The long decline continues: Guitar Center bonds hit record lows

No idea why they stay in business. they are not making any profit and really have next to no hope of ever returning to profitability, much less paying off the debt they have incurred. They are a poorly run organization that provide a sub-par in store experience.
 
With a billion dollars of debt it makes me wonder who they will take down with them should they fail paying it.
 
mikesr1963 said:
With a billion dollars of debt it makes me wonder who they will take down with them should they fail paying it.
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Been wondering this for years. So far, nobody. Potentially, everybody. But it hasn't happened yet, and doesn't look like it'll happen anytime soon.
 
Help!I'maRock! said:
Been wondering this for years. So far, nobody. Potentially, everybody. But it hasn't happened yet, and doesn't look like it'll happen anytime soon.
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Geez but how? Poorly run is one thing but to let it continue to build without progress there's a bank or someone stomping the hell out of the line of criminal business practices or I guess they continue to make the minimum payments on everything.
 
Does Gibson still have their "minimum inventory" requirement for dealers? As I recall, they priced most mom 'n' pop shops out of being Gibson dealers. If GC goes down, I suspect the only way to get a new Gibson will be via online retailers. I dunno that I could shell out a few grand for a new guitar without seeing and playing it first. It'll be interesting to see what happens to Gibson without GC to keep their products accessible.
 
Denverdave said:
No idea why they stay in business.
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Because nobody wants to take the blame for this monumental fuck up. Bain never wanted to admit how shortsighted their strategy was so they just kept going until lenders cut them off. Ares didn’t want to admit how dumb they were to keep loaning Guitar Center money until they had to take over. Now nobody wants to admit how much consolidation and trimming needs to be done. I’m sure creditors will force Ares to deal with this eventually just as Ares forced Bain to.

At a minimum they need to shut down all the underperforming stores that just drag down the brand with low inventories and poor service. I think they probably kept them going to cover some of the rent so they could sell the leases when retail picked up, but retail isn’t picking up. They need to stop wasting money on subsidiary brands they bought years ago and just keep up as marketing facades. And they need to open warehouses in places that actually make shipping fast. Amazon can have a package at most customer’s door in less time than it takes Guitar Center to move a package out of Kansas.
 
jp_nyc said:
Because nobody wants to take the blame for this monumental fuck up. Bain never wanted to admit how shortsighted their strategy was so they just kept going until lenders cut them off. Ares didn’t want to admit how dumb they were to keep loaning Guitar Center money until they had to take over. Now nobody wants to admit how much consolidation and trimming needs to be done. I’m sure creditors will force Ares to deal with this eventually just as Ares forced Bain to.

At a minimum they need to shut down all the underperforming stores that just drag down the brand with low inventories and poor service. I think they probably kept them going to cover some of the rent so they could sell the leases when retail picked up, but retail isn’t picking up. They need to stop wasting money on subsidiary brands they bought years ago and just keep up as marketing facades. And they need to open warehouses in places that actually make shipping fast. Amazon can have a package at most customer’s door in less time than it takes Guitar Center to move a package out of Kansas.
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They also need to make their actual retail experience less unpleasant. Isolated demo booths/rooms. Better lighting. Everything on the floor should be setup, intonated, and playable. Remove busted junk from the sales floor. Public executions of any employees who address customers as boss/hoss/chief.
 
My local GC was never competition for the good local shops. They killed off the shitty stores, but the great ones have survived selling premium high end stuff with amazing service (Wolfe guitars) or providing great service and repair work (local amp repair/guitar set up place). GC never managed to come close to those markets for the higher end clients that play professionally.
 
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Help!I'maRock! said:
Been wondering this for years. So far, nobody. Potentially, everybody. But it hasn't happened yet, and doesn't look like it'll happen anytime soon.
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This is precisely why Behringer pulled out and took TC with them (BTW, if you haven't been paying attention, Behringer has not just stepped up their game on a grand scale, but they are on a mad spree of releasing high quality, incredibly accurate re-issues of vintage analog synths that have the synth crowd foaming at the mouth. Not only are Behringer going to sell a shitload of these things, but GC will miss out on a huge opportunity to capture any of those sales.

Its also why most locations are stocking more and more House Brand junk and mostly low end Squiers and Epiphones along with a bunch of entry level crap in all departments.

Sent from Crab Nebulae via reverse engineered alien technology
 
OGG said:
This is precisely why Behringer pulled out and took TC with them (BTW, if you haven't been paying attention, Behringer has not just stepped up their game on a grand scale, but they are on a mad spree of releasing high quality, incredibly accurate re-issues of vintage analog synths that have the synth crowd foaming at the mouth. Not only are Behringer going to sell a shitload of these things, but GC will miss out on a huge opportunity to capture any of those sales.
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Behringer didn’t cut GC off from sales. GC is still selling Behringer and TC electronics gear. Behringer just stopped extending credit to GC, so there’s less Behringer gear in GC stores. But even the shitty GC store near me has the Behringer Deep Mind synth in stock.
 
jp_nyc said:
Behringer didn’t cut GC off from sales. GC is still selling Behringer and TC electronics gear. Behringer just stopped extending credit to GC, so there’s less Behringer gear in GC stores. But even the shitty GC store near me has the Behringer Deep Mind synth in stock.
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Yeah, I was just at GC the other day and they had a ton of the new TC Electronic pedal line there.
 
shoeless said:
A little off-topic, but has the quality changed at all on the TC pedals since the Behringer acquisition?
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I was going to check out the new ones, but once I heard they were just updated/moded Behringer designs, I passed.
 
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