All Gibson’s and fender’s locked up at guitar center?

[Fretting out]

I recently started at a new job site and of course I get instant gas with a big ol guitar center right across the street

I’m not too experienced with guitar center but one thing that struck me was that ALL of the gibsons were locked to the hangers from $1000 to the $8000 custom shops

They had a prs room that even had all the SE’s locked

Kind of gave me a negative vibe

Is this common practice?

I understand putting the expensive custom shop models in cases but it’s kind of a hassle if you want to try out multiple Gibson USA models

 

[BB]

Since some states are no longer prosecuting people who steal, it's self preservation.

i'd rather have to ask to see/play a guitar than go to take it off the wall. have it ripped out of my hands and say 'bye-bye' as it's running out the door.

 

[KyAnne]

I recently started at a new job site and of course I get instant gas with a big ol guitar center right across the street

I’m not too experienced with guitar center but one thing that struck me was that ALL of the gibsons were locked to the hangers from $1000 to the $8000 custom shops

They had a prs room that even had all the SE’s locked

Kind of gave me a negative vibe

Is this common practice?

I understand putting the expensive custom shop models in cases but it’s kind of a hassle if you want to try out multiple Gibson USA models

Bad neighborhood aye? I hope those hangars are bolted into the walls !!!

 

[wyclif]

I recently started at a new job site and of course I get instant gas with a big ol guitar center right across the street

I’m not too experienced with guitar center but one thing that struck me was that ALL of the gibsons were locked to the hangers from $1000 to the $8000 custom shops

They had a prs room that even had all the SE’s locked

Kind of gave me a negative vibe

Is this common practice?

I understand putting the expensive custom shop models in cases but it’s kind of a hassle if you want to try out multiple Gibson USA models

Is the Guitar Center you are referring to in the DC region?

 

[Telecaster582]

Usually the super expensive ones are way up high and you have to ask. Then they get a ladder and grab it for you. To be honest though, I wouldn't want the expensive Gibsons in reach of everyone.

 

[Fretting out]

Is the Guitar Center you are referring to in the DC region?

It’s in Rockville Maryland about 15-20 miles from the D.C. area

Seems like a relatively low crime area so I don’t think theft is the culprit (although I live an hour and a half away so I don’t know the area that well)

I could only guess they don’t want people marking them up

 

[Peegoo]

I could only guess they don’t want people marking them up

...or stealing the knobs off 'em.

 

[somebodyelseuk]

I recently started at a new job site and of course I get instant gas with a big ol guitar center right across the street

I’m not too experienced with guitar center but one thing that struck me was that ALL of the gibsons were locked to the hangers from $1000 to the $8000 custom shops

They had a prs room that even had all the SE’s locked

Kind of gave me a negative vibe

Is this common practice?

I understand putting the expensive custom shop models in cases but it’s kind of a hassle if you want to try out multiple Gibson USA models

There are a lot of people in this world with 'sticky fingers'.
Blame them, not the store.

The neighbourhood reputation is irrelevant, by the way. Car thieves don't steal cars from a ****ty neighbourhood, because all the nice cars are where the nice people live.

 

[bgmacaw]

Kind of gave me a negative vibe

Is this common practice?

It's getting to be in many areas of the US, for a lot of businesses and not just Guitar Center.

 

[Bob Womack]

Walk-out theft happened enough around the chain that they decided to do it chain-wide. Sad that things have come to that.

Bob

 

[buster poser]

Some of you guys need to turn off Facebook

 

[Chester P Squier]

It's all bad for business. Keep them accessible, and you lose inventory. Lock them up, and you lose sales.

When I was in the retail profession, many long years ago, I got my first thousand-dollar sale on a day I came to work with laryngitis, and all I could do was let the customer play with the merchandise himself.

 

[PCollen]

I recently started at a new job site and of course I get instant gas with a big ol guitar center right across the street

I’m not too experienced with guitar center but one thing that struck me was that ALL of the gibsons were locked to the hangers from $1000 to the $8000 custom shops

They had a prs room that even had all the SE’s locked

Kind of gave me a negative vibe

Is this common practice?

I understand putting the expensive custom shop models in cases but it’s kind of a hassle if you want to try out multiple Gibson USA models

Promote the hassle, which I'm sure is more so for the GC employees than for the customers. They will provide you with any you want to test...it's their job. The snatch-n-run, flash-theft fad of late has driven stores with expensive merchandise on display to take measures to protect their inventory. Laws now prohibit employees and even store security to interfere with thieves just walking out the door with whatever they want. I've witnessed it first hand.....

 

[PCollen]

Some of you guys need to turn off Facebook

..and TV news, and other news sources, that make clear that there is a nation-wide, blatant theft problem ?

 

[drf64]

Lucky for us VR will solve this

 

[buster poser]

Please elaborate on this......

Well, you've got people hyping themselves up about "DC" here for a start, people who have obviously never been to Rockville. Montgomery County is among the wealthiest areas in the country. Rockville (where I worked for several years) has far lower crime stats than the national average, and they are also low within the DC/Balt area.The homes across Twinbrook from the Rockville GC are in the $800k+ range (they are condo/rowhouses). We put more people in prison than any nation on earth and you have people credulously claiming guitars have to be locked up because as a nation we are soft on crime. Get real.

 

[Dismalhead]

The GCs in my area have always locked up the $2500+ guitars, but that's it. Always assumed it's because they want a sales person there when you're handling it. I'm guessing your GC has either problems with people mishandling guitars, or as suggested above, theft. Personally it bothers me when the Saturday Teds go in and use and abuse GC guitars for hours. It's like you're buying a used brand new guitar (or amp).

 

[Intubator]

Baltimore and DC all within close proximity to counties like Montgomery have the highest crime rates in the country. Especially violent. I have been in MD for 43 years of my life have spent considerable amounts of time in all of the surrounding counties including areas like Silver Spring and Bethesda and Rockville. I currently live in Baltimore and It has never been worse. I've seen it, lived it and see it on the evening local news daily... It is a fact. In Baltimore in particular, the local States Attorney who is under Federal indictment for fraud herself, announced two years ago that her office was no longer going to prosecute certain misdemeanor crimes. This public announcement like many others by lawmakers across the US in densely populated areas has made crime escalate. It is predictable...
No, I'm not on FB, I'm on the streets and see whats going on around me.

 

[buster poser]

Baltimore is Rockville because it is close (40 miles center to center), got it.

 

[RobRiggs]

Irrespective of how many people we put in prison, crime (at least where I live) is at an all time high. My wife and my son both work retail. Literally every day people walk out with goods in the sub $900.00 amount because they know they won’t be prosecuted.