GC closing stores?

[JacksonDean]

Taco Johns! :ROTF: At least when the dick the dog on your order at Taco Johns it's not as expensive as when they do it at GC!?

They have overextended themselves. Seems to me anyway. A GC in Des Moines, Iowa? Wha? When did we need that? Oh yeah, we didn't...

It's the nature of business. Stores come and go. I'm not "gloating" but I'm not going to shed a tear either. I don't buy new or used stuff from them anyway so it's no biggie to me. As for all the "people" that are out of work? Taco Johns is hiring. But damn I get pissed when they screw up my order...

I'm not going to shed any tears either, really. As I said before, I don't deal there. But I have met a couple of relatively decent people working there. Okay... one.

[Jacksonchick]

Well I think it's great that they are closing some. I seen them take down a few of our local mom and pop stores thats been around since before me. Alot of the reason is not because of the competition but because they can't sell the top name brands anymore. I know a guy that ownes 3 music stores and he says Gibson wants him to buy a $150,000 worth for each store and Fenders not much better.

[mattsmusiccenter]

GC was sold to Bain Capital a few months ago. Bain Capital is a Boston based private equity firm founded by Mitt Romney. They also own either all or most of Staples, Toys R Us, Domino's, Brookstones, Sealy, Burger King and Sports Authority.

Before Bain bought them GC was a publicly traded company that always had to show growth and much of the time they did that by constantly opening new stores. Now that Bain owns them the company is private, so their main concern is profitability.

I'm sure there are at least a few stores GC operates that are on the low end of that scale and Bain will close them.

[Bengal]

Taco Johns! :ROTF: At least when the dick the dog on your order at Taco Johns it's not as expensive as when they do it at GC!?

"dick the dog"? That is some damn funny shit. I'm going to use that from now on. Hope you don't mind!

[Axewielder]

"Big business" and "music" are kind of like "church" and "state". Things go to hell (no pun intended) when they are not separated.

[RacerX]

220 stores IIRC

40 would be 18 %

[Firebird V]

I know some of the GC's I have been in have reduced stock significantly. Not replacing stock orthat has been sold or distributing it to other stores to reduce overall inventory throughout the company as a whole. This is always the first step. One of the guys behind the counter and I were talking the last time I was in and he was saying that the end of last year they were running as they always have in the past but this year is going to be different now that Bain Capital has had time to look at everything. he was saying that he felt itwas going to be a good thing for GC and also for us the consumer but he did say it with a shaky voice and a salesman smile...

[Inazone]

For the longest time, there was only one GC in Minnesota, north of St. Paul. They opened a second store in the Minneapolis suburbs around 12 years ago, and that seemed to be plenty. But in the past couple of years, they opened two more locations that are only a few miles away from the previous two stores. Doesn't make any sense, especially since they're in comparatively out-of-the-way areas. There is no way that there are enough musicians around here to support four Guitar Centers, especially when there are plenty of boutique shops for the collectors and high-dollar buyers, and various Music Go Round stores for the used stuff.

[mr426]

??? The first GC in MN was in Roseville. It opened in 1988. The second is in Edina, it opened in 1997. We only have 2 in the state. Where are the ones you are talking about Inazone?

[dg]

Looks like 4 in MN, and they are all right in or around the twin cities:

http://gc.guitarcenter.com/locations/cities.cfm?state=Minnesota

That is pretty crazy, and it falls right in with what Matt said about them just opening stores to show growth when they were a public company.

[mr426]

Christ they must be new. I never heard of them openening. The Oakdale and Maple Grove stores are out of the cities a bit compared to the other 2.

[Boxcar Willie 84]

As for all the "people" that are out of work? Taco Johns is hiring. But damn I get pissed when they screw up my order...

thanks man.

[mattsmusiccenter]

I know one of the new policies Bain is implementing at all GC stores this year is they will no longer haggle on prices. In other words, you pay what the price tag says. The days of them dropping their pants to make a deal, even if they only made $5.00 on the sale, are over.

[fett]

I was around when the Radio Shack closed down in my hood. Call me fett, but I found nothing amusing about it. Yes, I got a few good deals. But, I complimented the employees on doing their job well with them knowing that they would be out of a job.

[Jacksonchick]

I hate to see people lose their jobs too. But they could have worked for the old music stores before GC moved in and closed them up.