Not surprised...

http://bobbyowsinski.blog...y+Owsinski%27s+Blog%29

I think these statements were the most telling:
 
"Here's the bottom line - A strong Guitar Center is good for the entire music business, especially at the moment. Happier and better trained employees would lead to more satisfied customers and stronger sales, which once again, is good for everyone.

The company is now being run by Ares Management, who recently took over from Bain Capital, two investment firms that have demonstrated their interest more in bottom line profits at any cost rather than happy employees and customers."
 
Good and knowledgeable sales staff aren't going to put up with BS and low pay.  Personally, I order most of my gear from Sweetwater and Audiodeluxe.  My rep at Sweetwater has a good knowledge base and gets me fair pricing.  I have nothing against GC, but my experiences there have always been lacking.  I think folks are going to start looking to them as a showroom, much like they do Best Buy now.  They will look and feel there and purchase elsewhere/online.  Unless you have a boutique music store in your town that you frequent, GC, unfortunately, may be the only game in town for some folks.
 
Greed is not good.

I love going into GC and asking questions...I will wander around until one of them will honestly reply "I don't know". That will be the guy I'll work with. Some of the BS these 20 year olds try to pull makes me laugh.

They just ignore me when I walk in, these days. Like you Sharke, they have figured out that I am there to buy what I came in for.

I do like it that you can pretty much pull anything off the wall and still play it and try it out. I do the same as you Sharke. I have one very close to work and I will wonder in just to play around with the instrument and kill an hour.

I wonder which of the Vegas store is unionized (is that the word)?
 
In my experience, GC is nothing out of the ordinary when it comes to music stores. I've seen as bad and even worst in smaller local music shops everywhere I've lived - and the worst I've had the displeasure to deal with were way beyond anything I've encountered at CG.
 
I've also seen stores where you had the weirdest mix of helpful and knowledgeable clerks and the most indifferent, arrogant pricks in the same department.
 
The weirdest I've seen was this local store were the clerks were all borderline useless but who hired those girls you'd expect to see behind the counter in a wild night clubs to work the cash register.  I guess they thought that this would give you a reason to come back and spend more $.

Rain
And that being said, my biggest reason to avoid music stores unless absolutely necessary is the customers, not the clerks.
 
I don't know how anyone can put up with that noise 8 hours a day.
 

How do these kids manage to dial in such godawfully brittle tones to practice their harmonic minor scales with?

The weirdest thing is that I hate testing stuff over there. I'll usually play as quiet as possible, and as little as possible, even when I intend to buy something.
 
And there'll be this 50 year old guy who'd make Iggy Pop look like a business man walking up and plugging into an amp amp playing a riff with no sense of timing or melody.
 
And it just makes me sad, you know. So sad I want to die on the spot, out of empathy for them...

Rain
And there'll be this 50 year old guy who'd make Iggy Pop look like a business man walking up and plugging into an amp amp playing a riff with no sense of timing or melody.

 
Ok, ok...  I'll stay out... 
 

Rain
In my newsfeed this morning. The new Times Square GC... 
 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qIgiYvis3OY
 

 
I probably shouldn't joke about this, but how hasn't there been one of those mass workplace shootings there yet? I cannot imagine a more psychosis-inducing environment. The one on 14th St isn't nearly so bad. I wonder if most of those people are Times Square tourists who see in this store a great opportunity to showcase their chops in New York, under the delusion that someone's going to "discover" them and pluck them from their small town in Indiana. 
 

While reading this thread, I couldn't help but think of the exact opposite experience we just had while on vacation in Pigeon Forge, TN. I have always wanted a mountain dulcimer, and my wife promised to buy me one when I graduated from school (last semester coming up - and glad it'll be over). Anyway, while looking through the tourism books saw a small ad for 10% off accessories at a music shop called "Wood-N-Strings" in Townsend, TN (about 30 minutes from the campground we were staying at). So we decided to take a ride over. What a lovely little music shop. It is run by Mike Clemmer and his wife, Connie. Mike does his own custom made dulcimers as well as selling other brands. What a wonderful experience it was. His wife waited on us, while Mike was helping another lady with a hammered dulcimer. Both were very knowledgeable, and just good folk to be around. In the end, we purchased that dulcimer (so now I have to finish school), as well as some other stuff. Sure we spent some money, but it was well worth it. When I look at upgrading, you can bet I'll be taking a ride down to see Mike and Connie again!
 
Oh, here is the link to his shop - http://www.clemmerdulcimer.com/