|
Most of the story, with links to details if you're interested: http://www.forbes.com/sites/bobbyowsinski/2015/05/11/more-evidence-of-big-changes-coming-to-guitar-center/ In case you haven't kept an eye on any of this, Guitar Center is walking a path that smells a lot like Circuit City's final days. The number being thrown around is that sales commissions have been cut by 75%. I can tell you that the one in my town has been getting sadder by the month and it won't be a surprise when it goes. Might get a good opportunity to nab something on the cheap when they liquidate.
|
#
?
May 24, 2015 06:53
|
|
|
|
| # ? Apr 29, 2024 08:34 |
|
|
Wulfolme posted:Most of the story, with links to details if you're interested: I've heard from several of my distributors that they are pretty much done. The amount of sales calls I get now is insane, with vendors that see the writing in the wall and jumping ship.
|
|
#
?
May 24, 2015 22:46
|
|
|
Pretty sure the writing's been on the wall since the original Bain deal; it was just a matter of time before they were leveraged to hell and back with debt then sold off piece by piece. Kinda sucks they'll take Musicians Friend down with them, since they carry a few things Sweetwater doesn't, but oh well. The future is likely in direct sales like what Fender's doing anyway. Unfortunately it won't bring the quality/price ratio for the more traditional brands in line with say Carvin.
|
|
#
?
May 24, 2015 23:46
|
|
|
comes along bort posted:The future is likely in direct sales like what Fender's doing anyway. Unfortunately it won't bring the quality/price ratio for the more traditional brands in line with say Carvin. edit: oops, thought this was the general guitar thread, not the guitar center thread. oh well Professor Science fucked around with this message at 03:16 on May 25, 2015 |
|
#
?
May 25, 2015 03:00
|
|
|
I haven't been to a Guitar Center in years, and I can't say I've ever had a good experience there. They did a pretty good job of making you feel unwelcome there thanks to snobby, elitist salesman, pushy sales practices, car dealership-like haggling, a state of constant customer surveillance (can I help you? Can I help you? Can I help you?), and a general dislike for the consumer atmosphere. In those respects, Guitar Center occupies a specific retail niche with the likes of Hollister and Abercrombie and Fitch. The kind of stores that make you think "am I cool enough to be in here?" I'd actually rather see them get rid of commission and go strictly to hourly workers. It would do away with the pushiness and up-selling and give the employee no reason at all to care about what and how much I'm purchasing of something.
|
|
#
?
May 25, 2015 10:09
|
|
|
Cmdr. Shepard posted:I haven't been to a Guitar Center in years, and I can't say I've ever had a good experience there. They did a pretty good job of making you feel unwelcome there thanks to snobby, elitist salesman, pushy sales practices, car dealership-like haggling, a state of constant customer surveillance (can I help you? Can I help you? Can I help you?), and a general dislike for the consumer atmosphere. In those respects, Guitar Center occupies a specific retail niche with the likes of Hollister and Abercrombie and Fitch. The kind of stores that make you think "am I cool enough to be in here?" The one in my town is the opposite of this completely and is very pleasant to go to. The only other real music store in town is Sweetwater (Fort Wayne) and their retail staff is pretty rude and act like speaking to a customer is worse than cleaning a toilet. If Guitar Center goes down I'll be pretty bummed, I pretty much only buy used and i Iike being able to go into the store try something out and then having them order a used one from any another store.
|
|
#
?
May 26, 2015 12:21
|
|
|
I can't see them going away completely. Restructuring, sure, and probably for the better in my opinion. No Sweetwater by me but we do have a Sam Ash, no real experience with that place though.
|
|
#
?
May 26, 2015 14:39
|
|
|
Cmdr. Shepard posted:I haven't been to a Guitar Center in years, and I can't say I've ever had a good experience there. They did a pretty good job of making you feel unwelcome there thanks to snobby, elitist salesman, pushy sales practices, car dealership-like haggling, a state of constant customer surveillance (can I help you? Can I help you? Can I help you?), and a general dislike for the consumer atmosphere. In those respects, Guitar Center occupies a specific retail niche with the likes of Hollister and Abercrombie and Fitch. The kind of stores that make you think "am I cool enough to be in here?" The Guitar Center in NYC is like that, and I haven't gone there in ages. Won't miss that store one bit.
|
|
#
?
May 26, 2015 18:50
|
|
|
I have never had a positive experience in a Guitar Center, however I've never had a positive experience in ANY music store. Car dealerships actually have laws in place to protect their monopolies, and thus have no incentive to improve business practices, but music stores don't, to my knowledge, have any such protections and yet I can't say I have ever dealt with a sales clerk at one who I felt dealt with me in an honest or above-board manner. Seriously not once in my entire life.
|
|
#
?
May 26, 2015 19:30
|
|
|
I've known a couple legit local shops, but they were all in places big enough to have a few shops yet small enough such that GC didn't get around to setting up there until very recently. I'm sure most of them are gone by now. Where I grew up there was only one music store run by some creepass Mormon family who didn't stock poo poo, wouldn't order anything, and were mostly interested in gouging parents looking to get band instruments for their kids. The nearest non-pawn shop store was two hours away so mail order was pretty much the only option.
|
|
#
?
May 26, 2015 21:25
|
|
|
comes along bort posted:Pretty sure the writing's been on the wall since the original Bain deal; it was just a matter of time before they were leveraged to hell and back with debt then sold off piece by piece. Kinda sucks they'll take Musicians Friend down with them, since they carry a few things Sweetwater doesn't, but oh well. Why would they take Musician's Friend down with them? Are they both owned by Bain now or something? I kinda like MF 
|
|
#
?
May 26, 2015 22:27
|
|
|
Chimbley Sweep posted:The one in my town is the opposite of this completely and is very pleasant to go to. The only other real music store in town is Sweetwater (Fort Wayne) and their retail staff is pretty rude and act like speaking to a customer is worse than cleaning a toilet. I'll miss them, too. When I first went to the GC here in 2007 it was amazing. One guy that worked there called me mobile furniture in 2008. It's just gone straight down since then. They've had less stuff, less display setups to put stuff on in the first place, and all the good employees have just been bleeding away. They used to have some great guitars up on the big wall, every big name represented, but now it's just 40 Mexican Fenders and 20 Chinese Epiphones, with one silly Dean and two dinky Ibanezes. It's really just kind of a downer to go there now. Too much empty floor space and the manager that's always there and always looks like he hasn't slept in a week. I still remember when they installed a soda cooler. Desperate enough for profit to sell sodas in a store full of expensive things that should never get wet. I wonder how many spills they've had since then.
|
|
#
?
May 27, 2015 00:25
|
|
|
Wow. There's no other general music stores here anymore. There's a guitar place, but no like digital piano place.
|
|
#
?
May 27, 2015 00:47
|
|
|
Yeah, there's not a single other store in the Sacramento region I'm aware of where you can get your hands on and try a synthesizer of any sort, even if it's just a MS-20 or Minibrute.
|
|
#
?
May 27, 2015 05:52
|
|
|
Zaphod42 posted:Why would they take Musician's Friend down with them? Are they both owned by Bain now or something? GC bought them like 15 years ago.
|
|
#
?
May 27, 2015 08:06
|
|
|
Tayter Swift posted:Yeah, there's not a single other store in the Sacramento region I'm aware of where you can get your hands on and try a synthesizer of any sort, even if it's just a MS-20 or Minibrute. We had a great place in Reno that stocked all of that great stuff, all the guitars and all the synths and all the drums, etc. Music lessons and piano tuning and violin rebuilding and the whole thing. Then GC moved in and undercut them on everything. I go to GC now when I need cables and stuff because the only other place to go to is lovely and full of metalheads, so while I hate the experience at GC and the terrible way they treat the employees and the fact that they ran Maytan out of business I'll still be very sorry when they leave because I'll be hosed if I have to shop at the other place. I'll just have to wait to buy all my supplies when I'm in Texas.
|
|
#
?
May 27, 2015 21:14
|
|
|
comes along bort posted:GC bought them like 15 years ago. Then why is GC's website such poo poo? Oh, I guess I haven't been to their website in years (since it used to suck so bad). Now it looks exactly like MF. Surprise Surprise. Couldn't have been 15 years though... or was it?
|
|
#
?
May 27, 2015 21:23
|
|
|
Okay I went to Guitar Center and bought something tonight, they should be good to go for a little while now.
|
|
#
?
May 30, 2015 07:46
|
|
|
Chimbley Sweep posted:The one in my town is the opposite of this completely and is very pleasant to go to. The only other real music store in town is Sweetwater (Fort Wayne) and their retail staff is pretty rude and act like speaking to a customer is worse than cleaning a toilet. Same here, I never really had a bad experience with GC.
|
|
#
?
May 31, 2015 15:29
|
|
|
I actually like the local-ish GC, but that's probably bias because I'm buddies with a couple people who work there, and it's always nice to piddle around with new gear. They have though as of my last stop-in really slashed merchandise, the new guitars are mostly just the same old stuff with even less of it, and everywhere else is pretty well shrinking as well. It's not exactly dead, but you can tell the staff is worried. I do hope that if/when GC falls, there might be more small shops around. The one closest to me is dinky and mostly carries low end Yamaha and Peavey whatnots, and while it's a nice shop with friendly stuff, they just don't get anything interesting in.
|
|
#
?
Jun 6, 2015 07:40
|
|
|
Radiapathy posted:I have never had a positive experience in a Guitar Center, however I've never had a positive experience in ANY music store. Car dealerships actually have laws in place to protect their monopolies, and thus have no incentive to improve business practices, but music stores don't, to my knowledge, have any such protections and yet I can't say I have ever dealt with a sales clerk at one who I felt dealt with me in an honest or above-board manner. Seriously not once in my entire life. reliable music in charlotte was fantastically great, i got my first electric and first amp there and of course guitar center put them under on the plus side maybe therell be cheap delays when any/all charlotte area gc's close
|
|
#
?
Jun 8, 2015 08:45
|
|
|
I live in a place where the closest GC is an hour drive away, and we've got two small to mid sized mom and pop stores locally instead. One is primarily an Ibanez/Legator/Luna/CMG + elementary/high school band instrument dealer and the other is a straight Fender dealer. The Ibanez store is great, one of the best guitar stores I've been in. They aren't pushy, they let you look around at your own pace. The guys who run the store are real chill and pleasant and will take time to answer functionality questions honestly rather than trying to upsell. When I first started guitar shopping and didn't really know how to play they would do demos with different play styles and amps/gear to let me get a feel for the kind of sounds I can get out of specific guitars (and they did the same for my girlfriend when she wanted to start to learn to play last year too). They price match to online retailers and even do better than online retailers on occasion. The Fender dealership, on the other hand is one of the worst. They are pushy to sell the moment you walk in the door. They sell most of their guitars at full MSRP (rather than the *actual* value of the guitar you would pay anywhere else). They don't price match. They get mad if you even take the guitar off the wall if you aren't buying it. Any question you ask about their guitars results them putting down the mid/low tier guitars in order to push you to buy one of their $1500+ guitars. Even their strings are significantly more expensive than the Ibanez store that's about 3 blocks down the street. The funny thing is, even without a Guitar Center nearby, both of these shops are on really rough times. The Fender shop is going to be out of business within the next 3 years simply because of bad word of mouth and lovely business practices. The Ibanez shop has been on rough times actually getting sales too, but they are robust enough in their business they they can survive. They still make good money from band instrument sales and they make good money maintaining organs and pianos for nearby churches and school districts respectively. In any case, I'm wanting to buy a Fender Mustang Amp. I may wait now for GC to officially announce going out of business sales before I pick one up. Edit:vvvvvvvv Sending you a PM so as not to get off topic. DeathSandwich fucked around with this message at 17:34 on Jun 9, 2015 |
|
#
?
Jun 9, 2015 14:25
|
|
|
What kind of mustang? I'm thinking of selling mine.
|
|
#
?
Jun 9, 2015 16:53
|
|
|
DeathSandwich posted:The Fender dealership, on the other hand is one of the worst. They are pushy to sell the moment you walk in the door. They sell most of their guitars at full MSRP (rather than the *actual* value of the guitar you would pay anywhere else). Funnily enough you can blame Best Buy for that, another big box retailer circling the drain. MAP's kinda gone the way of the dodo now, especially since Fender sells direct for street price.
|
|
#
?
Jun 9, 2015 23:49
|
|
|
Anyone remember when Best Buy opened a musical section in some of their stores? They somehow managed to be worse than GC. I know I'm kind of cheap but music equipment is just so loving expensive, I buy almost all my gear used unless I can get a good deal on amazon. I've always had good luck with craigslist for buying and trading guitars and amps. Gear that's taken care of lasts forever.
|
|
#
?
Jun 10, 2015 22:25
|
|
|
Professor Science posted:what's Carvin's quality like? I've found myself thinking that a headless guitar would suit me pretty well, but I don't know that I want to pay $4k for a US Strandberg and Carvin has a headless guitar that people claim is pretty good (although I'm having a hard time getting past the ridiculous logo on the body). I know this is slightly older and not about GC, but Carvins are loving amazing! I have a DC800 and it's one of the most comfortable guitars I've ever played. The tung-oiled neck is smooth as butter, the A80 pickups really aren't bad for actives, and the action is low as hell with no dead spots or sharp frets. I was on the list for a .strandberg* headless multiscale 8 (and my build slot was in the next batch), but after seeing the Vaders I decided to drop it. E: not sad at all about GC circling the drain. I've been watching this since the Bain deal, and I honestly expected it to happen sooner. Used to work at East Coast Music Mall, the Ed Roman founded shop, and when that went under a bunch of people jumped ship to GC. Don't think any of them are still working there...
|
|
#
?
Jul 18, 2015 15:52
|
|
|
The Gasmask posted:E: not sad at all about GC circling the drain. I've been watching this since the Bain deal, and I honestly expected it to happen sooner. Used to work at East Coast Music Mall, the Ed Roman founded shop, and when that went under a bunch of people jumped ship to GC. Don't think any of them are still working there... My Biggest problem with Guitar Center is that they drove mom and pops out of business that had viable strategies. Guitar Center blew everyone up because they had a poo poo load of cash behind them but no way to actually turn a profit.
|
|
#
?
Jul 18, 2015 18:00
|
|
|
Hollis Brownsound posted:My Biggest problem with Guitar Center is that they drove mom and pops out of business that had viable strategies. Guitar Center blew everyone up because they had a poo poo load of cash behind them but no way to actually turn a profit. Yeah, ECMM used to focus on high end PRS, Gibson, Taylor, Rainsong etc stuff, but to compete with GC they started focusing on beginner gear only, and we ended up having to turn away tons of rich clients. It also didn't help that at some point the PRS dealership license got lost because Ed and the luthier were retopping cheaper PRS's and selling them as the 10-top high end stuff.
|
|
#
?
Jul 19, 2015 04:35
|
|
|
The Gasmask posted:Yeah, ECMM used to focus on high end PRS, Gibson, Taylor, Rainsong etc stuff, but to compete with GC they started focusing on beginner gear only, and we ended up having to turn away tons of rich clients. It also didn't help that at some point the PRS dealership license got lost because Ed and the luthier were retopping cheaper PRS's and selling them as the 10-top high end stuff. They were what.......I've seen some goofy Ed stuff, but they were really reselling that way?
|
|
#
?
Jul 19, 2015 06:50
|
|
|
Agrinja posted:They were what.......I've seen some goofy Ed stuff, but they were really reselling that way? Yeah, it happened, along with a fair amount of other scummy poo poo. Ed bought the BC Rich US parts when they shut down, and was assembling them and selling them as authentic US BCRs for a hefty premium. There was also the EBMM scandal where he got the cheap imports and rebranded them as US guitars. Man was a royal scumbag who had no qualms about scamming people he thought deserved it. There was a reason salesmen in competing shops would always say "Oh, Ed Roman shut down" whenever someone would ask for directions to his shop (be it ECMM or his Vegas place). The Gasmask fucked around with this message at 18:52 on Jul 19, 2015 |
|
#
?
Jul 19, 2015 18:50
|
|
|
|
| # ? Apr 29, 2024 08:34 |
|
|
GC has been on deathwatch for a few years now. The locations in New Jersey and NYC are some of the worst. For example the one in Bridgewater is the largest GC in New Jersey and it's a shithole. Terrible selection, laughable prices, the usual. I haven't purchased anything there in about a decade.
|
|
#
?
Jul 19, 2015 19:29
|
|
