Guitar Center reportedly facing "imminent bankruptcy"

[Miles Archer]

8. The problem is licensing

A store has to jump through a series of hoops to become a "licensed" Fender, Gibson, etc. dealer.

I lived in a very small town in Nevada, and one of my clients was a music store. He's gone now...hung on for as long as he could, and then closed up shop. His issue was that 100% of his guitars were "no name knockoffs." Plenty of guitars that LOOKED like Les Pauls, Strats, etc, no brand names that anyone would recognize. There's so much peer pressure among musicians to own a "name" instrument...even Epiphones catch flak because they're "not Gibsons."

I have three sites that I frequent...Guitar Center, Musician's Friend, and Sweetwater. From what I see on a regular basis, Sweetwater is extremely competitive with Guitar Center. That said, no...there is no substitute for walking into a brick and mortar shop and picking up a "real" Gibson, Fender, etc. When I lived in Colorado, there was a Guitar Center about two miles away, and I was in there at least once a week, just dreaming and admiring. The closest one here is in Charlotte, and I've never been. Trips into Charlotte can either be an adventure or a pain in the neck. I've been in three times since moving here. Haven't had the adventure yet.