Guitar Center has been on the brink of bankruptcy for years now -- not that it was necessarily a bad company but that it had been acquired years ago by an investment group who bought it with a load of debt then tried to make it look more profitable (by cutting expenses) so they could sell it. But then it didn't sell, and now they have over a billion dollars in debt that is due. Then another management group bought a 60% stake using $535 million of junk-rated debt for equity. (Why did someone think this was a good idea?)
It's the same type of problem Gibson has -- they're making money, but have way too much debt due and they've ruined their credit. Guitar Center has $1.3 billion in debt, with half of it due in the next two years. And it's not just these two companies -- a lot of U.S. companies are on the verge of going bankrupt because of debt. It's easy to blame Amazon / internet stores or the economy, but Guitar Center still has revenue of over $2.1 billion per year, which is a lot of money.
Also, along the way, Guitar Center started treating its employees worse, taking away benefits and reducing hours, which increased turnover and resulted in less-experienced employees. And, as you would expect, this damaged the customer experience.
https://www.forbes.com/si...r-center/#25293b7e3b3eYears ago I enjoyed going to Guitar Center occasionally and could get a good deal there, but it's just not the same anymore. The last time I was there I was shopping for a studio subwoofer, and when I finally got an employee to talk to, he didn't know how to get it to work even though it was already on display in the demo area.