Guitar Center visit today

[JazzDrumGuy]

I took the dudes with me to one of the GC's near me. Ever since the BK they filed last week, I don't think I've ever received as many VIP invites, coupons and black Friday deals than in the past week. I figured it's a good time to check it out on a Sat. nite. The place was a ghost town. The little guy and I went into the drum room and I did a little jamming tribute to Neil. Had some fun with a DW design 10/12/16/22 kit, rototoms, an 8x14 Tama, and some hybrid K and AAX Explosion cymbals. There was a nice 18" china and the 19" AAX was sweet. Did some bongo/congas, hand drums, and my 8 y.o. I think he hit every cymbal in the room! Pretty dismal selection of snares - one Black Beauty like 5 shelves up, little used cymbals of good quality and even few good new ones. Guitar selection was so so, my dude loved a purple flying V, and got to play on a $2K Fender 2020 hybrid bass. Definitely a nice escape, but it was depressing. The older guy (acoustic guitar in one band, electric guitar in jazz band, trumpet in concert band and orchestra) was too busy texting friends and got bored, but the little man and I had a tribal jam session on steel drums, congas of different types, cajones and numerous shakers....it was good for the soul! Even though there was nothing remotely close to tempting there I "needed"......

Lil' Dude also loved those Zildjian spiral thingies. I have a Wuhan 12" splash that we will put the Dremel to and try to make a DIY one.....looking forward to that project!

 

[Redbeard77]

You're lucky to have access to all the gear in that picture. My local GC is in a tiny corner of a strip mall and the drum area is the size of my bedroom. I don't go in there much but I when I do the staff has always been friendly.

 

[felis]

I stopped at the local GC on Friday and was told it could be a 4 to 6 hour wait before someone could get to me.

 

[felis]

The wait was so long because I had a set of drums in the car I was going to trade in.
I've seen them much busier before, when it was elbow to elbow - but you know, covid and all that.

The employees were excited and kept mentioning black friday, so there was undoubtedly some hyperbole involved.
By the time I got home, I was glad the deal didn't happen. It was an impulsive thing, and it would have been a big mistake.

Didn't seem to me that the restructuring announcement was affecting their sales at all.
People were leaving with armloads and packed up roller carts full of stuff.

 

[JazzDrumGuy]

I prefer my inde shops, for sure (Bentleys, Starving Musician) but this was really more of a curiosity trip to see if things had changed due to the BK filing. Not really.......

 

[felis]

I prefer my inde shops, for sure (Bentleys, Starving Musician) but this was really more of a curiosity trip to see if things had changed due to the BK filing. Not really.......

There was one indie shop around here, but the owner died years back. The building was torn down and there's condos there now.

 

[DanRH]

I prefer my inde shops, for sure (Bentleys, Starving Musician) but this was really more of a curiosity trip to see if things had changed due to the BK filing. Not really.......

If you're ever in the Bay Area, go by Dubs Drum Basement in Dublin. I'm lucky, I live two miles from there. As a side note, I've haven't been to a GC in years. We even have one here in Dublin. I'd rather support the little guy, any day.

 

[JazzDrumGuy]

Dan, I've hit Starving in Berkeley, missed the SF store that closed (pro drummer owned) and also need to put Drummers Tradition on that list, too.....thanks.....

 

[premierplayer]

I went to the Rockville, MD store on Black Friday, it was mostly empty.
I had the privalage of listening to a 11 yo sampling multiple kits, then leaving with an adult buying nothing. Sorry, guess that remark belongs in the "whiney thread".
They had several Yamaha kits marked down on the floor, if I had taken my recent Export purchase with me I may have done something crazy.
Instead I picked up a Powerstroke snare batter, a G2 tom pack, and a package of cymbal sleeves.
As luck would have it, the Powerstroke P3 dosen't fit or tune properly. I'll not be driving 2 hr round trip to exchange, maybe I'll try it on another snare .
All in all, it was worth the trip, how can you be un happy in a room full of tens of thousands of dollars of drum gear?

 

[lossforgain]

I went to the Rockville, MD store on Black Friday, it was mostly empty.

Ha, my old stomping grounds. Once upon the time I was the guitar department manager in that store. Back when it meant something.

At my local GC here over the weekend, I saw the same mostly-emptiness. There were a couple of good deals including a DW Design series 12/16/22 new in boxes for $599, and hardshell acoustic guitar cases for $59 (too bad I didn’t need one right now). I played and enjoyed a used telecaster that they all kept saying “man, that’s such a nice guitar, I can’t believe it’s been here so long.” (eyeroll) I decided I liked it and made an offer of about $90 off since it’s “been here so long” at which point they started stammering that price drops don’t happen until at least 90 days. I asked when it came in — JULY. But they had already dropped the price once, to its current level, which to me was still a little high. The store manager did offer me about $60 off, but I really wanted to hit the right number if I was going to buy it. Didn’t need it. And it didn’t have a case. So I guess they were content to leave it on the wall.

 

[utdrummer]

You're lucky to have access to all the gear in that picture. My local GC is in a tiny corner of a strip mall and the drum area is the size of my bedroom. I don't go in there much but I when I do the staff has always been friendly.

You talking about Lafayette? Indeed a small store.

 

[yetanotherdrummer]

I find it interesting that so many people are commenting on getting coupons, etc from Guitar Center recently.

I have purchased many drums from my local GC in Kalamazoo, MI and also the stores in South Bend and Fort Wayne, IN. But have I received one single email, offer, etc? No.........I guess they don't like me.

 

[Redbeard77]

You talking about Lafayette? Indeed a small store.

Shreveport

I find it interesting that so many people are commenting on getting coupons, etc from Guitar Center recently.

I have purchased many drums from my local GC in Kalamazoo, MI and also the stores in South Bend and Fort Wayne, IN. But have I received one single email, offer, etc? No.........I guess they don't like me.

Go to the website and scroll down to the bottom to sign up for the email list. When I go a long time without making a purchase I notice I get less emails so I go sign up again.

 

[Drm1979]

You're lucky to have access to all the gear in that picture. My local GC is in a tiny corner of a strip mall and the drum area is the size of my bedroom. I don't go in there much but I when I do the staff has always been friendly.

Yours is better than mine. The only drums I can demo at mine are electronic. And there is not a drum room at all. All the acoustics are on shelves, not set up. There is a beautiful guitar room, but I cant play a lick of guitar so that does me no good.

 

[John DeChristopher]

With Covid cases on the rise everywhere, I'm willing to bet it has a lot to do with GC being a ghost town. I sure as heck wouldn't go in a GC around here... I'm staying clear of any retail store until we see the results of all the people traveling last week.

Out of curiosity, how safe was it? I assume everyone was masked and social distanced. Do they wipe down/clean the surfaces after people touch them? What about drumsticks?

 

[felis]

I wore a mask and gloves. No one allowed in the store without a mask. All the employees had masks.
There were arrowed lines on the floor people were supposed to follow, and floor markings 6 ft. apart for people to wait in line,
but it seemed those were mostly ignored. I didn't stay inside long enough to see if stuff was wiped down.

 

[JazzDrumGuy]

People were masked and distanced. I had hand sanitizer on me so everything touched we washed our hands afterwards. They had sanitizer all over, too. I don't know about the sticks - they just gave them to me. No sticks laying around - you had to ask. I'd assume they were cleaned, but the expectations of GC employees is a low bar, sadly....

 

[Deafmoon]

Some people brought up Black Friday on this thread, so I’m going tangent. If you own a shop, please don’t make Black Friday offers a Clearance Event. That just sucks. 28” and 30” bass drum hoops, 11” drum heads, grab bag of drum keys the store chooses? C’mon that’s not Black Friday. I understand why you do it. So you are not picked over on the better stuff. But then mix it up. One prominent shop literally sent me so many ads for stuff that I just think is obscure. Do vendors allow RTV anymore? I mean if you can’t sell a 30” bass drum hoop from Gibraltar, shouldn’t you be allowed to return it?