Guitar Center is dropping its ban on playing ‘Stairway to Heaven.’ It’s part of the CEO’s big turnaround plan
Source: Fortune ·
The big box chain wants to feel more like your neighborhood indie guitar store.
From the source
Musicians often see an instrument as a physical extension of themselves and that sort of connection doesn’t always lend itself to the online shopping experience. “Selecting a musical instrument is a deeply, deeply personal experience,” says Gabe Dalporto, CEO of Guitar Center. It’s something you have to touch and hear and smell for yourself. A guitar that seems appealing on a website might not speak to a player trying it out in real life, Dalporto says. Dalporto, 56, is a true believer in the need for brick-and-mortar stores, and he’s made them a pillar of his turnaround of Guitar Center, the once-bankrupt music instrument retailer that’s betting big on customers’ desire for an in-person shopping experience, where newbie and veteran musicians alike can tinker with instruments and tap into employees’ know-how. Guitar Center’s comeback is still a work in progress, but Dalporto, a nuclear engineer by training and bona fide music nerd, wants the retailer to offer the vast inventory of a…
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