The epitome of big-box retail - Corporate-level Employee Guitar Center Employee Review

1.0
Dec 2, 2016
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

I met some great people there and learned a lot about what not to do in this industry. Other than that, I can't think of any other pros.

Cons

Guitar Center is a Company that completely lost its culture and simply no longer cares about its employees. I worked at Guitar Center for 15 years and it really was a great company for the first 6-8 years I was there. From 2010 - present, most of the things you have read about this company are absolutely true. I held a corporate-level position for the last few years of my sentence and it was very intriguing to get an inside glimpse of the tomfoolery that takes place there. The Top 4 Executives of the Company are from Target, Lowe's, Best Buy and a small Grocery Store chain. You can imagine how "music-oriented" the business plan is. It's a retailer, that's it. And, it's a very low-paying retailer at that. Stores are Unionizing, labor is consistently being cut (because, it's their largest "controllable" expense), the manager's bonus program is made more and more difficult to achieve, top line sales are WAY OFF, a series of layoffs happen annually (including 2 different waves in 2015 which included many of the founders of the company and some of my closest friends), and it's completely lost its way. Store Managers start off making $37k a year, which is 1995 money, Operations managers are lucky to make $30k a year, and you can anticipate $9/hour for a while if you are looking to join the team. The mantra of the company should be, "Either you, or your replacement, will get us what we're looking for." It's command and control. They want people who will shut up, keep their head down and "run the play". Miserable work environment, which is why I left on my own terms.

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5.0
May 5, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

You get a good discount

Cons

You work retail, which is difficult

1.0
Apr 21, 2026
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

- Plenty of capable individual contributors doing real work. - The brand and the business itself are legitimate — the problems are organizational.

Cons

- Senior leadership is politically driven rather than outcome-driven. Strategic initiatives stall out, and leaders spend more energy assigning or shifting blame than actually diagnosing and fixing problems. - Some parts of the org operate on deference to the top. Honest assessments get softened into whatever narrative leadership wants to hear, which makes real cross-functional work difficult. - Senior leaders do not consistently advocate for their own teams. When things get political, self-preservation takes precedence over backing the people underneath, and capable managers end up exposed.

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