Guitar Center Layoffs

[GAD]

Love Sam Ash — a chain that does it right. Used to go to the one in White Plains, New York, a lot and went into the 42nd Street one a time or two. Wonder if they're still there.

The only current Sam Ash in Manhattan is on W. 34th street.

Maybe you meant 48th street (Music Row) across from Rudy's? Sadly that closed in 2013.




Manny's left in 2009. It's all gone on 48th Street except for this:



Rudy's old store with bonus Carlo Greco location/sign:



Rudy's now has a pretty nice store in Soho and another in Scarsdale, but the glory that was 48th St. in NYC is no more.

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

The only current Sam Ash in Manhattan is on W. 34th street.

Maybe you meant 48th street (Music Row) across from Rudy's? Sadly that closed in 2013.

I did, indeed. Keep me honest!

. . . Rudy's now has a pretty nice store in Soho and another in Scarsdale, but the glory that was 48th St. in NYC is no more.

Scarsdale. Figures. Hmpf!

 

[cupric]

The only current Sam Ash in Manhattan is on W. 34th street.

Maybe you meant 48th street (Music Row) across from Rudy's? Sadly that closed in 2013.




Manny's left in 2009. It's all gone on 48th Street except for this:



Rudy's old store with bonus Carlo Greco location/sign:



Rudy's now has a pretty nice store in Soho and another in Scarsdale, but the glory that was 48th St. in NYC is no more.

Awesome stuff!

 

[JohnW63]

Carlo Greco custom guitar at the top right of that picture.

 

[twocorgis]

The only current Sam Ash in Manhattan is on W. 34th street.

Maybe you meant 48th street (Music Row) across from Rudy's? Sadly that closed in 2013.




Manny's left in 2009. It's all gone on 48th Street except for this:



Rudy's old store with bonus Carlo Greco location/sign:



Rudy's now has a pretty nice store in Soho and another in Scarsdale, but the glory that was 48th St. in NYC is no more.

Brings back lots of great (and not so great) memories. In all fairness to what was the once great W. 48th Street, Sam Ash and Rudy's other locations in Manhattan are really much nicer stores, and you get to hang with Larry Hartke most days at the Sam Ash if you like. There are very few corporate guys who stand behind their product, or as as hands on and approachable as Larry. Nothing but respect for him.

 

[fronobulax]

I truly admire private music companies like Gretsch and Rickenbacker who find ways to survive, but not give up ownership.

True statement and Rickenbacker is owned and managed by the founding family. But Gretsch has outsourced some operations to FMIC so the family remains ownership but FMIC has exclusive rights to develop, produce, market and distribute Gretsch guitars.

The relationship between ownership and the goods and services the customer receives is interesting and has a lot of associated mythology.

 

[chazmo]

Sam Ash in Huntington was where I bought my first guitar in college. I loved that place. In recent years, Sam had a good relationship with New Hartford. I don't know what's happening these days with Cordoba in charge.

 

[cupric]

One interaction with GC has haunted me for years. And sealed my dislike of GC. In the early 2000s/late 90s a local store had a used F412 I really liked. I had two young children and couldn't justify spending the approximately $1600. price tag. But I really liked that guitar. So I reluctantly decided I would trade my 1979 ES335. The guitar was in excellent condition, one owner before me. It also had the original case etc. ES 335s were not common used, and newer ones sold for thousands of dollars. After checking out the guitar, which functioned flawlessly, they offered like $800. trade! I took my guitar and left.
I think deals such as this creates a form of resentment. I never purchased anything, other than strings or such (in a pinch), from GC ever again.

 

[GAD]

One interaction with GC has haunted me for years. And sealed my dislike of GC. In the early 2000s/late 90s a local store had a used F412 I really liked. I had two young children and couldn't justify spending the approximately $1600. price tag. But I really liked that guitar. So I reluctantly decided I would trade my 1979 ES335. The guitar was in excellent condition, one owner before me. It also had the original case etc. ES 335s were not common used, and newer ones sold for thousands of dollars. After checking out the guitar, which functioned flawlessly, they offered like $800. trade! I took my guitar and left.
I think deals such as this creates a form of resentment. I never purchased anything, other than strings or such (in a pinch), from GC ever again.

That’s not GC - that’s retail. I’ve had the same thing happen to me with other hobbies and big stores, not all chains either.

 

[cupric]

That’s not GC - that’s retail. I’ve had the same thing happen to me with other hobbies and big stores, not all chains either.

I understand this. But it does nothing to build love for the brand is my point. I think sometimes we become desensitized to the ways of big corporations. We expect to be treated unfairly. After all it is legal! But sometimes we choose to rebel in our own ways. It may be "retail".....But do not expect me to care a whole lot when your business model fails. And do not expect any kind of loyalty from me in the future.

 

[GAD]

I understand this. But it does nothing to build love for the brand is my point. I think sometimes we become desensitized to the ways of big corporations. We expect to be treated unfairly. After all it is legal! But sometimes we choose to rebel in our own ways. It may be "retail".....But do not expect me to care a whole lot when your business model fails. And do not expect any kind of loyalty from me in the future.

Yeah, the counter to that is that one of the places it happened to me was a fairly large, well loved, family-owned outdoor store. This was back in the late '90s and they offered me $800 on a $2200 item. When they later went out of business it was devastating because to this day there is nothing even remotely like it for 100 miles. Well, there was for a short while a couple of towns over, but they too went out of business. A combination of online shopping and Cabella's/Bass Pro Shop killed them all.

 

[fronobulax]

One interaction with GC has haunted me for years. And sealed my dislike of GC. In the early 2000s/late 90s a local store had a used F412 I really liked. I had two young children and couldn't justify spending the approximately $1600. price tag. But I really liked that guitar. So I reluctantly decided I would trade my 1979 ES335. The guitar was in excellent condition, one owner before me. It also had the original case etc. ES 335s were not common used, and newer ones sold for thousands of dollars. After checking out the guitar, which functioned flawlessly, they offered like $800. trade! I took my guitar and left.
I think deals such as this creates a form of resentment. I never purchased anything, other than strings or such (in a pinch), from GC ever again.

You are entitled to your opinion but as a general rule of thumb it you are trying to sell me something that I am going to then turn around and sell at retail I will never offer you more than 50% of fair market value. In the case of GC in particular that price may have been set elsewhere and the local store may have had no option to negotiate on your "trade" or lower the price on the F412. This is why the best advice, if you are trying to maximize the dollars in your pocket, is to sell your car independently of the new car trade in deal and then negotiate to but a new one.

 

[Rocky]

Rickenbacker is owned and managed by the founding family.

Sort of. Rick was started by George Beauchamp and Adolph Rickenbacker, IIRC. F.C. Hall, owner of Radio-Tel (then distributor of Fender Electric Instruments), purchased it in the early 50's, and the Hall family still owns it. At the time of purchase, Rick was limping along with instruments based on their pre-war steels. The Halls brought the designs into the what was then modern era with help of Roger Rossmeisl - what most people think when they think Rickenbacker.

 

[cupric]

You are entitled to your opinion but as a general rule of thumb it you are trying to sell me something that I am going to then turn around and sell at retail I will never offer you more than 50% of fair market value. In the case of GC in particular that price may have been set elsewhere and the local store may have had no option to negotiate on your "trade" or lower the price on the F412. This is why the best advice, if you are trying to maximize the dollars in your pocket, is to sell your car independently of the new car trade in deal and then negotiate to but a new one.

I understand how this works. Read my response to GAD. It does not mean I have to find it in my heart to think well of you after the fact!
And I think we are often all too forgiving in the aftermath. Think of the price of necessities after the pandemic. Some retailers chose to triple the costs to consumers. Legal yes, and certainly good for the stockholders. But it doesn't mean that consumers have to smile and like it.
I'm my career in healthcare the concern for the patient was abandoned for the stockholders. The bottom line trumped patient health in many cases. Lawyers made it legal. The cost of quality healthcare was often removed, out of reach, for many who cannot afford it. I understand, but I do not have to like it or the institution s that were/are involved. That is my point.
With GC I simply made it my business plan to go somewhere else.

 

[fronobulax]

I understand how this works. Read my response to GAD. It does not mean I have to find it in my heart to think well of you after the fact!
And I think we are often all too forgiving in the aftermath. Think of the price of necessities after the pandemic. Some retailers chose to triple the costs to consumers. Legal yes, and certainly good for the stockholders. But it doesn't mean that consumers have to smile and like it.
I'm my career in healthcare the concern for the patient was abandoned for the stockholders. The bottom line trumped patient health in many cases. Lawyers made it legal. The cost of quality healthcare was often removed, out of reach, for many who cannot afford it. I understand, but I do not have to like it or the institution s that were/are involved. That is my point.
With GC I simply made it my business plan to go somewhere else.

My side hustle was retail. If you want more than 50% of what I think I can sell your item for then we are both better off if you peddle your gear elsewhere. My only point is that while GC may have had their reputation tarnished by your experience it was not something specific or unique to GC.

 

[cupric]

That is for sure! Lol. Not isolated. Especially with big box. The sad thing is that the old mom and pop stores often failed due to the big guys. (Same with Walmart,etc.). Often times they might do something special for a known customer. Because they might also come back more often. At least that was my experience.
I remember Daddy's Junkie being first in the big box frontier of 1990s New England. Many established (and so great) music stores collapsed. Than came GC, which was like walking into a brand new casino compared to anything else you'd ever seen. Almost nobody private, who expected to make above a decent living, was left.
I guess I really just dislike them for that. But that 412!!!!..... I just gotta' dis' them for that too!

 

[GAD]

I worked in retail for years. Back in the ‘80s it was common for prices at every step to double.

Item manufactured for $250
Sold to distribution warehouse for $500
Sold to retail store for $1000
Sold to public for $1500-$2000

 

[cupric]

I was in healthcare, as previously stated. It was a bit more exponential..... You know, $50.00 per aspirin and such.... Lol. As a hospital employee you could purchase a bottle of 500 aspirin's for $.75.

 

[wileypickett]

One of the big reasons for the success of places like eBay and Reverb and Craigslist (and the reason a lot of retail places are hurting) is that they made it possible for the original owners of an item to maximize the return on whatever they were selling, instead of having to sell it at a loss to a middleman.

The other reason for the success of those places is that they HUGELY expanded the options for buyers, to a degree that would have been unimaginable 30 years ago.

You can find more Guilds, for instance, in today's Reverb listing than you'd have been able to find in a decades of searching new and used music stores.

I'm old enough to remember paying by the word to put ads in the want ads section of the local newspaper so I didn't have to sell a guitar at a huge loss to a retail store. I bought a few instruments that way too.

Man, have things changed (!), and IMO, for the better.

 

[mavuser]

One of the big reasons for the success of places like eBay and Reverb and Craigslist (and the reason a lot of retail places are hurting) is that they made it possible for the original owners of an item to maximize the return on whatever they were selling, instead of having to sell it at a loss to a middleman.

it was that way for a while but fees and shipping have become cataclysmic in some cases, and now they are even reporting to IRS. this is why some of the pricing on reverb and ebay are thru the roof these days...many dealers have become dependent on the big online sites, and now the digitial overhead and shipping costs have multiplied on them. Craigslist still seems funcional, for now at least.