center sucks sometimes, the industry VERY MUCH still needs it.
When I left Sacramento 12 years ago there was a nice Guitar Center near Cal Expo. I was there last Christmas a year ago and they had moved to a worse area of town. The parking lot was torn up and the building was much smaller. There were so many sales people. But that was the era of Days on the Green and Arena Rock. What an age.
I lived in Sacramento back then and it used to be a great store with good people working there, sad to hear what happened. I also liked Skip's Music in Sacramento.
GC is a pawnshop of music stores. In addition, the GCs I’ve gone gear is unattended and unclean with store reflecting the same. Also, their competitors are demolishing them and it will be hard to come back to what they once were
I hope GC makes it, however it will not be easy. Guitar market cooled off quite a bit in the last few months. During Covid people bought bunch of guitars and gear, as a lot of people were at home and had extra time to learn and practice instruments. Everything was selling like crazy, GC used section was down to couple hundred guitars, prices just kept going up. Now it's different environment, prices are on the decline, it takes longer for sales to materialize. Overall it's a tougher environment for any music retailer. I hope GC will find a way to pull it through!
I remember not too long ago, that GC big time sale priced a whole bunch of USA made PRS guitars...it just came off as a "we need money, and we need it now..." kind of move...we had just moved to a different state to be close to my wife's parents, so since we had just spent a bunch of money relocating, I really couldn't take advantage of the sale...there was this one 513 private stock that had a flame maple fretboard, flame maple body done in Tequila Sunrise...man, I really wanted that one...anyway, thanks for the video, men...hope you and yours are doing great!
I worked there a decade ago. I brought up bane capital to a manager and was treated like i knew nothing. One time a union came in and they were literally chased out. The techs knew nothing. I was paid $10 an hour to tolerate 10 loud noises at the same time. I love my local shops and know them personally and gc made their businesses struggle. Happy to see GC tank FINALLY. Some of the guys who I worked with who are still there are nice guys, and i blame GC corporate for hurting their incomes.
I worked at the Oakland, CA Guitar Center store in 1982 - It was the freakin' wild west! No prices on anything, manager told us everything in the store for sale. Get customers to make an offer... I snuk into the managers office one time and figured out no one was making a commission, in every store. It was a complete scam. I know it changed over the years and became more legit. But, it's roots are that of greed. I was there for about 6 months and quit.
Yeah I work at guitar center right now and on top of everything you just said, they’re cutting salesman pay by HEAVILY decreasing the commission we get. It’s absolutely ridiculous
There are much better jobs, and places that will appreciate you. It is a dead end job and GC is not worth your time, or the negative toll on your mental and physical health. You will gain nothing good to continue to be enslaved there. They are not worthy of your employment. That is my expert opinion.
I worked at GC 10+ years, loved my job, loved my customers, and I made good money with commission from building up my clientele over the years. The pay decrease that took place 2/1/23 was the last straw and the ultimate “fuck you” from GC, so I quit. It is disgusting that they can and would pull shit like that.
@@Hanallred More people need to be informed at how badly GC abuses it's employee's. You will find a better job that will treat and pay you better. You will wonder why you did not leave earlier. There is a much better quality of life after GC. I wish you the best. Anyone supporting this company is supporting a highly toxic, and abusive employer that does not have any care for their employee's.
I went into my local Guitar Center to buy a beginner guitar for my son. I actually saw a guitar that I was interested in for myself. I couldn't find a sales associate. Employees kept walking past me. Nobody said a word to me. I spoke up a sales associate. He didn't have a customer. He said he would be with me in a few minutes and never returned. I was in there for at least 1 hour. There were boxes everywhere. The only place that was in order was the acoustic guitar room. I just walked around looking at the inventory. After 1 hour of being ignored, I just left the store. Anyway, I ended up buying the guitars from Sweetwater online. I went to Sam Ash to buy some accessories.
Great energy while being racist. "A bunch of white dudes let's be real, *scoffs*. Fuck these racist. I Am tired of the Anti Whitism these cucks keep throwing around
The problem with GC is that finding a guitar isn’t a problem today. Online, direct to consumer, resale etc. makes buying a guitar easy. What people are looking for is expert, knowledgeable, service, which there’s extremely little of at a GC. If there’s no value-added by going to GC then why would anyone bother?
For what it's worth, Guitar Center Cherry Hill, NJ is one of the last good ones. I got a '61 Tremolux from them last week and they were able to pull the chassis, send detailed pictures and even bounce back with their vintage team to haggle slightly with me. Seemingly always some vintage gear there too, worth checking out and good staff, so gave me hope they aren't all just a place to get a shitty $60 instrument cable.
“Maintenance of the guitars not there” let me tell you a story. I took my guitar there(stupid me) for a buzzing g string. Their tech said oh yeah easy fix. I get the guitar back with a chipped/glued the piece back together fretboard and a fake nut being installed due to them breaking the bone nut that was in the guitar originally😢😢.
No one should want GC to fail. At worst, it’s a gateway for a lot of future musicians. Granted, I wouldn’t buy a guitar there myself because of their shoddy Q&A but they do serve a purpose.
I agree. There is one by me and I truly hope it survives. It's certainly not the same as it was ten years ago, but it's still a nice place to check out gear. Bought a lot of stuff there over the years.. Hoping for the best for them..
Big retailers run on fake money and debt and they offer poor service and pay sh*t. We don't get a store to try out guitars. They make money by selling tech packages aka insurance. Also the presence of big retailers allows brands to charge big dealer fees to sell their guitars. GC is like Door Dash. It's expensive on both ends and creates a bunch of marginal jobs, and at the end of it they don't even turn a profit. It's a waste. A natural phenomenon of business that should be reined in
Guitar Center in Boston across the street from Berklley Music Conservatory.They have shitty service.They are a franchise that doesn't honor there warranty policies .Let them fail
I drove to the GC in Chicago in a snowstorm (45 miles) because they listed a guitar I wanted. They said it was in excellent condition. Was a piece of crap. 2 weeks later, I had to pee and I stopped at the GC that's 2 minutes from my house. As I walked past the used guitars, another one of the same guitars was hanging up. This one was mint, except for a small scratch on the back of the neck. Snapped it up! This wasn't a guitar you see everyday. Most people don't even know it exists. Thanks to my old man bladder, I found the guitar of my dreams.
Went to a GC years ago for solder on a pickup switch , tech couldn't figure how to do it. I did it myself in about 20 mins at home. Want to fix guitar center ... get rid of every executive that can't name at least 5 guitar ,and 5 amp brands. Easy.
I remember being 17 and going in to the Clark Street GC in Chicago with 700 bucks and asking about the price of a guitar on the wall. The young employee was suspicious i was wasting his time and asked if I were a given a price I was serious about buying. My reply was “Not from you fag!” I loved the nineties.
My experience with guitar center has just been waiting for hours to wait for an employee to open a cabinet or to pay for stuff. It really sucks when there are pretty much no other guitar stores in the area that aren’t owned by guitar center. I’ve just moved to ordering things online but thats not possible to do with heavy combos and cabs. They also have less than 1% of their guitars on display in stores as left handed guitars and all the ones except for guitars that have been in the store for a short time aren’t even set up well and all have fret buzz, dings, and bad intonation. Ive been to good guitar centers in las vegas but i never was approached by any of the employees asking if i needed help with anything and had to scout out an employee to unlock a guitar on display.
I went to GC the other day to check out amps. Literally all they had were used fender blues jrs and bugeras. It was beyond disappointing and plain sad.
I’ve been with GC for 5 yrs. I can tell you it’s a corporate problem. They believe in that “one size fits all” philosophy with their stores. My store has maintained a double digit increase (15-30% increase in sales) every year. Our profits have increased accordingly as well. Yet, we’re getting the same treatment as the stores that are bombing. 6 months ago, they fired half our staff, and last month they restructured our commission. It’s now impossible to make top commission, which means top salesmen, like myself, are taking a pay cut, and doing twice the work. There’s no reason our store should be treated like this, but again… corporate is making decisions with that one size fits all mentality.
From Leo: It is nearly always foolish to think you can build a company by borrowing from someone else. Guitar Center has tried to use borrowed debt to service over due borrowed debt that was covering an older borrowed debt. That only works one in 10,000 times, and everything has to line up perfectly or it all crumbles. Of course the top guys line their pockets all the way up and all the way down.
I worked there for a long time. 5 different stores in 3 states and they have gone to hell. I was a customer service manager when i left in april of 2023 and it was so bad that we would only have two employees running the store at any given time. Upper management told us not to hire musicians and only seek out sales experience. Its a joke. They have terrible morals and i would tell anyone to stay away. They force their employees to be bad people if they want to keep working there.
I’ve been to quite a few Guitar Centers around the country and the best one is the Hollywood location. Super cool staff and amazing selection of well maintained gear. Worst I’ve been to were the two in San Diego. The one In Detroit used to be managed by the guitarist from 80’s metal band Seduce.
Not true about Detroit store. Yes, this person worked in the guitar department and he is a friend of mine. Probably one of the most gifted and talented guitar players I have ever known and genuinely one the nicest humans I have ever meet. He was always too good for GC.
The Detroit store, actually Roseville, has managed to stay cool. Been going there since they opened in 1995. They did have a rough patch during the recession but replaced staff and got it going again. It's a good store with good people.
Regarding the two in San Diego--the one in San Ysidro isn't bad, the staff there have been really kind on the few occasions I've popped in; it just suffers from being an outlet shop so its selection is tiny. The one in La Mesa, on the other hand, is just awful.
It’s common for any large chain owned by venture capitalists to experience this. The venture capitalist will pull all the liquidity out of the business and file bankruptcy and either restructure or go out of business.
I worked for GC in the early 80's and left because I didn't like forcing sales to keep a crappy job. It would appear that things haven't changed much over the last 40+ years. Every negative thing you stated about GC, IMO, is spot on and the number one reason I refuse to do business with them.
Great video guys!!! The funny thing is, GC just opened a new store, #300 I believe, down here in Naples SW Florida, I haven't been to it, YET, but it made our local business news, so I wonder if all this is also strategy!?!
The GC in Maple Grove MN has always been really good to me. The guys (and a couple gals!) there are very knowledgeable, and are attentive. The staff has been there for a long time and are cool dudes/dudettes. I prefer to support independent shops, but GC still has a place.
@@liveliferusty734 welcome to the area! it really depends on what you're looking for. there's a good handful of excellent shops in the twin cities metro. twin towns, el diablo, vig's... to name a few. they all kind of specialize in different things. the GC in maple grove seriously has an excellent staff that will spend some time with you. DM me anytime with more specific questions. I'm not a great player, but I'm good at talking about gear, and shops!!
@Frozen Divots willy's is great, but their stuff gets VERY pricey. I like twin towns a lot. i usually go there weekday mornings as there's a lot of great gear but not a lot of space.
I'm just getting a really big kick out of seeing a beautiful Kalamazoo made Heritage Guitars H-535 model on your wall and so generously positioned as well. Many thanks from a longtime Heritage Artist.(I do feel for our local GC staff in Nashville in particular who are, as you'd imagine, super cool.)
So i guess the big question is : when you do some kind off business selling stuff wether its cars , guitars or whatever do you love the products and the business or are you just in it for the money ? And yeah , these giant firms that bought GC are just in it for the money wich in the end never works out well . The best way to end these moneysick greedy bastards/ companies , is. to put an end to this kind of "business " , making money from money is the worst kind of business there is because it excludes the heart/passion for the product . Money is not a product and does not have any value in that sense .
This is my standard rant about GC. Private equity companies borrow a lot to buy retailers like GC, Toys R Us, and others. They saddle the balance sheet with that debt. So, now the retailer has numbers that would be stretch goals in a good year. And of course it fails to make targets. Then the news talks about their troubles, blames management, and overlooks the private equity getting fat on the business failure they engineered. If you watched or read Good Fellas, you learned that mobsters will take over a business and use its credit rating to bring goods in the front door and then sell them for cash out the back door with zero intention of paying the vendors. They keep this up until people won't send the business any more stuff. The process was referred to as “busting out the joint.” (Tony Soprano did the same thing to settle the debts of a degenerate gambler by busting out his soorting goods store.) Private equity has the same ethics as mobsters. They don'r care about guitar players, music, or anything other than vast amounts of cash they can take for zero effort. Not nice work if you can get it.
I worked at GC from ‘08-11 and it was horrible, such high turnover rate, terrible management. Everything was complete sh!t! The only good thing were the friends made, the real ones, most people who worked there wouldn’t last. In those 3 years I was there I think I saw about 20 people come and go.
To me , the problem is there is a recession going on, nobody has extra money to spend on hobbies. The other problem is prices. They keep going up, almost monthly for Fender and Gibson guitars and amps. Good luck selling stuff in that environment
i hadn’t been to one for a few years but just went into one in riverside. surprised at the tiny stock they have and how every guitar over $150 is locked to the wall. with that being said i have so many good memories of hanging out at guitar center when i was a kid and playing so many awesome guitars. when i got my first gibson we took the salesman out to lunch to say thanks for being so helpful.
I don't know if you guys realize that the venture capitalists that bought Guitar Center used to own and manage Circuit City. Doesn't really pass the sniff test, does it?
In my town, it's not the people in the store. Over the past 5 or 6 years, I've gotten to know them pretty well. And they all know me, and are always ready to help me. I'd hate to lose my GC. It's one of the good ones..... I'm going on Twitter right now and tell Elon Musk to buy GC😂
I went into a gc a month ago and they couldn't even take my brand new guitar and do a basic setup on it. They guy doing the "maintenance" on guitars said he was backed up for the next month. So I went to a mom and pop shop and they did it in 24 hours.
Last big item I bought from GC was in 2018 . It was not a fun experience . I've been buying from only Sweetwater . It's fast shipping and my sales Matt K is a great dude . IMO once Baby Boomers are 75% out of the market , the guitar market is going to hit hard times . Gen X and Baby Boomers make up most of the market . Covid caused a temporary demand . The used market is going to see a flood of mid level gear here in the next few years .
Way more younger people buy guitars and have been since before the pandemic. 20-24yrs was 26% of market sales in 2022, 25-29yrs was 23% The older the age group the less % of sales. Its been like this since 2015 or so. I have to disagree with your one point on this matter, But i find this statistic encouraging, younger generations are buying guitars again in large part because of amatuer musicians on social media. The music industry doesn't care but it doesnt matter. Guitar music is alive and well. Its just not top 40 anymore but its ok not to be maintsream. Rock and roll is supposed to go against the grain. Heavy metal for example is underground always has been but its bigger than its ever been in Europe. The talent im seeing in youngsters out there is pretty cool. Imo Have faith bro🤘😎🤘
@@james-sf5yc The fact is - many (or most) of guitar sales during the sickness will be returned in the coming few years. They are back to normal and not stuck at home.
@@danherrick5785 The sales trends by age group I mentioned go well before the pandemic. Of course there was a boost during the lock down. But I think it's kinda pessimistic to think (most) of said guitars will be returned. I have no doubt many will be returned or forgotten, but guitar is pretty fun actually and many will trade up for a better guitar just like you, myself, and many others have and will continue to do. There was a huge drop in sales in the 2000s because of musical trends. It began to rebound 2014/15. The pandemic helped a lot for sure but things were already improving. Times are a changin'. The younger generations aren't all a bunch of quitters. Look at the social media guitarists and musicians and teachers who aren't rock stars but still make a very good living and how many subscribers they have. Look how easy it is to learn a instrument nowadays online compared to how it was in the past. Remember guitar lessons? I hopped on a bus to get to mine as a kid, I'm 50 now. Its sooo much easier today. Guitar music hasn't gone away it's just getting digested differently. My teenage daughter (who is smart as a whip and a bit of a nerd) is learning guitar and loves heavy metal and so do some of her friends and class mates....... So for the above mentioned reasons I categorically disagree with you sir or madam and would suggest Try being more positive because GUITAR IS FUN AS HELL!!!! and I am offended by your negativity (just kidding pal)
I love working at Music & Arts! I worked at a GC in 1999/2000 and it WAS great. That was before computers and DAW recording became super affordable and accessible. Guys used hardware like the Tascam units to record and the Blue mics were the it thing. MPC’s were still a thing and Korg briefly over took Yamaha and Roland for the the hottest keyboards due to a lot of people recording with them; the Triton, Karma and Micro.
Its incredible to me how long it actually takes a business as large guitar center to fully die. Every time I see one it feels like looking at a blockbuster.
I stepped into one of these shops with the intention to purchase but had a few questions. It's a huge shop in San Mateo, California with what seemed like millions of electric guitars. There were a lot of "employees" in there just sitting around fiddling their phones and ABSOLUTELY NO ONE APPROACHED ME to ask if I needed anything. I decided to buy my equipment from an online competitor instead which was a lot satisfying (with a lot of post purchase support). No wonder Guitar Center is struggling.
Worked at GC for two years and myself along with 75% of the staff at the time all left because they kept cutting hours. Worked at a pretty high volume store in NY and not enough people would be working to get the people the help they need and make the store look nice. They treat employees and customers like shit
I was in a GC in Albany, NY last week - my first GC trip since COVID hit. I was looking for a specific used guitar I'd found on their website, and actually found it in the store. Store had two employees, and one other customer beside myself. Both employees were involved with this other customer in a complicated trade/ship deal that (a) didn't seem to be working, and (b) was taking forever. I hung around for thirty minutes, by then there were three other customers beside me being ignored. You can't run a GC with two employees. As soon as customer number three comes in, you're dead.
This generation isn't picking up musical instruments. I worked in a non corporate music store in the 80's and loved it. My youngest brother worked at a GC in California and he said he hated it.
Not American youth anyway. The work ethic isn’t there to put in the time required to get good. Japan, on the other hand, is cranking out top notch young musicians at an insane rate… kinda like how it was in the ‘80s here in the U.S., when there were so many musicians with staggering skill levels.
The main goal of private equity is to make money, as fast as possible, by taking out big loans against the equity of the business. If there is nothing left of Guitar Center when they are done, they could care less. See: Sears, Toys R Us, Radio Shack, Sports Authority, Payless Shoes......... the list is endless.
I recently went into a Guitar Center to buy a new guitar for my first time in over 10 years. I was looking for extended range guitars. They had like 4. No employees asked me what I was looking for or helped me in any capacity. The friendliest dude was the dude at the front who greets people. Nobody wanted to be there. All the charisma was just siphoned from them years ago. Cashier didn't say thanks or have a good day. They could've made a guitar sale that day if they just tried in any capacity. I ended up buying an awesome 7 string from Sweetwater that I'm in love with.
I walked off the job as a keyholder at a GC recently. Called my boss and handed my keys over to my fellow keyholder. Put in almost 4 years with the company but the treatment from corporate of the brick-and-mortar staff had become a complete slap in the face. It wasn't right of me to quit in that manner but I'm in a much better headspace having gotten out of there.
Be glad you only served 4 years. Just kidding. I know the feeling. It is like leaving an very abusive relationship.
I had one job where I pulled into the parking lot and got one leg out of the car and I just couldn't make myself move any farther. Finally I went back home and called them later that afternoon and quit. Best move ever.
I once had a job as a roofer. The boss wouldn't pay me the entire pay check he owed me. So I quit. After almost getting into a large fist fight at 40ft off the ground. I walked off the roof leaving him and his son in law on the 3 story house roof. I kicked out all the ladders behind me stranding them on the roof. Then I turned off the air compressor so they couldn't finish the job, I did a burnout on the customers driveway for 40 feet. Then I backed up at 30 mph and slammed on the brakes. Leaving a full truck load of the previous jobs roof tear off shingles in that drive way. I gave the boss the finger while I did another burnout down the driveway and out of the subdivision. The first stop sign I hit I went from PO'd to laughing so hard. He deserved it. That is how you quit a job. No regrets.
No shame in quitting a crappy job. No shame in quitting a great job. Especially if it puts your mind in a better place.
@@averagejoe4521 the last minute notice of a "Merch party" is what killed it for me. Started July 4th 2003 and turned in my keys as an AM Dec 31, 2006.
One of the worst places I ever worked... And I worked at a hospital during 2020 🙄
GC put the nail in the coffin of countless small music stores that had created an entire generation of avid guitar players. They killed off countless music product brands when they either throttled them to zero profitability or refused to carry their products. They were a curse on the music business and I’ll look forward to the day entrepreneurs rush into the vacuum GC will leave behind. It can’t happen soon enough.
They put 2 of my friends out of business, along with 3 or 4 other 'mom & pop' music stores in our area. Now I heard they are about to close the store. Run in to town, & put many small businesses out of business, and then close themselves several years later. Thanks GC!!
@@cantyouhearmeknocking1961 When the small store carnage was at its worse manufacturers were giving GC deals that the small stores could never compete with. Buy 150 ABC fuzz tones and get an extra 30 % off. Only GC could buy or sell in that kind of quantity. The retail price would be $100.00, the small dealer paid $50.00. With the extra 30% GC paid $35.00. GC would put them on sale for $50.00 and the Mom and Pop store put up a Going Out of Business banner in the window. Some of those manufacturers discovered GC found a better deal and didn’t need the ABC fuzz tones anymore. More than a few brand names vanished.
Just like Lowes has done to many smaller lumber yards, electrical, and plumbing stores. I wouldn’t miss the big box stores at all
@@cantyouhearmeknocking1961 This happens with Walmart too. They go into a town, kill off every business but law, accounting, fast food, then the community has no other economic (and to a point reduced cultural/social) infrastructure. Then Walmart corporate closes the doors and leaves a vacuum to suck wind and a town to rebuild its economic, cultural and civic life. Awful.
They don’t carry anything above a beginner would want to buy. When they got rid of high end stuff it was the death spiral.
I bought my PRS special semi-hollow from Sam Ash online. When I received it I found a hand written note inside the case from Sammy Ash saying something like "this is a beautiful guitar, congrats, hope you enjoy it". I late found out that Sammy Ash often checks out the higher end guitars that goes out and sometimes writes little notes for customers. It was interesting and I like that someone that really loves music/gear is running the company.
I like Sam Ash but it's too bad their website is absolute trash and individual stores are not searchable. Even small mom and pops have usuable websites.
@@Hulkhoagie1 Yeah, they have been making improvements to it lately, but they have a lot more work to catch up. I am lucky to have a really nice Sam Ash near me that I have been going to for over 25 years.
I wish they’d build a Sam Ash in my state.
Sweetwater has good customer service too. They have reps that actually know what they are talking about.
@Adam Walcott I recently bought something from Sweetwater. A couple of weeks later they checked up on me if I'm satisfied or have any question with my order. Sweetwater rocks!
Thanks for the love, Baxter and John! ♥
About 10 years ago, my old man worked at a Music and Arts store for about 15 minutes and he hated it. Predatory sales behavior and unscrupulous management abounded.
I used to work at a local GC a few years ago. For the most part, everyone tried their best but there’s sooo much more that can be done; they need to restructure their model.
Management was always forced to push us to push products people didn’t necessarily want (GC cards, “pro coverage”)
They’re just doing what they have to, but it’s frustrating when you’re trying to sell a boss pedal, telling someone it’s bulletproof, and your manager tries to push a 2-3yr warranty on it “just in case”
😂
Ironically, used gear gets the most attention (they’re at least cleaned, restrung, and sometimes even given a light modification/setup)
Most everything “new” simply goes from the box, to the hanger on the wall; and never sees any attention from staff, short of realigning the price tag.
I went in recently, to my old store, and was told that their commission just got (further) reduced.
That’s another big problem they have.
They can’t retain quality staff cause the pay sucks. Every store is understaffed, to cut costs; and as a result, the customer interactions are rushed, and the product on the walls are neglected.
Please explain to me what the 2 year warranty covers.I bought 2 guitars delivered and paid the $100 2 year service warranty.The guitar arrived broken and they did nothing They dint even offer to do a set up.The tech was too busy trying to get laid.
@@davidfoster5906 WHAT? WOW what a mess! hey you got a very popular name Mr. Foster! Good luck on the rest of the journey...I like to buy my guitars from pawn shops and do my own upgrades...I find that maybe we expect a lot more when buying things brand new.
@@davidfoster5906 the warranty gives you a gift card to replace the product. What do you mean broken? That’s a vague term for guitars. Most guitars don’t come with free setups. You could’ve just returned it if it showed up broken.
@@davidfoster5906 gc will 100 percent replace a broken guitar and the coverage does cover that NO guitar includes a free setup
lol @ pro coverage...yeah
It's truly a shame that they are such a dumpster fire because the used section alone is worth the world if you known what to look for. Them going under would be a terrible thing for the market, regardless of what you think of the business. I have had my fair share of ripoff through them, but you gotta admit...the redeeming quality of that business is the used section, in my opinion.
yeah most definitely. I've gotten a bunch of gems off their used gear. Great condition, and discounted at a $50+ or so from new condition.
Covid has greatly decimated their stock of used instruments, at least in their Portland Oregon location.
If the only quality of this site is its used section then there are other options we do not lose much
Absolutely agree! 90% of my gear buying is from GC used. It’s fun to hunt around on it and catch deals and they prob have the largest used selection of any retailer. My local GC is great too, super helpful staff and way better experience than any other GC location I’ve been to recently. They’re still my go to store.
Agree. Their used section is where it’s at. At 40-50% margin, I’d wager it’s been as good to them as it has to us since most of the quality stuff sells almost immediately.
GC was an amazing place once upon a time. My first visit to one in 1984 as a teen on summer vacation in SoCal was the best. Walked into the then, Santa Ana location and of course was overwhelmed and amazed by the walls of guitars. I left that day with a $2,500. Jackson Rhoads Custom, which then was like getting an Echopark because unlike today, Charvel/Jackson was an elite, boutique-ish brand. Because I walked out with the highest priced guitar in that showroom, my salesman, Ron Wolf, arranged with Charvel for me and my grandfather, who bought me the axe, to have a private tour of the San Dimas factory the following summer. That was GC of old. In 97 I worked at the Tempe GC for 6 months. One of the worst jobs I ever had. Now, I have a good relationship with my local GC. I've left there with some amazing deals. They treat me well, but the GC of today is not the GC of the past. I see the poor morale and have seen some good people leave over how they are treated by upper management.
I remember how deluxe the Santa Ana store was! It was huge! Man how loved that place! All these years later and my son now works there. However in a Missouri store.
@@tone1798 Hope he’s having a good experience. In theory should be the coolest job ever.
Bought my Bass at the Tempe GC, it popped a big wood chip off by the strap peg, they warantied it, but the bass they shipped in wasn't the same bass, it seemed like it was made out of a much lighter piece of wood. Still hate that bass, because its not the bass I bought.
I used to go into the Santa Ana store all the time back in 84, 85. They used to let you haggle back then; we always assumed (correctly) that we could get 30% or 40% knocked off the retail price, every time. Mostly I remember the marshall full stacks that were always in the front window display.
$2,500 in 1984 is like $7,200 today. OF COURSE they are going to bend over backwards for you...because you bent over frontwards for them! Your Grandpa was a good man, if I'm to believe this story.
I use Sweetwater for the kind of stuff that you don't try out like mic stands, strings, etc. The service and the attached reputation is so good that GC would have to restructure to catch up.
Guitar Center is one of those places I loved having around as a kid. The older I got, the more I really liked locally owned guitar stores instead. Granted, we had a bunch of great ones in the Detroit area. I don't think GC should go away entirely but it would be cool for more people to go hands on at locally owned stores.
Yeah, we had some great stores. Andersons, Massimino's, Joe's Music. We still have Huber & Breese on the East Side (great store and people), and G.C. in Roseville. Joe's closed last year. Not many left.
@@mikecorey8370 Rock City Music and Motor City Guitar are still around. Those are a couple of great stores.
As GC’s Ntl. promotions Mgr. at the time, I opened both the Detroit area stores (Southfield and Canton) and had a great time with the local crews at most of the stores we opened. In 1998, I moved onto Mgr. Of Store Opening when the current guy wanted off the road and since I had done so many as the promo mgr., I guess I was the logical choice. After the Austin grand opening me and a couple of the regional dept. guys from drums, guitars and PA came out with us to party at a new drum dept associate’s house - they tell me I had a great time! I’d still like to thank everyone who was there again for not letting me drive back to my hotel that night and then getting me up so I could make my flight back to LA the next day. Great people! 😮😂😂
@@cgoebbert Haha, that's great. I lived in Livonia, so I used to shop at both Southfield and Canton back then!
Bought my Telecaster Deluxe from H & B. Love that guitar.
My local guitar center workers are always upset when I go shopping. The salesperson I was trying to purchase a guitar with was trying to juggle five different customers at once and was getting a bit upset. I didn’t make a purchase that day. Every place is understaffed now.
lol just experienced this (from the worker end) no one is satisfied in that scenario except the corps bottom line.
It seems like the flagship stores in the "big music cities" get the attention. Probably to keep face. Those stores tend to keep up and actually have helpful people running around, but the majority of Guitar Center stores feel like an understaffed Good Will store with pictures of Slash
It’s such a bummer, I remember going there just to hang out and play some of the newer fenders and les Paul’s in 05’ 06’… the people there were great and helpful…. Went into the same store last month to check it out and it was a wasteland of boxes and 2-3 people on the floor stuck on the phones avoiding all contact at any cost it seemed… it was such a great place back in the day…
I was in the one in Round Rock Texas recently and it was the exact opposite. The sales people were relentlessly pestering me. I was like damn! Give me a chance to at least look around a bit.
I worked for GC back 2001/2002 and it was a blast and all the salesman were in wedding bands and party bands. I was in the warehouse playing out every weekend it was awesome. The people they hired back then were 100% pros in every department. Things are way different now I must say.
My local store is all gigging pros
Same. Started summer of 2003. Left Dec 31st 2006.
@@brandontodd3498 glad to hear it, I don’t see that in the sales staff in my local stores.
I went to Hollywood GC yesterday, walked in and saw 2 guys singing and jamming (awfully) in the acoustic room. I walked out in less than 2 min. Trash store
Yeah when I went in, the "Guitar" guy had no clue what I was talking about lol
It's Eddie Lampert's Sears business model - milk the carcass of the business for as long as possible while slowly running it into the ground.
I said this on a different video, I went into my local GC looking for a semi hollow. In their used section they had a Epiphone Casino that played beautifully. Up on the wall was a 335 that I wanted to try. The salesman told me and I quote “you just played the casino, it’s the same thing” I just turned and walked out. I’ll get my guitar somewhere else. I don’t know if it was because I’m an absolute beginner, he had a bad day. No idea. Just because I’m a beginner doesn’t mean I’m stupid about guitars.
Good for you sounds like the guy has no experience playing an instrument 🎸 what a lousy representative for GC
You might have missed a gem because it's more important to feel superior than the scrub kids at GC hah... You simply say, "Yeah I know, I want to play that one" Kid gets a ladder, you might find a gem
@@JasonMcFly he refused to get it down. At that point I’ll find a gem somewhere else. It had absolutely nothing to do with feeling superior. Jason I’m a disabled veteran, I can get a free guitar and 10 lessons through the VA. I was trying to do for myself without government help. I bought picks and strings for my son who was with me, he bagged the items threw them on the counter and walked off. Tell me again what I did wrong?
That was not nice of either him or you. On the bright side, he could have saved you 2 grand.
@@JasonMcFly I love making them get the ladder and get stuff down for me. You can tell they drag their feet doing it lol
I miss Mars Music.
Used to work for GC in Buffalo back in the day. Management would celebrate every time a beloved local music store would go out of buisiness because of them. F Guitar Center.
I live in Buffalo and the GC's here are a joke. They dont carry anything other than their display models that everyone beats the hell out of and they dont maintain. Twice I went there looking for a guitar and both times they had just the one display model and they were so beat up that the hardware was already starting to corrode, chips in the finish, buckle rash etc. Cant even get a discount on it. They want to sell you used condition for brand new price. Even the amp they only had the floor model. I just bought one the other day... do you have a new one in the box... nope. Do you have the owners manual with warranty card... nope. 5 guys in there. 4 of them doing nothing and they act like they hate you for asking for help. There are no mom and pop shops here anymore. Not any worthwhile anyhow. I just order from Sweetwater now. If I dont like it they send me another one or I just send it back and get a refund.
@@sols.2525 I love Twin Village Music in Lancaster. It's a shame they lost their Fender dealership because Fender doesn't support small music stores anymore.
@@seanmiller7187 I will have to check them out sometime
My biggest gripe about Guitar Center is what it has done to smallerr shops. When I moved to DC in the eighties there were dozens of small music and guitar shops all over town. GC killed almost all of them. Chuck Levin's is still here and House of Musical Tradition, but not many more. And now, that they have a lock on most markets they are mismanaging so badly that they may go away and we will be left with nothing. Last time i went to a GC I wanted an SM 57. They didn't have one. An SM 57. They also didn't have an SM 58!! I haven't been back.
Same thing happened in my area. A fun day for me was going around to all the local independent shops and checking out their inventory. GC wiped them all out.
@@jltrem yeah. Hit every guitar store in town.
Now imagine if there was a general merchendise store with a grocery department that killed all the shops in the entire US. Enter Walmart - the end...
@@danherrick5785 Bingo.
It was a systematic effort to destroy the mom and pops. Kind of cathartic seeing the tables turn and the slow demise of GC.
I Just bought a Jazzmaster out of the GC in San Ysidro, Ca. The guys were awesome and helpful.
Man! Baxter got the timeline right. Before 2008-2009 I would go to all kinds of clinics, seminars & competitions at Guitar Center. All of a sudden they stopped having them except every Blue Moon. 2 years ago I bought a used Epiphone Dot (In EXCELLENT condition & that I LOVE!!!) from there to help bolster the restructuring. I hope they hang in there!
I quit GC 2 years ago. I was the last ops lead in the company. We saw which way the wind has been blowing and it surprises me they haven't gone all the way under.
Your best day is always your last with GC. It is like you can breath again. A promotion to customer is the greatest promotion you can get at GC.
GC was my favorite place to go when I was young. But recently it seems my local GC employees don’t know much about the items they are selling and i was sold a new amp and the footswitch and power supply were missing. They refused to replace the missing items and offered a “deal” on the replacements. GC is slowly dying while Sweetwater slowly picks off their customers.
I guess it depends on what store you go to. You should have returned the amp.
The last major purchase I made at Guitar Center, was a Pro Tools Digi002 system along with a bunch of related gear back in 2006. After that I bought a bit of extra stuff after that, but sometime in late 2008 I noticed a significant change in attitudes toward appreciation of the customer, and significant stiffness in working with the the staff. That is when I moved away from them and toward boutique guitar shops for guitar gear, and buying online for studio materials.
Bain Capital buying a business and bankrupting it? Gee, it's not like they've never done that before.
Not long ago I went into GC in my area for some locking tuners and they only had 1 Gibson 6 in-line set. I have a 3+3 headstock. The fact that the Gibson 6 in-line was all they had was freaking mind-blowing to me. What kind of guitar store only has a single set of locking tuners in stock? Like, bruh.
During the holidays, I went to several GC’s in the Phoenix area with plans to trading in some unused gear towards a Fender Custom Shop strat. I couldn’t even get someone to acknowledge me. Finally gave up and went to a Sam Ash and while they were also busy, they at least took care of me in between other customers.
You're better off, they've been low balling and ripping off trades and people selling used gear something fierce for years now. Unless that's just my local GC
Did you get your Custom Shop Fender?
Better than what they used to do and hover around like vultures any time you picked up a guitar worth over a grand. Now, post-covid, it's pretty much the opposite. All the GC's I've been to are like ghost towns, with just a few emplyees and barely that many customers. No wonder they're in financial trouble! Never thought I'd miss the days of walking into GC and being overwhelmed by out of tune smoke on the water turned up to 11
I went to guitar center the other day, my god, none of the basses were set up to the point where i could fit my thumb between the string and the twelfth fret on some of them.
I picked up a $2000 Ibanez Prestige at the GC in La Mesa, California and the bridge pickup was literally falling out of the body.
Maybe if they stopped running Guitar Center like GameStop runs GameStop. I don’t even want to go there anymore. I used to get excited about it. Now it’s full of “Hey! What can I do for you?” employees who just started shaving and treating seasoned employees like “You sell ‘X’ number of these blue Snarks, or else!!!” It’s become a joke.
I never bought anything at GC. I'd hit them up when traveling through the US but they always had boring stuff and the vibe was hardcore retail.
I just blew $3,500 at the GC in Boston I bought all new stuff untouched and brand new packed in boxes. I got a good deal and am satisfied. The only thing is that GC isn’t like it used to be, less workers and most of the stuff I wanted I had to order it right from the store online because they didn’t stock it. The guys were still nice and helpful though. But I remember those GC Glory days!
I have approximately 45-50 guitars, have sold a couple recently, so not positive. Not one of them were purchased from GC. I did however trade a Hagstrom and some cash for a nice Casio keyboard for my son and got a fair deal. That was about 5 years ago. Probably the only thing I’d ever buy from them would be some patch cables or used pedals. Sam Ash appears to be run better from the times I’ve been there. They’re across the street from each other in Raleigh.
Rookie
I love our local Music & Arts - the staff are all terrific, and they are so patient with idiots like me. My pre-teen daughter took drum lessons with them for a bit and now she’s the drummer for her school jazz band - they provide such an important service to community and to school bands and orchestras.
On the other hand, I’ve never felt welcome in any GC. The guitars on display weren’t tuned properly and not set up well - it’s really frustrating sometimes.
Guitars are personal investments - you should take a sincere interest in the person playing and provide guidance in their musical journey. It’s not unlike healthcare - some providers have awful bedside manners. You can tell which stores have great “guitar-side” manners as well. :)
Amp-side? 😂
@@devinftf yeah amp-side as well, man - and I guess pedal-side manners as well. :)
@@PapajamaJoe pedal-side does sound more like bedside. Good call!
They are part of the same company.
@@glendoggett9670 yep I know - I think I just got lucky we have some awesome folks in our city’s M&A
I bought a bunch of guitars and all my amps used from guitar center when I was young like a kid in a candy store. Now I am old and still have most of them. The store is not what it could and should be now at all. Depressing but thanks for the memories Guitar Center.
My local Guitar Center in Albany, NY is kind of a mess. The guitars on the wall are mostly all out of tune, have terrible action and often have dust and fingerprints on them. How can they sell a guitar that has bad action and is out of tune and out of intonation. The guitars you want to try are higher up and under lock and key and you would have to find someone to take them down, but usually, there either isn't enough staff or the staff is too busy to help.
My last trip to Atlanta's flagship store up I-85 in November of last year. They weren't accepting trade ins and apparently a decent portion of the employees walked off that week. They are definitely on their way out.
I'm in northern CA, and the stores are a bit dingy, not very organized or attractive really. I notice they are now Fort Knoxing the guitars with locks. They STILL use the same B.C. checkout system, and yeah, there was just a single guy at the register, and about 7 people wanting to transact business. I'm not much of a fan, but I've done my share of purchasing with them.
When all the guitars are out of stock and they want you to pre-order with no indication of when they'll be in - That's a BAD sign
That often has more to do with the manufacturers than GC.
Everybody loves to rip on Guitar Center (including me) but it's important to remember that WE NEED GUITAR CENTER. They keep other retailers competitive, from local mom & pop places to Sam Ash and Sweetwater. Not to mention, Have you ever dealt with the complete toolbags who run most mom & pop stores, with their absurd "you can't play it unless you're going to spend money TODAY" policies, super limited stock and knowledge, and super high prices? For every incredible small boutique shop, there are a dozen trash guitar stores run by awful people. As much as Guitar Center sucks sometimes, the industry VERY MUCH still needs it.
When I left Sacramento 12 years ago there was a nice Guitar Center near Cal Expo. I was there last Christmas a year ago and they had moved to a worse area of town. The parking lot was torn up and the building was much smaller. There were so many sales people. But that was the era of Days on the Green and Arena Rock. What an age.
I lived in Sacramento back then and it used to be a great store with good people working there, sad to hear what happened. I also liked Skip's Music in Sacramento.
GC is a pawnshop of music stores. In addition, the GCs I’ve gone gear is unattended and unclean with store reflecting the same. Also, their competitors are demolishing them and it will be hard to come back to what they once were
I hope GC makes it, however it will not be easy. Guitar market cooled off quite a bit in the last few months. During Covid people bought bunch of guitars and gear, as a lot of people were at home and had extra time to learn and practice instruments. Everything was selling like crazy, GC used section was down to couple hundred guitars, prices just kept going up. Now it's different environment, prices are on the decline, it takes longer for sales to materialize. Overall it's a tougher environment for any music retailer. I hope GC will find a way to pull it through!
I remember not too long ago, that GC big time sale priced a whole bunch of USA made PRS guitars...it just came off as a "we need money, and we need it now..." kind of move...we had just moved to a different state to be close to my wife's parents, so since we had just spent a bunch of money relocating, I really couldn't take advantage of the sale...there was this one 513 private stock that had a flame maple fretboard, flame maple body done in Tequila Sunrise...man, I really wanted that one...anyway, thanks for the video, men...hope you and yours are doing great!
I worked there a decade ago. I brought up bane capital to a manager and was treated like i knew nothing. One time a union came in and they were literally chased out. The techs knew nothing. I was paid $10 an hour to tolerate 10 loud noises at the same time. I love my local shops and know them personally and gc made their businesses struggle. Happy to see GC tank FINALLY. Some of the guys who I worked with who are still there are nice guys, and i blame GC corporate for hurting their incomes.
I worked at the Oakland, CA Guitar Center store in 1982 - It was the freakin' wild west! No prices on anything, manager told us everything in the store for sale. Get customers to make an offer... I snuk into the managers office one time and figured out no one was making a commission, in every store. It was a complete scam. I know it changed over the years and became more legit. But, it's roots are that of greed. I was there for about 6 months and quit.
Yeah I work at guitar center right now and on top of everything you just said, they’re cutting salesman pay by HEAVILY decreasing the commission we get. It’s absolutely ridiculous
There are much better jobs, and places that will appreciate you. It is a dead end job and GC is not worth your time, or the negative toll on your mental and physical health. You will gain nothing good to continue to be enslaved there. They are not worthy of your employment. That is my expert opinion.
Quit I did and am so much happier.
I worked at GC 10+ years, loved my job, loved my customers, and I made good money with commission from building up my clientele over the years. The pay decrease that took place 2/1/23 was the last straw and the ultimate “fuck you” from GC, so I quit. It is disgusting that they can and would pull shit like that.
@@Hanallred More people need to be informed at how badly GC abuses it's employee's. You will find a better job that will treat and pay you better. You will wonder why you did not leave earlier. There is a much better quality of life after GC. I wish you the best. Anyone supporting this company is supporting a highly toxic, and abusive employer that does not have any care for their employee's.
I went into my local Guitar Center to buy a beginner guitar for my son. I actually saw a guitar that I was interested in for myself. I couldn't find a sales associate. Employees kept walking past me. Nobody said a word to me. I spoke up a sales associate. He didn't have a customer. He said he would be with me in a few minutes and never returned. I was in there for at least 1 hour. There were boxes everywhere. The only place that was in order was the acoustic guitar room. I just walked around looking at the inventory. After 1 hour of being ignored, I just left the store. Anyway, I ended up buying the guitars from Sweetwater online. I went to Sam Ash to buy some accessories.
You guys have a great positive energy. Your spirits bear witness to others. Please keep doing what you do. God bless you both.
Great energy while being racist. "A bunch of white dudes let's be real, *scoffs*. Fuck these racist. I Am tired of the Anti Whitism these cucks keep throwing around
The problem with GC is that finding a guitar isn’t a problem today. Online, direct to consumer, resale etc. makes buying a guitar easy. What people are looking for is expert, knowledgeable, service, which there’s extremely little of at a GC. If there’s no value-added by going to GC then why would anyone bother?
For what it's worth, Guitar Center Cherry Hill, NJ is one of the last good ones. I got a '61 Tremolux from them last week and they were able to pull the chassis, send detailed pictures and even bounce back with their vintage team to haggle slightly with me. Seemingly always some vintage gear there too, worth checking out and good staff, so gave me hope they aren't all just a place to get a shitty $60 instrument cable.
Seconded
Back when I lived in South Jersey, you had GC and Sam Ash next door to each other, and Mars less about a mile away. It was crazy.
“Maintenance of the guitars not there” let me tell you a story. I took my guitar there(stupid me) for a buzzing g string. Their tech said oh yeah easy fix. I get the guitar back with a chipped/glued the piece back together fretboard and a fake nut being installed due to them breaking the bone nut that was in the guitar originally😢😢.
No one should want GC to fail. At worst, it’s a gateway for a lot of future musicians. Granted, I wouldn’t buy a guitar there myself because of their shoddy Q&A but they do serve a purpose.
I agree. There is one by me and I truly hope it survives. It's certainly not the same as it was ten years ago, but it's still a nice place to check out gear. Bought a lot of stuff there over the years.. Hoping for the best for them..
Shoddy Question & Answer? What are they asking you??? 😂
I think you meant QC.
Big retailers run on fake money and debt and they offer poor service and pay sh*t. We don't get a store to try out guitars. They make money by selling tech packages aka insurance. Also the presence of big retailers allows brands to charge big dealer fees to sell their guitars. GC is like Door Dash. It's expensive on both ends and creates a bunch of marginal jobs, and at the end of it they don't even turn a profit. It's a waste. A natural phenomenon of business that should be reined in
Guitar Center in Boston across the street from Berklley Music Conservatory.They have shitty service.They are a franchise that doesn't honor there warranty policies .Let them fail
Yeah...like buying guitar strings and cords and stuff. I have been going for over 40 years! They were cool from like 80s through 1999.
I drove to the GC in Chicago in a snowstorm (45 miles) because they listed a guitar I wanted. They said it was in excellent condition. Was a piece of crap. 2 weeks later, I had to pee and I stopped at the GC that's 2 minutes from my house. As I walked past the used guitars, another one of the same guitars was hanging up. This one was mint, except for a small scratch on the back of the neck. Snapped it up! This wasn't a guitar you see everyday. Most people don't even know it exists. Thanks to my old man bladder, I found the guitar of my dreams.
Their management definitely contributes to their issues at GC.
Went to a GC years ago for solder on a pickup switch , tech couldn't figure how to do it. I did it myself in about 20 mins at home.
Want to fix guitar center ... get rid of every executive that can't name at least 5 guitar ,and 5 amp brands.
Easy.
I remember being 17 and going in to the Clark Street GC in Chicago with 700 bucks and asking about the price of a guitar on the wall. The young employee was suspicious i was wasting his time and asked if I were a given a price I was serious about buying. My reply was “Not from you fag!” I loved the nineties.
My experience with guitar center has just been waiting for hours to wait for an employee to open a cabinet or to pay for stuff. It really sucks when there are pretty much no other guitar stores in the area that aren’t owned by guitar center. I’ve just moved to ordering things online but thats not possible to do with heavy combos and cabs. They also have less than 1% of their guitars on display in stores as left handed guitars and all the ones except for guitars that have been in the store for a short time aren’t even set up well and all have fret buzz, dings, and bad intonation. Ive been to good guitar centers in las vegas but i never was approached by any of the employees asking if i needed help with anything and had to scout out an employee to unlock a guitar on display.
I went to GC the other day to check out amps. Literally all they had were used fender blues jrs and bugeras. It was beyond disappointing and plain sad.
Yea what’s up with that? I thought maybe it was just because our G.C. was a small store but apparently they all suck now.
I’ve been with GC for 5 yrs. I can tell you it’s a corporate problem. They believe in that “one size fits all” philosophy with their stores. My store has maintained a double digit increase (15-30% increase in sales) every year. Our profits have increased accordingly as well. Yet, we’re getting the same treatment as the stores that are bombing. 6 months ago, they fired half our staff, and last month they restructured our commission. It’s now impossible to make top commission, which means top salesmen, like myself, are taking a pay cut, and doing twice the work.
There’s no reason our store should be treated like this, but again… corporate is making decisions with that one size fits all mentality.
From Leo: It is nearly always foolish to think you can build a company by borrowing from someone else. Guitar Center has tried to use borrowed debt to service over due borrowed debt that was covering an older borrowed debt. That only works one in 10,000 times, and everything has to line up perfectly or it all crumbles. Of course the top guys line their pockets all the way up and all the way down.
Borrowing is fine if you can pay it off. If you can't then it's just a Ponzi scheme.
And your last statement is exactly why top management does things the way they do.
I worked there for a long time. 5 different stores in 3 states and they have gone to hell. I was a customer service manager when i left in april of 2023 and it was so bad that we would only have two employees running the store at any given time. Upper management told us not to hire musicians and only seek out sales experience. Its a joke. They have terrible morals and i would tell anyone to stay away. They force their employees to be bad people if they want to keep working there.
I’ve been to quite a few Guitar Centers around the country and the best one is the Hollywood location. Super cool staff and amazing selection of well maintained gear. Worst I’ve been to were the two in San Diego. The one In Detroit used to be managed by the guitarist from 80’s metal band Seduce.
Not true about Detroit store. Yes, this person worked in the guitar department and he is a friend of mine. Probably one of the most gifted and talented guitar players I have ever known and genuinely one the nicest humans I have ever meet. He was always too good for GC.
The Detroit store, actually Roseville, has managed to stay cool. Been going there since they opened in 1995. They did have a rough patch during the recession but replaced staff and got it going again. It's a good store with good people.
Regarding the two in San Diego--the one in San Ysidro isn't bad, the staff there have been really kind on the few occasions I've popped in; it just suffers from being an outlet shop so its selection is tiny. The one in La Mesa, on the other hand, is just awful.
It’s common for any large chain owned by venture capitalists to experience this. The venture capitalist will pull all the liquidity out of the business and file bankruptcy and either restructure or go out of business.
Yep........Sears is a prime example.
I worked for GC in the early 80's and left because I didn't like forcing sales to keep a crappy job. It would appear that things haven't changed much over the last 40+ years. Every negative thing you stated about GC, IMO, is spot on and the number one reason I refuse to do business with them.
Yup I experienced the same thing. Very cut throat co sales/workers as well.
Great video guys!!! The funny thing is, GC just opened a new store, #300 I believe, down here in Naples SW Florida, I haven't been to it, YET, but it made our local business news, so I wonder if all this is also strategy!?!
The GC in Maple Grove MN has always been really good to me. The guys (and a couple gals!) there are very knowledgeable, and are attentive. The staff has been there for a long time and are cool dudes/dudettes. I prefer to support independent shops, but GC still has a place.
I live in Plymouth. What local shops you hit? Any good ones? Newer to the area
@@liveliferusty734 welcome to the area! it really depends on what you're looking for. there's a good handful of excellent shops in the twin cities metro. twin towns, el diablo, vig's... to name a few. they all kind of specialize in different things. the GC in maple grove seriously has an excellent staff that will spend some time with you. DM me anytime with more specific questions. I'm not a great player, but I'm good at talking about gear, and shops!!
@@liveliferusty734 go to twin town guitars and willies American music
@Frozen Divots willy's is great, but their stuff gets VERY pricey. I like twin towns a lot. i usually go there weekday mornings as there's a lot of great gear but not a lot of space.
The employees need to be better paid. That’s all, it’s not a bad place to work at.
If GC fails, there will be a massive knock on effect to the broader music market- especially, for the manufacturers.
I'm just getting a really big kick out of seeing a beautiful Kalamazoo made Heritage Guitars H-535 model on your wall and so generously positioned as well. Many thanks from a longtime Heritage Artist.(I do feel for our local GC staff in Nashville in particular who are, as you'd imagine, super cool.)
GC is a place to try guitars not buy them 😂
💯
It’s sad GC came along and killed most of the mom and pop music shops and then screwed the pooch.
So i guess the big question is : when you do some kind off business selling stuff wether its cars , guitars or whatever do you love the products and the business or are you just in it for the money ? And yeah , these giant firms that bought GC are just in it for the money wich in the end never works out well . The best way to end these moneysick greedy bastards/ companies , is. to put an end to this kind of "business " , making money from money is the worst kind of business there is because it excludes the heart/passion for the product . Money is not a product and does not have any value in that sense .
This is my standard rant about GC. Private equity companies borrow a lot to buy retailers like GC, Toys R Us, and others. They saddle the balance sheet with that debt. So, now the retailer has numbers that would be stretch goals in a good year. And of course it fails to make targets. Then the news talks about their troubles, blames management, and overlooks the private equity getting fat on the business failure they engineered.
If you watched or read Good Fellas, you learned that mobsters will take over a business and use its credit rating to bring goods in the front door and then sell them for cash out the back door with zero intention of paying the vendors. They keep this up until people won't send the business any more stuff. The process was referred to as “busting out the joint.” (Tony Soprano did the same thing to settle the debts of a degenerate gambler by busting out his soorting goods store.)
Private equity has the same ethics as mobsters. They don'r care about guitar players, music, or anything other than vast amounts of cash they can take for zero effort. Not nice work if you can get it.
I worked at GC from ‘08-11 and it was horrible, such high turnover rate, terrible management. Everything was complete sh!t! The only good thing were the friends made, the real ones, most people who worked there wouldn’t last. In those 3 years I was there I think I saw about 20 people come and go.
1:52 Soda pressing
Raccoon City has the best Guitar Center. 😂
To me , the problem is there is a recession going on, nobody has extra money to spend on hobbies. The other problem is prices. They keep going up, almost monthly for Fender and Gibson guitars and amps. Good luck selling stuff in that environment
Moody's? Now there's an organization we can all trust. 😝
I’m a black female and I watch your videos 😉
i hadn’t been to one for a few years but just went into one in riverside. surprised at the tiny stock they have and how every guitar over $150 is locked to the wall. with that being said i have so many good memories of hanging out at guitar center when i was a kid and playing so many awesome guitars. when i got my first gibson we took the salesman out to lunch to say thanks for being so helpful.
I think that's a unique and justifiable situation for California
What jobs does a doctorate in flute blowing qualify you for?
Leveraged buyouts are a "Bain" on the retailers.
Is it Bain Capital or Pain Capital?
I don't know if you guys realize that the venture capitalists that bought Guitar Center used to own and manage Circuit City. Doesn't really pass the sniff test, does it?
In my town, it's not the people in the store. Over the past 5 or 6 years, I've gotten to know them pretty well. And they all know me, and are always ready to help me. I'd hate to lose my GC. It's one of the good ones..... I'm going on Twitter right now and tell Elon Musk to buy GC😂
I went into a gc a month ago and they couldn't even take my brand new guitar and do a basic setup on it. They guy doing the "maintenance" on guitars said he was backed up for the next month. So I went to a mom and pop shop and they did it in 24 hours.
Last big item I bought from GC was in 2018 . It was not a fun experience . I've been buying from only Sweetwater . It's fast shipping and my sales Matt K is a great dude . IMO once Baby Boomers are 75% out of the market , the guitar market is going to hit hard times . Gen X and Baby Boomers make up most of the market . Covid caused a temporary demand . The used market is going to see a flood of mid level gear here in the next few years .
We can only hope...
Way more younger people buy guitars and have been since before the pandemic.
20-24yrs was 26% of market sales in 2022,
25-29yrs was 23%
The older the age group the less % of sales.
Its been like this since 2015 or so.
I have to disagree with your one point on this matter,
But i find this statistic encouraging, younger generations are buying guitars again in large part because of amatuer musicians on social media. The music industry doesn't care but it doesnt matter.
Guitar music is alive and well. Its just not top 40 anymore but its ok not to be maintsream. Rock and roll is supposed to go against the grain. Heavy metal for example is underground always has been but its bigger than its ever been in Europe. The talent im seeing in youngsters out there is pretty cool. Imo
Have faith bro🤘😎🤘
@@james-sf5yc The fact is - many (or most) of guitar sales during the sickness will be returned in the coming few years. They are back to normal and not stuck at home.
@@danherrick5785 The sales trends by age group I mentioned go well before the pandemic. Of course there was a boost during the lock down. But I think it's kinda pessimistic to think (most) of said guitars will be returned. I have no doubt many will be returned or forgotten, but guitar is pretty fun actually and many will trade up for a better guitar just like you, myself, and many others have and will continue to do. There was a huge drop in sales in the 2000s because of musical trends. It began to rebound 2014/15. The pandemic helped a lot for sure but things were already improving. Times are a changin'.
The younger generations aren't all a bunch of quitters.
Look at the social media guitarists and musicians and teachers who aren't rock stars but still make a very good living and how many subscribers they have. Look how easy it is to learn a instrument nowadays online compared to how it was in the past. Remember guitar lessons? I hopped on a bus to get to mine as a kid, I'm 50 now.
Its sooo much easier today. Guitar music hasn't gone away it's just getting digested differently. My teenage daughter (who is smart as a whip and a bit of a nerd) is learning guitar and loves heavy metal and so do some of her friends and class mates.......
So for the above mentioned reasons I categorically disagree with you sir or madam and would suggest
Try being more positive because
GUITAR IS FUN AS HELL!!!!
and I am offended by your negativity (just kidding pal)
I love working at Music & Arts! I worked at a GC in 1999/2000 and it WAS great. That was before computers and DAW recording became super affordable and accessible. Guys used hardware like the Tascam units to record and the Blue mics were the it thing. MPC’s were still a thing and Korg briefly over took Yamaha and Roland for the the hottest keyboards due to a lot of people recording with them; the Triton, Karma and Micro.
Its incredible to me how long it actually takes a business as large guitar center to fully die. Every time I see one it feels like looking at a blockbuster.
Guitar center unlike blockbuster has over 300 stores (many opened in 2022) and is continuing to grow with quite a few more set to open this year
It's incredible how folks who know nothing about the GC business or finance will offer an uninformed opinion on RUclips. Sad.
When you oversleep and didn’t have time to comb your hair before work
After getting screwed too many times at GC, my card was paid off today. Bye-bye GC!
I stepped into one of these shops with the intention to purchase but had a few questions. It's a huge shop in San Mateo, California with what seemed like millions of electric guitars. There were a lot of "employees" in there just sitting around fiddling their phones and ABSOLUTELY NO ONE APPROACHED ME to ask if I needed anything. I decided to buy my equipment from an online competitor instead which was a lot satisfying (with a lot of post purchase support).
No wonder Guitar Center is struggling.
Worked at GC for two years and myself along with 75% of the staff at the time all left because they kept cutting hours. Worked at a pretty high volume store in NY and not enough people would be working to get the people the help they need and make the store look nice. They treat employees and customers like shit
The same Moodys that were penalized $864m for its ratings of risky mortgage securities in the run-up to the 2008 financial crisis ?
I was in a GC in Albany, NY last week - my first GC trip since COVID hit. I was looking for a specific used guitar I'd found on their website, and actually found it in the store. Store had two employees, and one other customer beside myself. Both employees were involved with this other customer in a complicated trade/ship deal that (a) didn't seem to be working, and (b) was taking forever. I hung around for thirty minutes, by then there were three other customers beside me being ignored. You can't run a GC with two employees. As soon as customer number three comes in, you're dead.
My local GC is 1/4 empty. No stock.
This generation isn't picking up musical instruments. I worked in a non corporate music store in the 80's and loved it. My youngest brother worked at a GC in California and he said he hated it.
Not American youth anyway. The work ethic isn’t there to put in the time required to get good. Japan, on the other hand, is cranking out top notch young musicians at an insane rate… kinda like how it was in the ‘80s here in the U.S., when there were so many musicians with staggering skill levels.
The main goal of private equity is to make money, as fast as possible, by taking out big loans against the equity of the business. If there is nothing left of Guitar Center when they are done, they could care less. See: Sears, Toys R Us, Radio Shack, Sports Authority, Payless Shoes......... the list is endless.
I was ordering items last month, Website says in-stock but nope. everything is on back order for months. Had to cancel everything. Sad day
I recently went into a Guitar Center to buy a new guitar for my first time in over 10 years. I was looking for extended range guitars. They had like 4. No employees asked me what I was looking for or helped me in any capacity. The friendliest dude was the dude at the front who greets people. Nobody wanted to be there. All the charisma was just siphoned from them years ago. Cashier didn't say thanks or have a good day. They could've made a guitar sale that day if they just tried in any capacity. I ended up buying an awesome 7 string from Sweetwater that I'm in love with.