Guitar Center's Finances Getting Worse

[pianoguyy]

It's hard to compete against online "dealers" that are selling gear for $50 profit in between bong hits while living in their mother's basement. You buy from Joe's Webstore, Joe's Webstore calls up their supplier and has it shipped right to you. No store. No inventory. No inspection. Just a $50 "middle man" fee.

Technology isn't killing us, but it is allowing us to kill ourselves.

[TKEblue]

It's hard to compete against online "dealers" that are selling gear for $50 profit in between bong hits while living in their mother's basement. You buy from Joe's Webstore, Joe's Webstore calls up their supplier and has it shipped right to you. No store. No inventory. No inspection. Just a $50 "middle man" fee.

Technology isn't killing us, but it is allowing us to kill ourselves.

Well, we are comparing that to guitar center, where best case scenario what you ordered sat in a warehouse untouched, not inspected, not set up, ect for an undisclosed amount of time.

If I'm going to pay to have it set up, may as well pay the minimum middle man fee.

[Nightbat]

It's hard to compete against online "dealers" that are selling gear for $50 profit in between bong hits while living in their mother's basement. You buy from Joe's Webstore, Joe's Webstore calls up their supplier and has it shipped right to you. No store. No inventory. No inspection. Just a $50 "middle man" fee.

Technology isn't killing us, but it is allowing us to kill ourselves.

Nothing new, we didn't save the blacksmith when cars came into favor and we didn't save the grocer when supermarkets appeared either

Remember they exist to earn money off people, not that people exist to give them money

[Rsmacker]

It's hard to compete against online "dealers" that are selling gear for $50 profit in between bong hits while living in their mother's basement. You buy from Joe's Webstore, Joe's Webstore calls up their supplier and has it shipped right to you. No store. No inventory. No inspection. Just a $50 "middle man" fee.

Technology isn't killing us, but it is allowing us to kill ourselves.

To become a Marshall dealer, you used to have to keep a certain level of stock, and one of the big provisos was "NO TRANS-SHIPPING to other traders". You were entitled to sell Marshall, not your mate across town. Marshall were red-hot on it, and if anyone sent in a registration card from a non-legit dealer, the original supplier would be traced from the serial numbers and they were no longer Marshall dealers, no discussion. Same with Fender Rock 'n' Roll Dealers, it was a privilege to have their stuff in your shop, and there was no way you'd throw that away by helping out another shop by supplying them with something their customer wanted. That customer had to come to you.

Now that was shit when you were the small dealer who couldn't afford that big commitment, with a customer who wanted that particular item you couldn't supply, (as I can personally attest), but it meant that the big dealer always had loads of great stock across the range that nobody else could undercut.

Not so long ago, I noticed that if I wanted to get hold of certain exclusive items for a customer, it was no problem. No need to ask a dealer to put his whole Main Dealer status on the line just so you are able to make a drink out of a sale, it seems they will all cut each others' throats just to shift units. Well, the result is they cut their own throats.
If the manufacturers had some pride, like they used to before numbers were everything, they'd keep their kit out of the hands of the trans-shippers and grey importers, and make their products objects of deep desire that people would travel to drool over.

[AdRock]

I live right behind my local GC. The store has been getting less and less stocked over the past few years. Last summer they opened up gear rental and I constantly see people getting or returning stuff. But there's tons of open floor space in the main room. The other downside for them is the very very well stocked Sam Ash just across the highway. The Sam Ash has plenty of Jacksons, ESPs, and other brands, as well as the required walls full of Gibson & Fender. The Ash is also at least twice the size of the GC if not more.

[Black Shadow]

The GC in my city--admittedly a musical ghost town--is so sad. Big ass store and
eerily empty. Mostly imports, and cheap ones at that. Absolutely no high-end amps
to speak of. Given the bad economy in this area, I'm surprised it's able to stay open
at all...

I wonder if the next domino to fall is Musician's Friend? Aren't they the parent company
to GC, or is it the other way around?

Musician's Friend is an online business model as opposed to having lots of brick and mortar stores. Amazon and Ebay are literally killing a lot of businesses. I must confess that I buy 95% of my non-grocery items online these days. Besides being cheaper, there is usually no TAX, and I don't have to risk my life and waste gas/time driving through rush hour traffic to get there.

GC is probably overly generous with their credit card terms, meaning they earn very little interest from their customers. I am very uninspired on the rare occasions when I visit GC as they have clearly shifted downmarket to appeal to kids/beginners or broke people who are in the market for brand new $299 guitars. And their used selection sucks now because no one wants to get ripped off by GC, so they sell their gear on ebay/reverb, etc.

[Black Shadow]

I live right behind my local GC. The store has been getting less and less stocked over the past few years. Last summer they opened up gear rental and I constantly see people getting or returning stuff. But there's tons of open floor space in the main room. The other downside for them is the very very well stocked Sam Ash just across the highway. The Sam Ash has plenty of Jacksons, ESPs, and other brands, as well as the required walls full of Gibson & Fender. The Ash is also at least twice the size of the GC if not more.

A one of a kind local guitar store in my area stocks all the mid to high end gear that real musicians want, and they are about 10-20% cheaper than GC. How can they afford it? Low overhead. They have a dumpy old single story house that was converted to a store (LOL) for starters, and there is no corporate office to drain blood from them to pay executive bonuses, lawyers, etc. They are also in weird location with terrible access, but once you find them, it's like discovering a well kept secret!

[TommyD]

I saw a Youtube video from a guy that KNOWS his shit that had a possible explanation for why they are losing money.

It's because of a wasteful culture. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EuZmICbnQss Tommy D.

[Bert]

Demographics are also working against them. Kids these days just don't really want to pick up guitar, unless it's an acoustic to copy Taylor Swift:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2017/lifestyle/the-slow-secret-death-of-the-electric-guitar/?utm_term=.7d1137c518b1

[Jayster]

Musician's Friend is an online business model as opposed to having lots of brick and mortar stores.

2 different times I've tried to do business with MF and both times they failed me. The first time was on a "Stupid deal of the day", I ordered and paid for 2 4x12's (Randall's). A few weeks later they credited my money to my account with no explanation. The 2cd time, I was trying to buy a HSC for my Rhoads and again I paid for it and after a few weeks I called to ask when I could expect delivery and they told me a few months, I cancelled my order and haven't considered ever using them again.

SweetWater has excellent customer service and I've never had any problems with them. YMMV

[toejam]

Sweetwater is awesome... except they'll call you every once in awhile and annoy you.

Musician's Friend, Music123 and GC are all pretty much the same company and under the same corporate umbrella.