Guitar Center soon to go under???

[lionhead]

Originally Posted by ilikeguitar90

I'd hate to see them go under, they are by far the easiest place to mess around and try a huge range of guitars. Not to mention they have a huge used inventory with a like 30 day return policy even if you end up not liking whatever you purchased. They may sometimes have crappy employees but I would hate to see them gone.

Originally Posted by BT55

Big Picture - Online Stores vs Bricks & Mortar
I own a Custom Golf Shop. In the last ten years almost every bricks and mortar golf shop was put out of business by online stores. I offer only custom built clubs and the custom industry is flourishing. Right now there is a demand for big box music stores but the writing is on the wall - online stores will win.

An acquaintance of mine owns a very successful home brewing supply store, he says the key to his success was his online sales... The brick and mortar part was basically a warehouse, but did do one third of his business.

[pfflyer55]

I hear Shades of Blue and agree to an extent, but GC has a huge online business and that alone may just keep them in the mix until they find a way out of trouble.

The best thing I have found is buy online and have it shipped to your local GC and if it doesn't meet your standards simply refuse it on the spot. There are no shipping costs and refunds are processed right there. They have given many of us a chance to test drive a guitar for 30-45 days and simply return it for a full price refund no questions asked.

They have paid for their lack of business knowledge and it may cost them in the near future, but I hope for the employees sake that I have grown fond of that they find a way to resurect their MOJO and carry on. What a shame if they don't!

[Reasley]

Originally Posted by pfflyer55

The best thing I have found is buy online and have it shipped to your local GC and if it doesn't meet your standards simply refuse it on the spot. There are no shipping costs and refunds are processed right there. They have given many of us a chance to test drive a guitar for 30-45 days and simply return it for a full price refund no questions asked.

I'm guessing that you must be talking about new instrument purchases. I'm pretty sure that, when you buy used from one of their other stores, they always charge $25(?) shipping -- whether it is sent to your home or the local store.

I always buy used there and I do cherry-pick great deals. Again, there is tremendous inter-store variability on pricing. Guitar Center variability within the chain, that is. As such, I'm a bit superstitious and will not have a used purchase sent to a store -- always to my home -- because I know I'm going to get that instrument and it will never get "lost in the system."

[HAMFIST]

I have written about this a bit myself. The thing is, they could take a bunch of other folks down with them. They owe Gibson, Fender, Taylor, a bunch of companies a lot of money, and from what I have seen that debt is not covered by credit insurance.

[JakeStone]

Guitar Center's financial downfall has been going on for years!

You can only lose money and take on debt for so long....

https://www.marketwatch.com/story/gu...den-2017-04-25

http://www.musicincmag.com/News/2017...071717_GC.html

[amyFB]

It was interesting to me to read info at two sites this morning.
The first discusses GC's IPO in 1997 and provides some insight into their profit margins and mission focus at the time.

http://www.nasdaq.com/markets/ipos/c...-inc-9528-8250

the second is from GC's own site, at the History page, and states that the they went private again after Ares Capital became a major shareholder. http://www.guitarcenter.com/pages/history

Ares describes itself , in part, as : leading specialty finance company that provides one-stop solutions to meet the distinct and underserved financing needs of private middle-market companies across diverse industries.

Ares themselves has an interesting portfolio http://arescapitalcorp.com/portfolio...nts....neither GC or MF is listed and I don't know what that might mean with respect to its future prospects.

This was a serious time grab from my work day! Back to the desk with me now!!

[Don W]

Eventually everything will just be Amazon anyway!!!!!

[Chezler]

Originally Posted by Reasley

I'm guessing that you must be talking about new instrument purchases. I'm pretty sure that, when you buy used from one of their other stores, they always charge $25(?) shipping -- whether it is sent to your home or the local store.

I always buy used there and I do cherry-pick great deals. Again, there is tremendous inter-store variability on pricing. Guitar Center variability within the chain, that is. As such, I'm a bit superstitious and will not have a used purchase sent to a store -- always to my home -- because I know I'm going to get that instrument and it will never get "lost in the system."

I have bought two used guitars from GC that came from out-of-state stores. I didn't have to pay a dime til they came in and I inspected and accepted them. I wouldn't have it any other way.
They beat the heck out of small, local shop prices.
Great place to visit.

[DHart]

Originally Posted by Chezler

I have bought two used guitars from GC that came from out-of-state stores. I didn't have to pay a dime til they came in and I inspected and accepted them. I wouldn't have it any other way.
They beat the heck out of small, local shop prices.
Great place to visit.

I am very thankful to have local Guitar Center stores, along with our favorite online retailers.

Guitar Center's awesome return policy and local stores (no shipping to return, if you wish to return) really make purchasing from them (once you negotiate a good price) easy, low risk, and low cost.

Praying for Guitar Center to stay afloat. And not just for guitars... let's not forget all the all the keyboards, drums, pedals, mixers, PAs, microphones, digital interfaces, speakers, accessories, yada yada yada!!! Guitar Center is MUCH more than just guitars.

[guitar george]

Originally Posted by Chezler

I have bought two used guitars from GC that came from out-of-state stores. I didn't have to pay a dime til they came in and I inspected and accepted them. I wouldn't have it any other way.

That is a wonderful and safe way to do it.

Never pay up front with the promise of a refund if you are not satisfied. If the company goes into some sort of reorganization or receivership, your money could be tied up in litigation for a long time, or, more likely completely lost.

[jwellsy]

I don't think the GC corp will fold. They have a lot of stores that do very well. All of their stores are corp owned, none of them are franchises.

I could see them closing individual under producing locations. They have made some strange location decisions that need re-evaluated.

[HAMFIST]

Originally Posted by jwellsy

I don't think the GC corp will fold. They have a lot of stores that do very well. All of their stores are corp owned, none of them are franchises.

I could see them closing individual under producing locations. They have made some strange location decisions that need re-evaluated.

You can have stores that sell stuff, but if you are operating under a debt load that is unsustainable, and are a year or more out on invoices from the vendors whose stuff you are selling, you are doomed.

It would be better if stores WERE franchises because then good ones could stay open while mismanaged ones died off. But the company was structured to fail by Bain. At this point. Steve Mnuchin and a bunch of other vultures have bet heavily via hedge funds on their demise. This is what pump and dump venture capitalists do, and it ain't pretty.

Buy a company. Pull out cash. Load it up with debt. Offload it either to another VC or through IPO. Watch it crash and burn while you count your marbles.

[Mr. Paul]

Interesting that we have similar storylines about the finances of Gibson and Guitar Center.

This latest news about Guitar Center's debt is not really a rehash of the same old news, it is another chapter detailing a downward spiral. If it doesn't get better (and the financial industry is saying it won't) then the spiral will end in a crash.

The Gibson brand is not going away as it has tremendous value ... value that would transfer to an interested buyer.

What isn't quite so clear to me is the value of the Guitar Center brand. It is a retail business in an environment that is becoming more and more unfriendly to high overhead retail.

I think the consumer is better off with Guitar Center being in business. Of course, I felt the same way about the many brick and mortar shops that have gone under.

[HAMFIST]

Originally Posted by Mr. Paul

Interesting that we have similar storylines about the finances of Gibson and Guitar Center.

This latest news about Guitar Center's debt is not really a rehash of the same old news, it is another chapter detailing a downward spiral. If it doesn't get better (and the financial industry is saying it won't) then the spiral will end in a crash.

The Gibson brand is not going away as it has tremendous value ... value that would transfer to an interested buyer.

What isn't quite so clear to me is the value of the Guitar Center brand. It is a retail business in an environment that is becoming more and more unfriendly to high overhead retail.

I think the consumer is better off with Guitar Center being in business. Of course, I felt the same way about the many brick and mortar shops that have gone under.

Gibson may have some value. But Henry Juszkiewicz went and piled up more debt to buy consumer electronics brands like Onkyo. So who knows who he would sell the Gibson brand to. Probably the Chinese. Would you still buy a Gibson guitar if it was either made in China or just owned by the Chinese? Would that wreck the mojo?

[ceciltguitar]

Here are some companies (there are more) that went bankrupt after being purchased by Bain Capital:

Toys R Us
iHeart Media
Gymboree

Will Guitar Center join the ranks of companies gutted by Bain Capital?

https://thinkprogress.org/romneys-ba...d-c01fe0b637f/

"according to an analysis by the Wall Street Journal, .... 22 percent of the companies in which Bain invested wound up either in bankruptcy or shutting their doors entirely, while Bain itself has made billions of dollars for its investors"