Will Guitar Center actually fold?

Help!I'maRock! said:
Alto would not be able to survive without their online presence. Take that away, and they fold tomorrow. Do they need the stores? Of course. but you can no longer only have a physical presence. it has to be accompanied by an online presence as well.
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I'll ask them. I know a bunch of guys that work there. FWIW, their online presence wasn't much even a couple of years ago (like 2 years ago), and they seemed to be doing quite well at the time...in fact, they were expanding and renovating; I saw it first-hand. They're the anti-Guitar Center. Their folks generally know their stuff quite well, and bend over backwards to help you. Plus, they were easily less expensive at their stores than Musician's Friend was online...as well as being correspondingly less expensive and more knowledgeable than Guitar Center. If a guitar was selling for $1,200 online at MF, Alto was selling it for $950.

That makes a difference.
 
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MojoFilter said:
I'll ask them. I know a bunch of guys that work there. FWIW, their online presence wasn't much even a couple of years ago (like 2 years ago), and they seemed to be doing quite well at the time...in fact, they were expanding and renovating; I saw it first-hand. They're the anti-Guitar Center. Their folks generally know their stuff quite well, and bend over backwards to help you. Plus, they were easily less expensive at their stores than Musician's Friend was online...as well as being correspondingly less expensive and more knowledgeable than Guitar Center. If a guitar was selling for $1,200 online at MF, Alto was selling it for $950.

That makes a difference.
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good service and quality stock certainly goes a long way. that's what builds businesses. but at this point, they're a regional chain and that, to me, is very different than your traditional M&P.
 
Help!I'maRock! said:
Alto would not be able to survive without their online presence. Take that away, and they fold tomorrow. Do they need the stores? Of course. but you can no longer only have a physical presence. it has to be accompanied by an online presence as well.
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Hard to have that in our small town or maybe even Boise as an Indy store. I think another key would be to have a strong service side including lessons, set ups, repair, etc. tough nut to crack. I hope someone does. I do like to check out instruments in person before buying.
 
sunvalleylaw said:
Hard to have that in our small town or maybe even Boise as an Indy store. I think another key would be to have a strong service side including lessons, set ups, repair, etc. tough nut to crack. I hope someone does. I do like to check out instruments in person before buying.
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Mark and I have talked about this ad nauseam for the past few years. it seems that you can get away with only doing lessons. but as soon as you add retail into the equation, you have to add all those extras in plus lessons, otherwise you're destined to fail. and now you have to have an internet presence too.

the one time i was in Boise, there was one store in town that i just never got to during regular business hours. i hear they're closed now. shame.
 
Help!I'maRock! said:
the one time i was in Boise, there was one store in town that i just never got to during regular business hours. i hear they're closed now. shame.
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Old Town Boise Guitar. Good store, good knowledge, good service. Tried to match GC on certain lower end lines etc. not enough to stay in biz. Now GC is all there is. Too bad.
 
sunvalleylaw said:
Old Town Boise Guitar. Good store, good knowledge, good service. Tried to match GC on certain lower end lines etc. not enough to stay in biz. Now GC is all there is. Too bad.
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A comment like that always makes me wonder what their markup was in the first place all that time before GC blew into town. Before GC opened stores around here, we had Sam Ash, a healthy number of independent stores and there was MF in either digital or catalog form for a long time. GC's accessory prices were definitely better than most but their low end instrument and amp prices weren't that much lower to my recollection.
 
I'm sure all of your arguments in this thread are erudite and civil. But what I wants to know is this: Will gear prices drop or go up when the dust has settled?
 
fused said:
What an interesting article. Guess we should all watch for those nice "Going out of Business" sales... :)
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If they actually do liquidate, good luck with that. It's not like when the business itself conducted their own GOOB sales back in the day. Now, a third-party liquidator is brought in, who will start the "sales" at near-full price, and take forever to gradually whittle them down to anything that resembles "deals".

I still think that the worst case will be that they go bankrupt, somebody sweeps them up, closes half the stores, and rejuvenates the others.
 
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VoidTerraFirma said:
Dont play Gibsons. Don't shop at GC or MF. If it goes down and the mom-and-pop stores come back I'll be fine with it.
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Here's the problem: most of the mom and pop stores that went out of business (at least in my general area) DESERVED to go out of business - a little bit of karma for poor customer service, slim inventory and list price. They thought they ruled their own little world until the GCs of the world started popping up. Then, when they stuck to their arrogance and did not roll with the changes, they got what they asked for IMO.

The good M&P stores have survived, and in many cases, have thrived.
 
The smaller, independent stores seem to be doing pretty well here. In fact a new one just opened up in my 'hood.

I agree about an online presence being important. But also, people want to touch and see gear in person. Especially used and/or oddball stuff. I don't think that's gonna change anytime soon.
 
there are some very nice stores scattered around new england, but it seems the vast majority of mom & pop stores around here sell crap gear at high prices. they stay in business tho so i guess the crap gear sells well. i sure bought enough of it over the years (not knowing it was crap)
 
PRScott said:
Here's the problem: most of the mom and pop stores that went out of business (at least in my general area) DESERVED to go out of business - a little bit of karma for poor customer service, slim inventory and list price. They thought they ruled their own little world until the GCs of the world started popping up. Then, when they stuck to their arrogance and did not roll with the changes, they got what they asked for IMO.

The good M&P stores have survived, and in many cases, have thrived.
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This is my feeling as well. GC seems to have weeded out the crap stores where I never went, but the really good stores that cater to more pro level clients seem to have done great. I mean, if I was going to drop 3 grand on a guitar, I would go to the local Wolfe guitar shop over GC. At Wolfe they would spend a day showing me stuff and letting me try things...maybe ask what I was looking for and make suggestions. If I find what I want they would set it up with my string preference and such, and make sure I was happy. GC, even at a good store (and we have a pretty good one here), will let you try things as much as you want, but depending on the time of the week you go in, it might be too much to ask for them to find the right case in back for you.
 
The Boise Mom and Pop was a little list pricey when I first went there, but they had adjusted. For example, they were running CV Teles for very similar to GC, and their weren't all GCified from hanging on the store wall at GC, and got a set up. the store was overall a tad more expensive I think. The store was popular with pro musicians (some big ones too) that came through town for their needs, and they had good techs. And they had pretty good inventory too. I just think Boise is too small a market for a smaller store like that in addition to GC, when GC was just that much cheaper at least at the time the store closed. I think GC could afford to run lower prices and spread margin or lack thereof over their network. This indy store had to make it on what Boise's market could bear. So having said all that, I guess I agree with Howie, the store needed to be able to have an internet presence and access markets beyond the relatively limited Boise area.
 
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