Guitar Center fail

[AirCap]

https://www.billboard.com/articles/business/8483490/guitar-center-unveils-remodeled-hollywood-store-comeback-plans

So Guitar Center throws a concert, and doesn't invite ANY guitarists? That's tone deaf, if you ask me.

 

[spe111]

In my opinion to be a brick and mortar store in an online world you need to have good customer service and a large selection in stock. Guitar Center seems to be going the wrong direction on both accounts, at least the one local to me.

 

[swarfrat]

More likely it's someone's idea of where their bread and butter will come from in the future.

 

[aarontunes]

In my opinion to be a brick and mortar store in an online world you need to have good customer service and a large selection in stock. Guitar Center seems to be going the wrong direction on both accounts, at least the one local to me.

QFT.


They can say whatever they want in that PR piece, but I'll believe what I see in stores near me: vastly depleted stock compared to several years ago, most of which hits an entry-level price point, all of which is covered in kid grease.


In fact, I believe I heard that the downtown Seattle store is due to close soon. Although in that case, I think it's due to the fact that the land it sits on has risen in value to a point where it's worth more than the store and everything in it (thanks to Amazon).

 

[Cagey]

Their time may be past. Nearly everybody has internet access now, even if only by phone. When your best response to availability is "I can order that for you", the only logical response to that is "I can order it myself, I don't need you or your markup". If they only thing they have to offer is order fulfillment, like some kind of regional Amazon warehouse, what good are they? May as well just set up a kiosk out in the parking lot, like one of those old "Fotomat" shacks...

I'll take two Strats, one leather strap with skulls on it, and a box of strings, please!​

 

[AirCap]

The one in my town recently added teaching studios, but the place still looks like a dump, and most of the help are no smarter than a turnip. On the front door.... "All we sell is the best feeling on Earth". Not likely.

 

[aarontunes]

May as well just set up a kiosk out in the parking lot, like one of those old "Fotomat" shacks...

I thought the only thing those were good for was stopping Libyan terrorists.  :dontknow:

 

[Cagey]

Well, that and like many drive-thru points of sale, distributing recreational pharmaceuticals.

 

[zebra]

Between 1) the general declining trend of guitar sales since a high-point in the 80s (or early 90s), the advent of internet sales, and the declining popularity of rock music in general compared to pop/hip-hop, I don't see much hope for them.  They won't keep doors open a lot selling cheap guitars, and they can't afford the overhead of having lots of over-priced guitars on the walls (that probably rarely sell). 

What they probably should do is pivot from products to services - focusing on rehearsal space for bands, musical instruction, clinics, "band camps" for white-collar professionals to send their children to when they feel compelled to allay the pangs of regret that accompany the onset of mid-life crisis, mods and repairs, and hardware/software instruction.  All of your employees are now contractors who only work when they are scheduled to teach a class or repair something.  Vast reduction in inventory and labor costs to be had there.

At the very least, immediate cease and liquidate all aspects of operation that are not profitable.  :doh:

 

[spe111]

My local non-guitar center guitar store is booming.

 

[spe111]

My local non-guitar center guitar store is booming.

Mainly because they're doing what I said in my first post. Good customer service and a good selection.

 

[AirCap]

the general declining trend of guitar sales since a high-point in the 80s (or early 90s), the advent of internet sales, and the declining popularity of rock music in general compared to pop/hip-hop, I don't see much hope for them.  They won't keep doors open a lot selling cheap guitars, and they can't afford the overhead of having lots of over-priced guitars on the walls (that probably rarely sell).

There is SO MUCH wrong with your post....
Guitar sales are strong - otherwise Gibson wouldn't be making a profit, Taylor is selling everything they make, and music stores and teaching studios are opening up all over. Guitar music is happening at the grassroots level.

Cheap guitars only make enough profit to keep the lights on. High dollar stuff pays the staff, and buys more merch. You even say "probably rarely sell" - so your post is meaningless.

I've been working in the music industry for 40 years now, and I can tell you every store in town is selling guitars and are happy with sales. The teaching studios are adding new students and teachers all the time. The biz is healthy.

Don't believe all the press, and for sure - don't just consider a few poorly managed places like GC to be indicators for the whole market. Trust your own eyes, and not what you read or hear.

 

[spe111]

Agreed; my local shops have Suhr, Friedman, PRS, etc flying out the door. I went to look at a Fender custom shop Strat yesterday and it was gone. I don't remember that many people buying $2-3k guitars back in the 90's, but that might just be because I couldn't afford them back then. 

 

[Cagey]

Music stores seem to be doing fairly well around here, too. GC alone has 4 stores in a 30 mile radius, and there are several other stores that are too big/unique/dedicated/whatever that GC couldn't buy up back when they were trying to take over the world, plus we still have some more niche places. There's one store that I shudder to think what $ they must have in inventory - nearly all their Gibson/Fender fiddles are custom shop models, and there are a LOT of them, not to mention being a Boogie distributor, Martin, etc. There's another that has probably 1/2 an acre of service area under the roof, with warranty authorization for just about anything musical you can buy. That's where Reverend Guitars and Egnator Amps started up. It's an embarrassment of riches around here, if you want to see/buy gear at a brick & mortar outlet.

 

[AirCap]

Right now - we are in the golden age of guitars.... Look at all the boutique makers, the custom luthiers, acoustic sales are high, electric are moving well. The amp and accessory market is very strong, and that by itself is a very good indicator of the health of the guitar market. Guitars are MONEY right now, and that's a good thing. If guitars were not selling right now - GC would fold like wet cardboard. Prove me wrong!

 

[aarontunes]

All the music stores around me - GC and mom&pops alike - seem to be way back of where they were five years ago. There is music store just a few miles from my house that used to carry tons of great high-end gear - Mesa Boogie, PRS, Don Grosh, Taylor, Santa Cruz, e.g. I loved going there just to see what was new, and chat it up with the staff. Now it's on its way to becoming just another strip-mall music store. Their selection is a ghost of what it once was. Same with all other local stores I visit.


That said, I think guitar sales overall are strong and getting stronger. The numbers are moving in the right direction. People are playing guitar. Kids are taking up guitar. I just think people have moved to ordering stuff online. It will be interesting to see how much of that purchasing goes back to B&M once Nexus is in full swing.



All the doom and gloom reports and hand-wringing about the death of guitar are just headlines written by people trying to get clicks. Guitar is alive and well. It is brick & mortar that is on life-support.

 

[swarfrat]

OTOH I live in a town of 250k with zero music stores. There's a GC 45 minutes away. And in the next town of 1.2M, there is a GC, SA, and one or two independents. 

Oh wait, there's a part time music store in my town, in a bad part of town with barbed wire and barricaded windows by appointment only and a buzzer on the door (for real).  But it's a pain to go there because I can never get all 11 members of the rifle squad up to going on the same day. The grenadier's kids have soccer practice on Saturdays when they're open and the SAW gunner's wife always has him doing housework on Saturdays, so ... I'm pretty much stuck with online.  (And they don't stock much of anything anyway - but they can order it for you.)

 

[Seamas]

The two music stores closest to me, both of which are fairly new, deal almost entirely on used instruments and gear, plus repair/service and accessories.
In a lot of ways i think that is how the local guitar shops are going to go. Sure used gear is just as accessible online via craigslist and e-bay, but I think people have some reluctance to make those purchases because there is such a bigger amount of uncertainty about the used gear.

I think there will also be more of concentration in guitar stores that do sell new guitars to be more specialized--especially when it comes to the higher end acoustic guitars. IMHO there was always a HUGE difference in the quality of the acoustic guitars at the typical Guitar center than the ones found at a more mom & pop or specialist retailer. The owner operator of the smaller store will send stuff back to Martin or Taylor if the axe doesn't have mojo. The guy at Guitar center might not know what mojo is.

 

[spe111]

There's a few pretty good stores here in the Pittsburgh area. I think the people that are utilizing reverb and selling online are doing better than those that are not. That's a pretty good setup too because you get to have stuff in stock in your brick and mortar store and have it available online.

 

[aarontunes]

There's a few pretty good stores here in the Pittsburgh area. I think the people that are utilizing reverb and selling online are doing better than those that are not. That's a pretty good setup too because you get to have stuff in stock in your brick and mortar store and have it available online.

That is a GREAT point. Lot's of b&m's are finally figuring out how to play both side of the field.