<story><title>Guitar Center files for bankruptcy</title><url>https://www.reuters.com/article/BigStory12/idUSKBN282058</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>offtop5</author><text>Very bad news imo.&lt;p&gt;Having everything flow into a Amazon Monopoly of retail isn&amp;#x27;t great. Even just going in the stores to talk and get a literal feel for instruments is great.&lt;p&gt;The biggest issue with online retail is it erodes one of the last community functions. Particularly for older Americans retail shopping might be their only social interaction all day.&lt;p&gt;If 2050 is this dystopia where everything is ordered online, all food is dropped off by drones, it&amp;#x27;s going to be very bleak.&lt;p&gt;That said retail, particularly non essential retail ( my various instruments are all effectively toys, I&amp;#x27;d guess the working musician to hobbyist ratio to easily be 1:100) is getting hit hard. No one NEEDS a news 1500$ Gibson.&lt;p&gt;Edit : Worth while to add a with concerts being shut down the professional market is effectively dead as well.  I wouldn&amp;#x27;t count on this returning until late 2021 at best</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>aczerepinski</author><text>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.</text></comment>
<story><title>Guitar Center files for bankruptcy</title><url>https://www.reuters.com/article/BigStory12/idUSKBN282058</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>offtop5</author><text>Very bad news imo.&lt;p&gt;Having everything flow into a Amazon Monopoly of retail isn&amp;#x27;t great. Even just going in the stores to talk and get a literal feel for instruments is great.&lt;p&gt;The biggest issue with online retail is it erodes one of the last community functions. Particularly for older Americans retail shopping might be their only social interaction all day.&lt;p&gt;If 2050 is this dystopia where everything is ordered online, all food is dropped off by drones, it&amp;#x27;s going to be very bleak.&lt;p&gt;That said retail, particularly non essential retail ( my various instruments are all effectively toys, I&amp;#x27;d guess the working musician to hobbyist ratio to easily be 1:100) is getting hit hard. No one NEEDS a news 1500$ Gibson.&lt;p&gt;Edit : Worth while to add a with concerts being shut down the professional market is effectively dead as well.  I wouldn&amp;#x27;t count on this returning until late 2021 at best</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>kampsduac</author><text>Agree that extra online market is not good, but I am lucky and have an awesome, locally owned family shop right by my house (Guitar city &amp;#x2F; drum land in wheat ridge colorado). They are great, usually beat Guitar Center prices by ~10% via bonus gear or cash discounts, and has a more legit musician feel to the store.&lt;p&gt;If GC ends up closing, hope more local shops can benefit.</text></comment>