Guitar Center: Not Dead Yet.
Posted: Fri Oct 29, 2021 7:48 am
Debt led Guitar Center toward bankruptcy, and the pandemic became the catalyst.
Guitar Center operates almost 300 showrooms plus another 229 sister stores, drawing shoppers for try-before-you-buy jam sessions, classes and rentals. In court records, the company says before pandemic shutdowns shuttered almost all locations, the chain had seen ten consecutive quarters of sales growth — but "COVID-19 wiped out much of (that) progress." The retailer filed for bankruptcy in November.
Meanwhile, something completely unexpected happened. People started buying guitars, like crazy, and now Majeski forecasts 2022 to be the biggest year of guitar sales in history. He estimates Guitar Center's sales this year will reach a record $2.5 billion.
Along with musical instruments, people picked up sports gear, fabrics, laptops and furniture, skincare products and eventually, lots and lots of new clothes.
Retail spending went from one of the worst years to one of the best.
That shopping spree made more retailers contenders for IPOs, which are typically the domain of fast-growing private companies that sell shares on the stock market.