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Comment by aczerepinski | Hacker News Reader

For me anecdotally, it’s Sweetwater that’s been killing Guitar Center, not Amazon. Like many, I bought a ton of music gear during the pandemic. At first I split my purchases between GC and Sweetwater, but over time it became clear that SW shipped more reliably, had better inventory, was quicker to respond to questions, and sent candy in every order.

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Almost 20 years ago GC lost a $7000 order of mine, wouldn't lift a finger to get UPS involved and banned me from ordering after I had to use a chargeback to get my money.

Been a happy Sweetwater customer ever since. I've had 3 different reps and I know them all quite well at this point.

If I'm buying online, it's probably from Sweetwater or Reverb, definitely not Guitar Center. I mainly used GC if I needed strings, picks, sticks, or other small things, but I've found Amazon to be perfectly fine at getting me that stuff quickly. When I first started playing guitar, probably around age 20 or so, Guitar Center was like Toys R Us to me when I was a kid. It was a magical place. However, GC came into most markets and pushed the local stores out of business and now they're getting put out of business by better ecommerce outlets and Amazon.

I am glad some local stores have survived, either battling GC valiantly or being far enough away from them. Having a hub for lessons, repairs, expertise, etc. is very nice to have around still.

I am opposite, because you can drop return to GC personally, while for reverb you need to pay shipping fees.

This is the opposite of my purchasing pattern. I’ll get sticks, strings, picks, and some hardware online. I’d never consider buying a cymbal or guitar without having in my hands first and spending some time playing it.

Sweetwater is awesome, no doubt.

However, Guitar Center would be just fine if it didn't have all the debt Bain Capital loaded it with.

Guitar Center needs Chapter 7 bankruptcy, not Chapter 11. Discharge the debt, dump underperforming stores, let the major players bid on the remains, and restart.

Chapter 11 is just playing a shell game with the Bain debt instead of nuking it.

I’m surprised the article doesn’t even touch on the private equity angle. Guitar Center would appear to be another Toys-R-Us in the making, but this coverage doesn’t even hint at it.

It does sound like another leveraged buyout resulting in another debt-laden retailer entering bankruptcy.

> and sent candy in every order

It's amazing how little things like that make the sale.

One time I bought a latin percussion egg shaker for $2. They sent it 2nd day and as always, included the candy. That buys loyalty!

It's also the fact that a human will follow up. And you will talk to the same human every time unless they leave or they need to transfer you to someone else who knows more about product X. You will also talk to the same human if you need customer support.

Now, as someone who lives online and has a solid misanthropic streak, I find this human interaction slightly annoying. However, for a lot of musicians this really seals the deal.

Not just a human, one with musical experience. They can talk about something from experience. You might talk to a guitar player about a keyboard, but at least they know music.

I started buying from Sweetwater decades ago. Their customer focus is beyond any other retailer I've bought from. My in person GC experience OTOH was always the opposite of that.

american musical supply and zzounds are pretty good as well with the finance options. just don't usually get as much boutique stuff as sweetwater does

I've had good experiences with Musician's Friend, and with great deals. I've gotten two great guitars from them in the past few months at $150 and $200 off (for $300 and $350 respectively).

That said, I'd love to go to a GC in person and try before I buy. Just...not during a pandemic.

GC owns musician's friend, fwiw

AFAIK they also own American Musical Supply, ZZSounds, Woodwind & Brasswind, to name a few.

Music123...

don't own ams/zzounds (ams split off after a separate acquire iirc)

Right, now that you mention it I think I knew that but had forgotten. Not sure how it affects me, if at all, though...

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