A world without Guitar Center?

In May of 2022, Guitar Sinner cancelled $6 million worth of orders to Fender alone. A good portion of these products had already been delivered and Fender had no cancelation clause in the contract, so Fender had to also pay return shipping as well.

On July 24, 2022, Fender announced division wide layoffs in response. In total, over 200 positions were cut immediately (i have the email to prove it) and 110 additional positions were cut over the next several months.

Corona responded to the cuts by increasing the percentage of foreign parts (guitars marked "Made In Corona California are foreign made/California assembled, so they cannot say Made In USA anyways) and had more operations performed overseas to keep up production with cuts to the Corona labor force.

Its an economic shell game.
 
iblive said:
Only been to a guitar center a couple times. Wasn’t impressed enough to ever go back. That was multiple years ago.
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Especially after visiting Chicago Music Exchange. A conservative estimate would be around a 1000 quality acoustic, electric and bass guitars hanging on their walls. Maybe more. Sound proof rooms you can take an electric into and plug in to test. Multiple amps in each room to choose from. The acoustic room is enclosed and humidity controlled. And a staff that actually plays the instruments you would be shopping for. It’s like Disney Land for guitar/bass players. Since I’ve been there last they’ve expanded their keyboard and drum inventory.
 
ibmorjamn said:
Did the merge with musicians friend?
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Always been the same company. You can even use your Guitar Center card on the MF website.

iblive said:
Especially after visiting Chicago Music Exchange. A conservative estimate would be around a 1000 quality acoustic, electric and bass guitars hanging on their walls. Maybe more. Sound proof rooms you can take an electric into and plug in to test. Multiple amps in each room to choose from. The acoustic room is enclosed and humidity controlled. And a staff that actually plays the instruments you would be shopping for. It’s like Disney Land for guitar/bass players. Since I’ve been there last they’ve expanded their keyboard and drum inventory.
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We have a GC here in the San Diego area that rivals any shop I have been to. I don't go there often but always have a positive experience and always have the opportunity to tray out a great variety of higher-end guitars and amps while there in a private room.
 
You know, I've only ever been in 2 Guitar Centers and that was Akron, Ohio and Charlotte,NC both at least 15 years ago now. Unless something massive changed with them nowadays? Can't say I was ever really impressed. Was honestly let down, being from the sticks and only ever being inside of small gear shops. I went there each time expecting some Mecca and was just bummed lol

Now, Woodwind and Brasswind in South Bend, Indiana? That was a damn megastore with any and everything. Used to get catalogs from them but they closed back in 2011 and went to online only in Indianapolis. The Thoroughbred Music chain( until 1999) , namely the store in Nashville was awesome too but they became Sam Ash and now they're largely defunct as well.
 
I've always wondered how these mega-stores even exist. Their warehouse pictures look like they could supply the whole world each. Now days it's basically like GC has turned into Guitar K-Mart though, ..since the early days when everything was all top-notch. I was there to dump a few guitars a while back and it was a ghost town. They still had an old promotional poster of Zakk Wylde hanging up on the front window to show their unescapable out of touch sort of existence these days. I mean who are they going to put up next, besides our very own Canadian legend Jethro Rocker?? He would want too much money though and his larger than life presence might look awkward as it might look like a mountain sitting on a crow bar just in pure aura. Especially if Jeth is in a full 360 reverse stage spin. :dood:

Oh yea, Guitar Center. Yep.
 
We had two really great local chains that were based in New England. They were just big enough to carry what most people really needed, and staffing that were savvy enough to buy the right stuff for their stores. They were E.U. Wurlitzer and Daddy's Junky Music. I miss both of them. They were put out of business by guitar center, and people looking to save an extra $0.50 on everything. Fortunately, we still have many decent independent stores due to the extensive music programs in schools, Berklee, all the theaters, and other stuff going on around Boston. We are spoiled here. I feel bad for folks in other parts of the country where small shops were put under by GC's awful business model. I've only bought a few few things sight unseen online, and gotten skunked only two of those times. But, the thought of being completely dependent on online sales scares the crap out of me. In the end, GC should have never been so predatory. There are no needs for monopolies, especially when they operate with a business model that can not sustain itself.
 
SG John said:
We had two really great local chains that were based in New England. They were just big enough to carry what most people really needed, and staffing that were savvy enough to buy the right stuff for their stores. They were E.U. Wurlitzer and Daddy's Junky Music. I miss both of them. They were put out of business by guitar center, and people looking to save an extra $0.50 on everything. Fortunately, we still have many decent independent stores due to the extensive music programs in schools, Berklee, all the theaters, and other stuff going on around Boston. We are spoiled here. I feel bad for folks in other parts of the country where small shops were put under by GC's awful business model. I've only bought a few few things sight unseen online, and gotten skunked only two of those times. But, the thought of being completely dependent on online sales scares the crap out of me. In the end, GC should have never been so predatory. There are no needs for monopolies, especially when they operate with a business model that can not sustain itself.
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I agree, they ate up almost all the stores in CA.
Honestly I have never seen great deals at the smaller shops.
Pawn shops are my go to right now but they kind of lost me a bit.
I have been 100% so far on all my online purchases. Lots of sight unseen stuff.
I did buy a Marshall JTM 30 from Guitar center online a few years ago.
That amp was not in the greatest condition. At that time I was 200 miles from a music store.
 
ibmorjamn said:
I agree, they ate up almost all the stores in CA.
Honestly I have never seen great deals at the smaller shops.
Pawn shops are my go to right now but they kind of lost me a bit.
I have been 100% so far on all my online purchases. Lots of sight unseen stuff.
I did buy a Marshall JTM 30 from Guitar center online a few years ago.
That amp was not in the greatest condition. At that time I was 200 miles from a music store.
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I’d say because there were so many shops, all the prices seemed to be at par. Never list price, but nothing insanely cheap. You’d just watch out for cool stuff, and hope a shop you visit had something tagged a bit “off”, and score a good deal. I still have the luxury of having about ten shops in a thirty mile radius of where I live, and then even more if I want to drive a bit.
 
SG John said:
I’d say because there were so many shops, all the prices seemed to be at par. Never list price, but nothing insanely cheap. You’d just watch out for cool stuff, and hope a shop you visit had something tagged a bit “off”, and score a good deal. I still have the luxury of having about ten shops in a thirty mile radius of where I live, and then even more if I want to drive a bit.
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I still have a picture of the one that got away. White LP custom at GC.
 
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