March 17, 2004

Guitar Center on top

For those who didn't already know this, Guitar Center is now officially the three hundred pound gorilla in the music equipment business.

Guitar Center Inc. is the nation's biggest purveyor of music equipment in a $7 billion industry in which most of its competitors are still mom-and-pop stores or small regional chains. The company has thrived by bringing a big-box approach to the business, using its size and buying power to offer more variety and lower prices than its rivals - a strategy that has allowed other retailers, like Wal-Mart Stores Inc., to dominate their industry segments.

For the most part, I have had good experiences with the folks at Guitar Center. It's were I bought all three of the electric basses I am currently playing. Quite a few of the staff that I have encountered have not been all that good -- they were pretty clearly focused more on selling my gear that I probably didn't need, but I have ran into some that make returning worth the trip.

Posted by Casper at March 17, 2004 01:29 AM
Comments

The Guitar Center's around here are lacking knowledgable people in their bass dept. The keyboard/Pro Audio people seem to be better informed than the bass people. I think it would be good if the person helping me could at least play the bass...

Holla
Darryl

Posted by: basscrazy at March 17, 2004 01:47 PM

I wouldn't argue with that assessment.

Not too long ago, I found a Tobias bass in GC Rockville. The sales guy tried to convince me that it was one of the good ones when it very clearly wasn't. When I say that I've had good experiences there, I mean that I have gotten a good deal on equipment that I knew was good, not that they've been able to direct me to some new nugget of equipment that I had not previously considered.

Posted by: Casper at March 17, 2004 02:24 PM