Posted on 02/05/2015 1:26:44 PM PST by Itaintwhy
This is an obituary for Guitar Center, a chain of big box musical instrument stores that was captured and infected by private equity during a national trend of greed and reckless expansionism in the late-1990s and early-2000s. The company started as a Los Angeles organ store, became a successful purveyor of guitars after the Beatles arrived in the United States, evolved into a national competitor over a period of decades, and shall finish, with sad poetry, as the symbol of everything dysfunctional about American corporate finance, management, and retail in the modern age.
(Excerpt) Read more at ericgarland.co ...
He is also known to give keynote speeches and plays bass.
At the recent NAMM conference (National Association of Music Manufacturers), he was known as "Mr. Guitar Center" because of his deep knowledge of the company and of the musical instrument (MI) industry.
Worth the read, if you're a musician or interested in the current state of Big Box Retail.
Excellent, informative article about the imminent collapse of Guitar Center.
Don’t feel too bad. GC is the same company as Musician’s Friend which has a thriving mail order business. This just means they will have to close the brick and mortar stores.
He's been talking about the imminent demise of Guitar Center for several years now.
I have a friend who owns a small music shop. It’s an excellent and well-stocked guitar store and he’s been in business for decades. In fact, he just sold my beloved Clapton Strat on consignment and I picked up the check today.
His place, along with one or two other such mom and pop stores, was the only game in town when it came to buying guitars and equipment. That is until a Guitar Center opened a year or so ago. It’s the new shiny thing in town and has a good location so naturally that’s where everyone wanted to go. His sales dropped quite a bit, but he’s still doing ok.
I like Guitar Center and have bought some things from them in other cities. But, in this case, I would just prefer they were not around here. For his sake.
Musician’s Friend is a rip-off outfit, regardless. Demonstrably so— absolute crap customer satisfaction.
My family would save a lot of money if there were no Guitar Center nearby.
Except that they fired Gene Joly (President of Musician's Friend) two days before Christmas.
And then the new CEO (brought in around Thanksgiving) just fired 43 corporate executives and 28 field management positions (Regional VPs, District Managers, Field Operations Managers and Field Training Managers).
Whew! Glad I went to Bizzare Guitars to buy my Fender Blues Junior III two weeks ago. LOL! Nothing against GC in general and I’ve bought stuff from them but decided to go local family owned this time. They had mismarked the amp by $20.00 (in favor of me) so I said that was the one I wanted. No argument and they failed to ring up a T-shirt at the register and when we reminded them about it they just tossed it in the bag. Woo Hoo! And, this little 15 watt/12” single channel amp cranks. Thanks Greg for the t-shirt. ($28.00 as marked.) I’m sure they didn’t lose any money. :>}}}
I know Ray Scherr, the founder. Haven’t seen him in about 10 years or so. Might have to look him up just to see what he says.
No tears here.
A good musician can play a poor guitar and make it sound fantastic.
If you know how to play you do it.
Electric guitars...meh. Almost anyone can play one but a musician can get more out of it.
Now an acoustic...! BIG difference!
Oh sure an aged, broken in instrument will sound better but again it’s the musician.
FWIW I have a SILVERTONE I bought for $6 + $20 shipping over a decade ago. After my setup and a couple of years aging it sounds better than most ELITE acoustic guitars.
It’s my go to ax.
I have other guitars including a Silvertone ALL SOLID WOOD guitar that will smoke any Martin, Gibson, Guild...and I like Guild.
It’s all in the setup and learning how to use the tools you have.
This is what happens when sales don't cover costs, and people don't know when to stop spending and start selling.
I just picked up the acoustic guitar last year for the first time ever. It’s a humbling experience combined with an occasional breakthrough.
so is it closing or what?
kind of irresponsible if they’re not and his article makes it look like they’re goners.
I'm guessing there's a story? I've bought a lot of stuff from MF over the years and don't have any particular complaints.
They just opened their second store in the Jacksonville a few months ago --and right across the street from George's Music, a regional big-box music store.
Fender started selling directly from their website. That tells me something's afoot.
interesting. I represent tenants and I know I’ve got a few that would like they’re space in WP, FLA :)
I just mentioned music stores (not GC per se) a day or so ago in relation to the Radio Shack bankruptcy. I buy a lot of stuff online but I do try to patronize my local music shop because I’d hate to lose him as a resource.
The times they are a-changing (and not for the better).
Sooner or later he’ll be right.
“Two men say they’re Jesus, One of them must be wrong”.
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