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01-16-2016 04:08 PM
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Employees should do an organized walkout and "tell" GC - FU.
Originally Posted by Phil in London
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Not sure, but for an outsider it looks like GC is rather desperate... they close to collapse?
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Wow.
I always take note of morale when I go to a Guitar Center. I don't expect the employees to be brimming with joy but I always hope to see that they are confident and have some form of happiness that they have a job. The last few years, I have seen a lot of faces come and go, and have seen some stern faces walking (sometimes pacing) about. One confided that the company was in trouble during the time that ended up in their getting bought out by some investment group.
I hope this does not affect every store negatively.
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This would probably be illegal here..!
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They've been on the brink for years. Originally Posted by Phil in London
Latest roundup:
Forbes Welcome
2012:
http://www.thegearpage.net/board/ind...iness.1164048/
2014:
http://www.thegearpage.net/board/ind...uptcy.1399092/
I wonder if they'll liquidate used gear.
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Originally Posted by AlsoRan
From what I was told they've had a lot of layoffs especially at store and department manager level. Turn over is from the quotas the employees have to hit, new employees are usually put in strings and small accessories and hard to hit the quota selling strings and picks. Morale is pretty bad.
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That would be Bain Capital. The name should sound familiar - one of the founders is Mitt Romney, Romney was also CEO for a long period. IIRC Romney retired from Bain quite a while ago. Originally Posted by AlsoRan
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Well as in everything big box stores offers at cut rate prices, there's always a down side to their model of doing business. I've rarely ever bought anything from GC or Best Buy, and never ever at Walmart! Although it's almost impossible to escape shopping even in grocery stores or much of anything else.
The top few profit most employees suffer, and as consumers we never complain until we realize we're the proverbial frog boiled in the pot of water.
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GC shouldn't be judged too harshly. All brick and mortar retail outfits are in decline, regardless of their lines--clothing, appliances, general retail, instruments--due to the profound rise in Internet-based retail. Amazon is a juggernaut. If you are a retailer, get out of Amazon's way or be run over. WalMart is in process of closing over 300 stores as we write in response to the consequences of both Amazon's successes and the worldwide economic contraction.
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Originally Posted by Greentone
Not helping is Fender for over a year has been talking about going direct to customer with guitar sales, which I don't like at all. Fender guitars is a big part of GC's business.
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IIRC, GC is part of a conglomerate that owns Musicians Friend, Music 123, and Brass and Woodwind. Maybe Strings and Beyond (logo looks similar).
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do the employees at GC need to launch a class action lawsuit for something? i wonder what that would that be? would it be to help make some ambulance chasing shyster rich, while they get $300? a class action lawsuit would wipe out GC and then these little geniuses would have no GC job, right? what is it that the tatood ones seek?
put another way:
if it's such a horrible place to work, why do they give a rip about keeping their jobs? do they live in Cuba or China or Viet Nam or something? do these wonderful young people have no other options?
OR
if it's such a good place to work, why would they need a class action lawsuit, for heaven's sake?
isolated incident lawsuit maybe, but class action? those only serve to enrich big law firms.
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I think the fact is you cannot sign away your legal rights if an employer breaks a labor or federal worker safety (OSHA) law.
No matter what you sign, they CANNOT hire underage children, pay less than minimum wage, deny overtime for working over 40 hours, create / promote an unsafe working environment etc.
For example, go to a gun range and sign a "release of responsibility" it's not worth the paper it's on. The fact is you CAN sue for accidents at a firearm range regardless what you sign "IF" the owner was negligent about safety issues. Every gun range owner knows this.
Another example is "non compete employment contracts" you bring to a job skills and no employer has a right to prevent you from leaving a company and using your degree in the field you are trained in. What they CAN do is sue you if you take information like client lists and use them in a new position to further your new career. From what I know, the intent of no compete / employment contracts is to limit / eliminate frivolous lawsuits, not denying you the ability to work for a living in your field outside of that company.
In the past I was TOLD to sign several employment contracts and would not, yes they could have not hired (or fired) me but I was prepared to walk. Whatever the GC employees decide to do I hope they know that an attorney will ALWAYS take a case that has merit.
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for years McCabes guitar shop in santa monica CA sold fender products..guitars/amps..they don't carry any today..saying fender is going online only..also they heard GC is in trouble.. Originally Posted by docbop
I wonder how long GC would last if the stores were franchised .. now the top sellers are keeping the red ink stores afloat..GM tried that..remember the Pontiac/oldsmobile..hell--remember Detroit..
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I miss McCabe I lived about a mile from there, especially when they used to have Jazz concerts there. Originally Posted by wolflen
What I heard about two years ago GC main business was online the stores were losing business. What I hate is GC was like Walmart and went into small towns and wiped out the local businesses, then they decide they aren't making enough and close down, now the small town is screwed and has to drive to another town to shop. GC closing will leave a lot of small town with no music store.
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On the upside it leaves an entrepreneur an opportunity to spend their 401K money to capitalize on the vacuum left by a big store leaving. It's a better business environment than being in a long time business and than having a GC and / or Sam Ash move in like happened in my town a few years back. Originally Posted by docbop
But you know what? A few local old time mom and pop type businesses here have toughed it out (yup some went away) with honesty, service, availability and personalized attention to business done on a first name basis. In the long run it's the buyers that determine whether saving a few bucks at a big store is better than keeping the little guy around.
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I used to work for a Fortune 500 company that also had the same kind of arbitration deal. Let's just say that things usually didn't pan out well for people who had to use it.
As for Guitar Center, I have never bothered to purchase anything from the company. There are two GC stores within a 45 minute drive from me, and I'm not impressed with the stores at all. That said, I feel bad for the GC employees.
Lucky for me there is a really good independent shop that has been in business for 43 years in beautiful downtown Kent, Ohio. They have a great selection of gear, better in many ways than the local GC stores, and their prices are usually the same as the big box stores.
I've been doing business with this independant dealer for about 25 years now and have no need to shop anywhere else. If GC folds it wouldn't bother me.Last edited by jkurtz7; 01-17-2016 at 08:05 AM.
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I don't think I'd miss GC or Fender. Someone would buy whatever is left of Fender anyway. Originally Posted by jkurtz7
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You have the time line wrong. Bain bought Guitar Center in 2007. Guitar Center was doing pretty well then and Bain paid a significant premium for the shares. Bain bought the company just in time for the economy to melt down in 2008. They significantly expanded the number of stores and debt rose to levels that were no longer viable. In 2014, GC's largest debt holder, Ares Management, took over a controlling interest in the company basically in exchange for the debt, probably preventing the chain from going under. Originally Posted by MaxTwang
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I've heard about the GC/Fender debt thing, but find it interesting that the local GC carries way more Gibson and Epiphone product than Fender. The independent dealer I referenced in my initial post is a Fender dealer and carries a much broader range of Fender product than the GC store. Originally Posted by Endorphins
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There was a recent New York Times article about how common arbitration agreements have become. It's harder than ever to rent an apartment, get a job, apply for a credit card, sign up for cable TV, etc. without signing such an agreement.
They're trying to avoid the possibility of a class action lawsuit, which makes them virtually immune from any civil action. So far the courts are siding with the corporations.
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Bidness as usual. Management incompetently runs the business into the ground and then blames the employees. It's the makers versus the takers, right? Except that guys like Mitt Romney are really the nation's premier takers and lie about it in hopes no one will notice.
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I personally don't like such restrictions on workers--seems to be a trend from big businesses to hold down costs. I studied a fair amount of labor history in college. Labor as a movement is definitely on a downswing in this country. Employees of all types seem to be taking it in the shorts these days.
And consumers as well.
The consequences GC and other companies might face is that employees won't want to work there and consumers won't want to shop there.
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It's not gonna stop me. They're convenient and their prices are very competitive. I don't need them that often though, I'll admit. They don't carry TI George Bensons for example. But they have other stuff that I can use.
i guess those employees better hurry and file their lawsuit tomorrow, lose their jobs when GC goes belly up, then wait for a couple of years to claim their paltry portion of the settlement. Maybe they can spend it on some weed, or perhaps a new apron for their barista gig.
meanwhile, the law firm's lead litigator will jump into his new Mercedes, snort a couple of lines, and phone wifey to tell her he's working late, and then stop in for a coupe of righteous table dances.Last edited by fumblefingers; 01-17-2016 at 05:21 PM.
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