The downward spiral of a failing company, that could be great - District Manager Guitar Center Employee Review

1.0
23 May 2023
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Great people to work with from the peer level down

Cons

Absolutely everything you can think of. The company is severely broken and in a downward spiral with executive leadership that refuses to listen to any ideas or feedback what-so-ever. The level of micromanagement is crippling to the field from the RVP’s down to the stores. Their answer to everything is to push more executables down, with no labor left in the stores to complete virtually any tasks let alone take care of customers. DM’s are not valued what so ever and are replaceable in the eyes of the executive team. We are ran like a grocery store, which is the farthest from our retail business model. The management committee thinks they can “technology” their way out of the downward trend of horrible sales. This is not and will never be the case in a business that is a customer relationship, commission driven business. Executive leadership is panicking with the new investors and do not know how to get out of the current downward trend. Here’s a thought, stop bringing in outside talent that is incapable of helping and allow the homegrown talent to help, let us do what we do best and stop inventing new tactics that won’t ever work. You have all you need, simply the business and let us run.

Explore other reviews about Guitar Center

5.0
9 Jan 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Got to work with so many people

Cons

Long hours during holidays were rough

1.0
29 Jun 2026
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Employee discounts are the biggest reason why people work here, as the discount is really good.

Cons

Your experience working at Guitar Center will largely depend on which store you work at. Some stores have a good management team and employees and are fun to work at. But a lot of stores do not have a qualified management team and they have a staff that is not fun to work with. My location needed a new store manager and instead of promoting the ops manager who knew the store better than anyone else and was with the company for 15+ years working at multiple locations, corporate instead promoted a customer service lead who had been with the company less than 2 years and didn't have management experience. These are the people that corporate decides so often to run their stores.

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