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

[NoTeleBob]

It's been like that in any GC I've gone into for a few years now. However I did notice recently did they had even the $800 players locked up. It used to only be Guitars over $1000. Those guitars were all in the very reachable middle row. They were notably now locked up.

I always figured it was primarily to keep wear & tear off of expensive guitars. If you have to ask someone to play them it inherently limiting my play they get. Putting them up high doubles down on that. Of course with the really expensive guitars I'm sure there's a significant theft worry too. GC employees are not exactly attentive in the store.

 

[buster poser]

...people walk out with goods in the sub $900.00 amount because they know they won’t be prosecuted.

Another popular one on social media. California's Prop 47 has been on the books since 2014, and most petty crimes it reclassed from felonies to misdemeanors were already being prosecuted as such. The threshold for a felony conviction in Maryland is $1,500.

The Effects of Changing Felony Theft Thresholds

Since 2000, at least 37 states have raised their felony theft thresholds, or the value of stolen money or goods above which prosecutors may charge theft offenses as felonies, rather than misdemeanors. Felony offenses typically carry a penalty of at least a year in state prison, while...

www.pewtrusts.org

 

[421JAM]

Car thieves don't steal cars from a ****ty neighbourhood, because all the nice cars are where the nice people live.

This is fiction. And wildly insulting.

 

[SacDAve]

I don't think there's much to lock in Roseville Ca store not much inventory and what they have is not top shelf

 

[bgmacaw]

Uh, oh! I see where this thread is going...

 

[Red Ryder]

Not only do you have crime but you've got people who are careless and don't care if something happens because it's not theirs. The little shop we had in town (closed after the owner died) had a sign NO CHILDREN PLEASE. That eliminated a lot of problems, if someone complained he simply told them to shop elsewhere.

 

[smoothrecluse]

After my trip to Michigan, it’s hard to go back into Guitar Center. I got to put my grubby little mitts on so many amazing instruments at Elderly Instruments, Motor City Music, Joes Music, Huber & Breece, and even a ‘68 Esquire at a Music Go Round in Ann Arbor. Nobody batted an eye. The employees let me plug into Jack White’s rig at Third Man Records and demo the pedals they sell. It blows my mind that I was able to just walk up and play anything I wanted when here in Texas I have to tug at some kid’s shirtsleeve and ask to play non-custom shop instruments.

 

[Greggorios]

Hey, locked or not, at least that store has got the guitars in-stock. I haven't been to a GC or any other retailer in the last 2 years with any kind of decent inventory. In particular guitars costing USD 1200+ seem to be real scarce.

I think another possibility is that many business' have cut back on staffing while others simply can't find enough people to work. In those cases, fewer people/eyes on the selling floor from a security perspective, equates to needing additional security measures, meaning lock 'em up.

 

[ChicknPickn]

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

You're right. At the Walgreens near my house, they have packs of razor blades ($10?) in locked plastic cases. Sad time in US history. Who'd have thought there'd be a "theft minimum" for prosecution? When I was 7-8 years old, I shoplifted a pack of caps for my Roy Rogers pistol. A store detective saw me and hauled me to the back room for questioning. Most miserable day of my life (up to that point). Now, you could bring in a forklift and take a pallet of caps, and not be interrupted.

 

[posttoastie]

The Maxx for the minimum

 

[Red Ryder]

After my trip to Michigan, it’s hard to go back into Guitar Center. I got to put my grubby little mitts on so many amazing instruments at Elderly Instruments, Motor City Music, Joes Music, Huber & Breece, and even a ‘68 Esquire at a Music Go Round in Ann Arbor. Nobody batted an eye. The employees let me plug into Jack White’s rig at Third Man Records and demo the pedals they sell. It blows my mind that I was able to just walk up and play anything I wanted when here in Texas I have to tug at some kid’s shirtsleeve and ask to play non-custom shop instruments.

So now everywhere you went is full of used instruments and gear. Maybe someone can get a big discount.

 

[Telefsantasia1]

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

No one can "mark up" like Guitar Center

 

[PCollen]

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.

I saw a Fender bass guitar be stuck down the pant leg of a "customer" , neck first, and walked out of the music store where I worked while attending college in the mid-West. We let him get out the door with the instrument and heading to his car, to give him hope, before we busted him and the store owner pressed charges . Those thieves that ransacked those high end stores didn't live in that high end area. ANY store in ANY area with coveted, valuable and easy to sell merch can be the target . And the thieves can be the most well off, or poorest ...it makes no difference. Do you want people to ignore it, and "stick their head in the sand" ? Your Facebook comment seemed that way, but maybe I misunderstood.

 

[egostatistical]

After my trip to Michigan, it’s hard to go back into Guitar Center. I got to put my grubby little mitts on so many amazing instruments at Elderly Instruments, Motor City Music, Joes Music, Huber & Breece, and even a ‘68 Esquire at a Music Go Round in Ann Arbor. Nobody batted an eye. The employees let me plug into Jack White’s rig at Third Man Records and demo the pedals they sell. It blows my mind that I was able to just walk up and play anything I wanted when here in Texas I have to tug at some kid’s shirtsleeve and ask to play non-custom shop instruments.

I live eight blocks from Elderly and can vouch for this. So great.

 

[SnidelyWhiplash]

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

There is a blatant theft problem & the homicide rate is off the charts. Anyone who refuses
to see such is blind.

 

[Toto'sDad]

...or stealing the knobs off 'em.

If you were looking at a guitar at GC for the first time, you would think they came without knobs.

 

[Ironwolf]

The inventory here isn't locked up, or down, however you want to describe it. No problems here.

 

[soundchaser59]

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

Exactly. If @Fretting out you get a "negative vibe" from it, make sure you understand that negative vibe is coming from the small percentage of humans who are abusive and thoughtless and indifferent to their fellow man, thereby making all the rest of us look bad. Considering how fragile I've heard Gibsons can be in the wrong hands, I'm not surprised if corporate policy came down from on high telling the stores to put them out of reach.

Besides, if I test drive one then I can at least feel like fewer hands have been all over it before I got to it.

 

[Toto'sDad]

To err is human, to speak, will get you busted.

 

[DekeDog]

GC is dead to me.