Guitar Center Reported Facing 'Imminent Bankrupcy'

I used to go into GC quite a bit. The sales people recognized me, as did the manager.

I'd go in whether or not they were having a sale, but I did try to hit all the 'list' events.

Still, customer service was getting worse and worse, and I was one of the people they knew and would spend money...

One day I went in and 3 steps into the door, the manager said, "What are you doing here? You only come in when there is a sale." He was serious.

I said, "Quite right.", turned on my heel and went back out the door. I haven't been back.

They still send me coupons by email trying to get me back in to the store.

I'll go back when they are in bankruptcy and stock up on stuff at 50% off or more.
 
I hate seeing any company go under. I pick up odds and ends for my studio at GC pretty often. I don’t buy guitars/amps there, those I get at Jack Gretz’ store.

But some mics, cables, rack gear, no problem. The folks at the store near me are pretty cool.
 
rugerpc said:
I used to go into GC quite a bit. The sales people recognized me, as did the manager.

I'd go in whether or not they were having a sale, but I did try to hit all the 'list' events.

Still, customer service was getting worse and worse, and I was one of the people they knew and would spend money...

One day I went in and 3 steps into the door, the manager said, "What are you doing here? You only come in when there is a sale." He was serious.

I said, "Quite right.", turned on my heel and went back out the door. I haven't been back.

They still send me coupons by email trying to get me back in to the store.

I'll go back when they are in bankruptcy and stock up on stuff at 50% off or more.
Click to expand...

Ah yeah, the coupons. It would be cheaper for GC to print those if they just listed the items you CAN buy with them, instead of all of what you can't.


I made a stop the other day for the first time since Christmas, I was shocked at the level of inventory and the condition of what they had. I tried a newer Gibby J-45(newer in that it didnt have any dings, the strings weren't crusty and the soundboard wasn't yet cracked from lack of humdity), the high E and B were fretting out around the 10-12 fret!

And like someone mentioned about the crappy internet pics, the descriptions of the guitars online are about as accurate as a 5 year weather forecast. I bought online once from them, never again.

It sounds like I'm dumping on GC, and yeah I am, but I remember what they were like when they first came to town and it's sad to watch the slow death sprial.
 
I’ll not bore you with the video (yeah I know it doesn’t sound like me!) but there’s a video of guitars smashed up in the GC skip (dumpster) that breaks my heart!

I know the economics (blah, blah, blah), but heck they could have given it to Sergio to paint blue and so things with fire!

The items that they smash up and skip is criminal. Give them to the local school, or a music project!

It almost brings me to tears to see an instrument needlessly destroyed. Yeah I’m sure guitar companies put stuff through a bandsaw, so there’s no seconds. But that’s their choice. When it’s out in the public domain, please don’t smash it up, because the company doesn’t want it. Give it to charity, or to some kid who can make it a “fixer-upper”!
 
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Elliot said:
they could have transitioned to online sales a bit better. It’s impossible to buy used gear because the pictures are God aweful.

I know they don’t make much on flipping used gear but they still charge nearly double what they paid for it.. Online used sales are nothing to skimp on when your business is going down the tube and online sales are growing.
Click to expand...
they definitely make double what the buy their used guitars for. I tracked a Harmony Meteor that I traded for a $250 Squier Fat Strat. They sold the harmony to a collector for nearly 500, who in turn sold it for well over a grand.
 
rugerpc said:
I used to go into GC quite a bit. The sales people recognized me, as did the manager.

I'd go in whether or not they were having a sale, but I did try to hit all the 'list' events.

Still, customer service was getting worse and worse, and I was one of the people they knew and would spend money...

One day I went in and 3 steps into the door, the manager said, "What are you doing here? You only come in when there is a sale." He was serious.

I said, "Quite right.", turned on my heel and went back out the door. I haven't been back.

They still send me coupons by email trying to get me back in to the store.

I'll go back when they are in bankruptcy and stock up on stuff at 50% off or more.
Click to expand...
I went in the other day, and it was like I was wearing Harry Potter's cloak of invisibility. At least 5 guys and a manager standing around, and not one of them so much as blinked in my general direction. They could have made a sale that day, if they would have come talk to me.
 
Elliot said:
they could have transitioned to online sales a bit better. It’s impossible to buy used gear because the pictures are God aweful.

I know they don’t make much on flipping used gear but they still charge nearly double what they paid for it.. Online used sales are nothing to skimp on when your business is going down the tube and online sales are growing.
Click to expand...

Wakester said:
they definitely make double what the buy their used guitars for. I tracked a Harmony Meteor that I traded for a $250 Squier Fat Strat. They sold the harmony to a collector for nearly 500, who in turn sold it for well over a grand.
Click to expand...

I actually find it to be a great place to buy used gear because you have a whole national network to order from and you have a 45 day return period to decide if you like it or not. And return it to your local store so you don't have to worry about return shipping. All you're ever out if it doesn't work out is about $20 for shipping, which they don't refund on used gear. Yeah, the photos are inconsistent - some are terrible and some are pretty good. I think it just depends on the store that takes it in. But I always call the store with the listing before I buy anything, ask questions about the condition. I've never gotten anything used from Guitar Center that was not in really good playing condition. This is NOT the case with Sam Ash, for example, who recently sold me a cosmetically immaculate strat that was basically unplayable and un-fixable - fortunately they also have a pretty reasonable return policy.

Guitar Center is as close to risk free as there is in buying used gear online that you can't play before you buy. I got an incredibly lightly used 2017 model 594 from them (the guy described it to me as appearing to be untouched with a couple of small scuff marks on the case and he described it absolutely accurately) for more than a grand less than it would have cost new and more than $500 less a base model would have been new. I didn't know quite how beautiful it would be until I got it (because, yeah, the photos sucked), but I got exactly the guitar I wanted for a price I could just barely afford.

In the past I also bought a used tele from them and just about a week ago a PRS Soapbar II I've posted about elsewhere.

To help pay for the 594, I traded/sold them an Ibanez semi-hollow that retails for $1100 (basically an AS153 but with a relic finish) but I'd bought on what I'd imagined was a model closeout for $600 from Sweetwater several months earlier. GC just saw that they were selling it on their site for $1100 and gave me $500 for it, which I was really happy with, to say the least. I've seen it in their store since with a tag for $850. All of which I think was very fair and I just happened to get lucky with my timing on the price I bought it for...

Although I'm not in the market for any more guitars for a good long time (I might even return the Soapbar - as much as I like it it's really messing with the very comfortable binary choice of what to pick up between my 594 and strat), I'd continue to buy used guitars from them as long as they're in business...

-Ray
 
I was in the SF GC recently, pass thru once in a while, sometimes just to reminisce of when I actually had some decent gigs.:oops:

Everybody's read or heard about the "death of guitar" or "the death of rock" articles that are out there on the web, etc. ............. depressing.
Hearing about this, makes me think if they disappear off the face of the earth it will be fodder for more. I know the guitar ain't going away, that's why this place is so special, but seeing the CG go when most of the independent guitar dealers are already gone is a bummer. (Here in the bay area B street music just shuttered a month ago after decades of business)

It's different time now, different instrument market, different musical scene, different methods of consumption, but I have to be honest with you, I don't think I can remember the GC not being here.
 
If they close, where will I go to try out guitars with ridiculous amounts of fret sprout?
 
Wakester said:
I went in the other day, and it was like I was wearing Harry Potter's cloak of invisibility. At least 5 guys and a manager standing around, and not one of them so much as blinked in my general direction. They could have made a sale that day, if they would have come talk to me.
Click to expand...

I swore I would never go into GC again. But my wife and I, a year ago in January, were having lunch discussing buying my first PRS. I was trying to justify to her spending that much on a guitar. She, of all people (she is not tech savvy) got on her phone and said, "Guitar Center has PRS guitars!" I said, "Let's go". I didn't want to go to GC but she seemed on board and I perhaps had a little bit of momentum.;)

We walked into Guitar Center and a kid is walking by. I showed him the guitar my wife found in inventory (on her phone) and said, "Where is this guitar?". He does not even slow down. He points to the wall and said, "It's clear at the top". He disappears.

I looked at my wife and said, "Let's go".

I'm in Omaha. We got in the car, drove the 30-40 minutes across the river to Council Bluffs to Lidgitt Music, a PRS dealer. I spent a couple/three hours trying different guitars. The guy couldn't have been more pleasant, accommodating, helpful. He just kept handing me guitars until the one in my profile picture showed up, a Paul's. I wrote him a check for it. Guitar Center may have had that sale if the kid would have slowed down or anyone shown any interest at all.

Now I absolutely will never go into GC again. Not even for a cable or a pick. And I just bought another PRS from Lidgett.
 
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Bought my Hollowbody Spruce At Guitar Center (used). But in general I don't shop there much - there's a nice local "mom and pop" near me that's been around for years. A very pleasant atmosphere there, where everyone knows their stuff, great repair work, etc.
 
RaySachs said:
I actually find it to be a great place to buy used gear because you have a whole national network to order from and you have a 45 day return period to decide if you like it or not. And return it to your local store so you don't have to worry about return shipping. All you're ever out if it doesn't work out is about $20 for shipping, which they don't refund on used gear. Yeah, the photos are inconsistent - some are terrible and some are pretty good. I think it just depends on the store that takes it in. But I always call the store with the listing before I buy anything, ask questions about the condition. I've never gotten anything used from Guitar Center that was not in really good playing condition. This is NOT the case with Sam Ash, for example, who recently sold me a cosmetically immaculate strat that was basically unplayable and un-fixable - fortunately they also have a pretty reasonable return policy.

Guitar Center is as close to risk free as there is in buying used gear online that you can't play before you buy. I got an incredibly lightly used 2017 model 594 from them (the guy described it to me as appearing to be untouched with a couple of small scuff marks on the case and he described it absolutely accurately) for more than a grand less than it would have cost new and more than $500 less a base model would have been new. I didn't know quite how beautiful it would be until I got it (because, yeah, the photos sucked), but I got exactly the guitar I wanted for a price I could just barely afford.

In the past I also bought a used tele from them and just about a week ago a PRS Soapbar II I've posted about elsewhere.

To help pay for the 594, I traded/sold them an Ibanez semi-hollow that retails for $1100 (basically an AS153 but with a relic finish) but I'd bought on what I'd imagined was a model closeout for $600 from Sweetwater several months earlier. GC just saw that they were selling it on their site for $1100 and gave me $500 for it, which I was really happy with, to say the least. I've seen it in their store since with a tag for $850. All of which I think was very fair and I just happened to get lucky with my timing on the price I bought it for...

Although I'm not in the market for any more guitars for a good long time (I might even return the Soapbar - as much as I like it it's really messing with the very comfortable binary choice of what to pick up between my 594 and strat), I'd continue to buy used guitars from them as long as they're in business...

-Ray
Click to expand...


It’s a great place to buy, I agree. But it’s not my first choice to reverb or eBay. I’ve heard plenty of others here say the same.

They take 1 or two really bad pictures of the guitar with minimal description. That’s pretty consistent.
 
Elliot said:
They take 1 or two really bad pictures of the guitar with minimal description. That’s pretty consistent.
Click to expand...
Yeah, even when they occasionally have decent photos, you really have to follow up with a phone call - I always have questions the ads don’t answer. I even got a guy at one store to take additional (and better) photos and email them to me.

I’m fine with eBay and Reverb when the specific seller has a good return policy, but that’s often not the case...

-Ray
 
matonanjin said:
I swore I would never go into GC again. But my wife and I, a year ago in January, were having lunch discussing buying my first PRS. I was trying to justify to her spending that much on a guitar. She, of all people (she is not tech savvy) got on her phone and said, "Guitar Center has PRS guitars!" I said, "Let's go". I didn't want to go to GC but she seemed on board and I perhaps had a little bit of momentum.;)

We walked into Guitar Center and a kid is walking by. I showed him the guitar my wife found in inventory (on her phone) and said, "Where is this guitar?". He does not even slow down. He points to the wall and said, "It's clear at the top". He disappears.

I looked at my wife and said, "Let's go".

I'm in Omaha. We got in the car, drove the 30-40 minutes across the river to Council Bluffs to Lidgitt Music, a PRS dealer. I spent a couple/three hours trying different guitars. The guy couldn't have been more pleasant, accommodating, helpful. He just kept handing me guitars until the one in my profile picture showed up, a Paul's. I wrote him a check for it. Guitar Center may have had that sale if the kid would have slowed down or anyone shown any interest at all.

Now I absolutely will never go into GC again. Not even for a cable or a pick. And I just bought another PRS from Lidgett.
Click to expand...


I hate Lidgett! I've only been in that store 3 times but I've bought 2 guitars-not a good ratio for my wallet! Seriously though, it's a really cool little shop and you're right, they treat you the way a good store should treat a prospective customer. I also like that they're not afraid to wheel and deal. Both guitars I got from him involved trade-ins and I was really happy with both deals we worked out and I never got that feeling of getting jobbed like GC tries to do on a trade. Man, I feel a trip back across the river coming on...
 
Lister said:
Man, I feel a trip back across the river coming on...
Click to expand...
Across the river for you as well!?!?!?! There's another Omahan on here?! I thought I was the only one.

And yes Lidgett is a great store. Although my ratio is not quite as bad as yours. I've also bought two guitars there.. But that took me about 5-6 visits:cool:
 
matonanjin said:
Across the river for you as well!?!?!?! There's another Omahan on here?! I thought I was the only one.

And yes Lidgett is a great store. Although my ratio is not quite as bad as yours. I've also bought two guitars there.. But that took me about 5-6 visits:cool:
Click to expand...

I have some good friends in Gretna.
 
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