Chicken Little again, or should we be watching for GC Sales?

[Gilmourisgod]

Seems like reports of GC's imminent demise come every couple years... and then they survive, but the recent downgrade in their credit rating can't be good. My limited experience with brick and mortar stores going under (Sears, Circuit City, and Radio Shack locally) has been that their dissolution doesn't produce any great deals or "fire sale" prices, just a sudden drain of inventory, so less available for the same price. I went to a closing Sears hoping to find some tool deals, but it was just sad, empty shelves and only the real dregs left behind at regular pricing. I feel sorry for the employees, but GC kinda made it's own bed, now they have to sleep in it. If you want to compete with mail order, you have to offer some kind of experience people are willing to pay for, superior customer service, etc., haven't seen that at my local GC. Lots of predictions that they won't survive 2018, just more hyperbole?

 

[jd56hawk]

Didn't bother to watch the video.
Saw one in 2013, though.
Didn't put much stock in it.

My Guitar Center must be the best one around. Ninety basses or so every week.
Some very nice used stuff, of course, but nice new basses, too.

 

[eastcoasteddie]

They keep opening stores by me... 3 in the last year, which makes 6 in a 20 mile radius in my area

 

[Ben B]

I don't think they're going to go out of business any time in the near future. From what I understand, the stores are generally profitable. The big issue from a few years ago had to do with their parent company Bain Capital having trouble with repaying the debt from funds they borrowed to buy GC. The debt holder, Ares Management, took control of GC in lieu of debt repayment. Since then, there hasn't been much news about GC's finances.

I'm not sure if GC is carrying less inventory than the used to, but the gear they stock seems to be mostly items that they can turn over quickly--lots of entry level equipment.

 

[Gilmourisgod]

Based on the variable experiences reported here on TB, what your local GC is like depends on local management. The closest one to me (Braintree Ma) averages around 30 basses on display including used, and maybe 4-5 bass amps, also including random used. The turnover in employees is so regular I can’t remember ever seeing the same employee twice. They do no setup whatsoever, and the salesmen usually don’t even bother to walk into the bass area. There is no attempt to sell bass gear. The parallel to a typical Sears experience really struck me. I hope they do survive, warts and all. I can’t rely on them to know anything about the basses they sell, so I don’t. I almost always know more about the product than they do. That’s cool as long as the prices stay low to compensate for comatose service.

 

[Vinnie Boombatz]

Here we go again!

 

[Picton]

Based on the variable experiences reported here on TB, what your local GC is like depends on local management. The closest one to me (Braintree Ma) averages around 30 basses on display including used, and maybe 4-5 bass amps, also including random used. The turnover in employees is so regular I can’t remember ever seeing the same employee twice. They do no setup whatsoever, and the salesmen usually don’t even bother to walk into the bass area. There is no attempt to sell bass gear. The parallel to a typical Sears experience really struck me. I hope they do survive, warts and all. I can’t rely on them to know anything about the basses they sell, so I don’t. I almost always know more about the product than they do. That’s cool as long as the prices stay low to compensate for comatose service.

And yet, go 30 miles north to the Danvers GC or 30 miles south to Attleboro, and you’ll get a completely different experience. Outstanding bass inventory in Danvers, very low employee turnover in Attleboro. Ignorant but very well-meaning and friendly service in general.

SO much about your GC experience depends on that store’s management. SO much.

 

[Gilmourisgod]

Yeah, I need to get out more, that Braintree store is just depressing. The only good old school Mom and pop in Boston is Mr Music in Allston, but it’s in Traffic Hell Central, so I rarely get there.

 

[guitarflinger]

I have sold them several pieces of used gear recently. Doubt they would be acquiring used gear for cash if closure is imminent.

 

[73BLow]

And yet, go 30 miles north to the Danvers GC or 30 miles south to Attleboro, and you’ll get a completely different experience. Outstanding bass inventory in Danvers, very low employee turnover in Attleboro. Ignorant but very well-meaning and friendly service in general.

SO much about your GC experience depends on that store’s management. SO much.

And to add to the state of MA, Millbury = craphole, Natick is pretty nice.

 

[Big Shrek]

Guitar Center has some truly catastrophic managers.

Like the moron they sent to run the Pensacola store...
failed to upkeep the business insurance, thinking it would wait
until Hurricane season, then the place got hit by a tornado just prior
to hurricane season...not to mention he chose to be open only
during "Banker's Hours plus one" 9-6 won't cut it ANYWHERE,
and dang sure not in the music biz, especially with three huge
competitors in town with better hours. No More GC in Pensacola,
and they're not planning on re-opening at a later date.

At the Montgomery GC a few months ago, was told that ONLY the Tech could sell POTS,
as nobody else knew enough about them to help me with a purchase
that I could SEE behind them on the shelf. Tech didn't start his shift until 4pm.
Read the freakin LABEL on the back, moron!
It tells what range the resistance, etc...y'know, stuff anyone could SEE FOR THEMSELVES
if you put it on the floor instead of behind the counter like top shelf booze...for that matter,
they even keep strings on the wall behind the counter so you can barely read the info on the labels.

Employees make or break a biz. Can't just hire a bunch of Pet Shop Boys for looks
and hope they figure it out...if they don't have the proper training, it shows in
very obvious, cringe-worthy ways. And if the manager is a moron, it's DOOMED.

 

[Dave Thomas]

One great thing about Guitar Center is the huge used database, that at through my local one lets you order and return at the store if there are issues, but yeah the employees can be pretty bad, especially under what used to be commission sales

 

[Dave Thomas]

But I kind of feel bad for the sales guys, theres a lot of hate out there, haha:

 

[MEKer]

Few things tick me off more in a music store than ignorant employees. How about SOME sort of info re basses for the employee of that area? And no more with the store bass area employee who will slap 2 bars of something to show he is on top of basses and knows his "stuff".
Ah, crap, I got nuttin' to add to this thread. We all know what the suck level of music store employees is.

 

[Adhesive_X]

I hope they stick around just for the used gear, love that return policy!

 

[Big Shrek]

Few things tick me off more in a music store than ignorant employees. How about SOME sort of info re basses for the employee of that area? And no more with the store bass area employee who will slap 2 bars of something to show he is on top of basses and knows his "stuff".
Ah, crap, I got nuttin' to add to this thread. We all know what the suck level of music store employees is.

At many furniture store the sales guys go through intense information sessions
so that they can, if they so desire, explain on an Engineering Level how the
furniture's features work. How the mechanism in the Lazyboy chairs operates,
for example...the weight of the leather in the Natuzzi Leather Sofas...
the type of 12-ply plywood in Franklin Sofas to have a stronger frame.

I would have thought that the GC's and other stores would have Corporate Reps
coming in to do seminars on a monthly basis for each brand of instrument they sell...
we would get a visit by the best guy in Spring Air Mattresses, who would detail what
Liggett and Platt spring system was used in each type of mattress...the density of
the foam that went around the springs, the filler of the pillow-top, and everything
possible about their mattress once a year. Then two weeks later the guy from
Holland House wood furniture would explain their dinner table & chair construction...
then we'd get in a Sofa Rep in two more weeks...the Reps would give us all the technical
information we would ever need to make a sale, by pointing out the various features
of each item and how to overcome objections and comparisons to other products.
Then they'd also inform of us their new Flagship line of products and how to sell those...

By the end of a year, you were so well-versed in Furniture you could handle anything
So is the Music Industry/GC doing the same things??
Is Big Orange coming in once a year and schooling the employees on what the
features are on their amps?? Got me all curious now

And if they aren't...why are they not?? It only makes sense for Factory Reps to come
out and teach the employees how to sell their products!! Not to just blow smoke!!

Further, are the employees going out and looking up the particulars on their own??
I know I would!! The better you know everything you deal with, the better you'll
be able to sell it!! Knowing an entire brand, inside & out means you can explain
all those features perfectly...meaning higher sales...meaning more bux in your pocket

 

[Fender_Bender]

Sears Canada just went under. I actually had one nearby, and the strangest thing is that they spent several months and lotsa $$ in the summer totally revamping the place. It gave me hope they were going to survive but it wasn’t to be. Now I have to find somewhere else at the mall to park and go in and out of.

 

[Mugre]

Here we go again!

Guitar Center is like an 97 year old with Pneumonia. The news this week is the doctors (bond rating companies) are saying that there are no more antibiotics left to try. The current down rating, the second this year has put GC into the probably fatal category (their words). They are starting to warn money that there's more risk than upside potential in assuming the debt obligations. The interest alone is something like 600 million. Total debt is around 1.5 billion. S&P's current rating of CCC- officially means that their belief is that GC cannot withstand any more bad luck (like an underwhelming Christmas season) and the minus means that they believe it's not going to get better. There's a BIG balloon payment due in apr. '19. Unless something drastic happens, I'm pretty sure that's when they'll start picking over the bones.

So yes you may have heard it before but what you haven't heard is "things are looking up for GC."

I watched, from close at hand, this whole circus from when GC was one ring with a donkey painted up with white stripes and called a zebra. I take no pleasure in seeing it but neither will I cry myself to sleep over it. If they live, in some form, it'll be what is for me today, a place where I might or might not buy some gear based on the day and the deal.

Mugre

 

[bumperbass]

Buy local at a locally owned music store if possible. I know, sometimes they don't have the selection, but most will match the price (M.A.P.) and IMO they are there for you if something's amiss.

 

[Worldeeeter]

First, they have their own mail order business (Musicians’ Friend), which more than likely bankrolls the whole operation. Second, as long as their vendors continue to sell to them, they’ll keep selling to the public. Their debt situation is far from catastrophic; they’re paying invoices and getting gear into the stores. You can start biting your nails when you walk into a GC and it’s only half-full of instruments, amps, etc. Every one I enter is chock full of equipment that I have no desire to own.