Guitar Center Files for Bankruptcy

[ducktrapper]

Good post to you as well.  I love small business and support local shops where I live when I can.  I hardly ever buy instruments so I'm not much help to anyone there.  The other day I was in a local shop and the guy had a ton of nice acoustics on the wall, many Larrivees.  We started chewing the fat about music and found lots of common ground, so he started handing me guitars to try.  I played some stuff that I'd only ever seen in magazines and online.  It was a blast.  I didn't buy one, but I did buy a t-shirt and some stings from him for letting me have fun for a couple hours.  To me this is common sense and common courtesy.  This particular shop has been around since the 70s and hasn't been shut down by GC.

Right on. If I try something, I never leave the store without buying at least a set of strings. Can always use them. 

[rockstar_not]

GC here in Colorado Springs has always done right by me. Latest: bought a used Gretsch Rat Rod from GC online. Came with a roller bridge that one of the rollers would "ping" when applying fretting hand vibrato.  Local GC replaced it with a standard Gretsch bridge no charge. Just the latest in a long string of good customer service.

[Jamolay]

If you read the OP article, it is clear they have no intention of going out of business.


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[Silence Dogood]

My local GC in the Dallas area seems to be going strong.  I went in there last month and bought a Katana amp to go with a new electric guitar and there was gear all over the place, and lots of it being sold.  I have noticed the price of everything going up, though.  In fact, when I went in to get the Katana, the guy was replacing the old price sign with a new one ($20 higher).  I probably could've pushed for the lower price but just rolled with it (the Katana is a GREAT little amp, by the way). 

[Nhguitarplayer]

Local GC always slow when I stop in. But recently they told me they had a great few months. Can definitely find some diamonds in the rough in there used gear department

[StringPicker6]

Covid saved guitar center and the guitar industry.  I'm happy so see more people playing. 

[Silence Dogood]

I was in GC the other day and I still get cracked up over how some folks behave in guitar shops.  There was this guy in there in his 40s with an amp cranked up way too loud.  He sat there - in the middle of the store - and played through his entire bag of tricks, all the while taking in the looks all round the room to see if anyone was impressed.  I was actually trying out some gear and was tempted to get irritated at this obvious act of douche-baggery, but in the end it just made me laugh.  When he was out of gas, and after he'd played a ton of high-end guitars he probably never had any intention of buying, he was done.  He walked out like he'd just slayed a dragon. 
  

[StringPicker6]

I have seen that many times in guitar center... the worst are the drum solo people.

Biggest tragedy I ever saw was a nice Martin on the wall, and someone had completely destroyed the pickguard with scratches.  I noticed they now lock up the high end acoustics. 

[Silence Dogood]

I have seen that many times in guitar center... the worst are the drum solo people.

Biggest tragedy I ever saw was a nice Martin on the wall, and someone had completely destroyed the pickguard with scratches.  I noticed they now lock up the high end acoustics. 

Yeah, I remember back in the day when all the nice acoustics were available to take off the wall.  I've seen guys use quarters as picks on high-end acoustics and handle them carelessly.  Always made me shudder and still does. 

[StringPicker6]

I don't mind them locking up the nice ones. It just takes a minute to have someone unlock it.  I just don't want to hear a sales pitch. 

[eded]

I don't mind them locking up the nice ones. It just takes a minute to have someone unlock it.  I just don't want to hear a sales pitch. 

Usually because the sales pitch is full of half and un truths.

[Silence Dogood]

A sales pitch of any kind and for any product automatically makes me not want to buy it.  At this point, especially with the internet, things really sell themselves.  When I go somewhere to get something, nine times out of ten I already know what I'm looking for.  It is rare, but there are times when I'm unaware of a product that could help me with my needs. In those times a knowledgeable salesman can be helpful. But with guitars... we know what we want

[StringPicker6]

Guitars? Yeah, we want them all! 

[Silence Dogood]

I was thinking of this thread this week as GC got a bit more of my money for a new amp.   

Anyone heard anything recently about how GC is faring?  I'm resisting the urge to Google because it's more fun to find things out on a forum. 
 

The last few times I've gone in there it was pretty busy. I  have noticed, at least in my area, the focus really seems to be on lower-end, entry-level gear when it comes to acoustics.  They've got a lot of really crummy, cheap acoustics on the wall.  But when it comes to electrics, the focus seems to be on the mid-priced stuff.  There will be a handful of really cheap electrics, and of course the lone room with the really good stuff, but the rest seems to be somewhere between $400 and $1200 or so on the walls. 

[StringPicker6]

All I've heard is that used market prices in the guitar world are going down due to low demand. I wonder if you can bargain for some lower prices if you see setting in GC.

[B0WIE]

I have avoided looking at their #'s. It's just depressing. I somehow saw Petco's figures yesterday and was thinking to myself, "great, how many more years before I can't take my dog to the pet store anymore because they don't exist?"
 

 It's funny/sad how many of us ranted about GC for years, only to get to this point where I'm hoping they pull through so people can actually go to a music store and decide, "yea, I think I want to start playing guitar."

[Silence Dogood]

I buy a lot of stuff on Amazon, but I don't think I'd ever buy a guitar on there.  I'm sure Amazon is hurting GC's sales quite a bit.  What's crazy is, if folks would take the time to learn a bit about how GC does business, they'd likely buy from them because of the 45-day return policy.  That's a pretty generous time frame to try something out. 

My last electric guitar is matte-finished and I've already put a shiny spot on the top there my pinky rests.  This started happening almost immediately, and if I played it for a month and then took it back to GC, it's not really a new guitar at that point.  They'd have to sell it as used because of the shiny spot: a losing deal for them.  I'm sure they lose out on quite a bit of money with that policy.  But then again, maybe it's one of the only things that's working for them?  I don't know.