Guitar Center tunes in to Manhattan: new store caters to city's professional urban musician

DSN Retailing Today, Nov 24, 2003 by Doug Desjardins, Linda Saucerman

NEW YORK CITY -- The nation's top retailer of musical instruments made its first move into Manhattan last week when it opened a Guitar Center flagship store in Union Square. The new store will bookend its West Coast flagship in Los Angeles and is designed as a haven for New York City musicians.

The 30,000-square-foot store opened Nov. 20 and fulfilled the chain's long-standing goal of establishing a foothold in Manhattan. "It's been on our radar for a long time and we finally found the great location we were looking for," said Bruce Ross, evp and cfo of Guitar Center. The store is on the border of Greenwich Village and close to New York University.

Guitar Center's Joe Fabrocini said the new outlet stocks more high-end products than most of the company's other stores in an effort to suit the needs of professional musicians it's sure to attract.

"The market here is more sophisticated and it's a center for music, so we're obviously carrying more high-end gear here to meet people's needs," Fabrocini, the chain's manager of store openings, told DSN Retailing Today.

That market and the size of the store, which is twice as large as a typical outlet, have prompted Guitar Center to include some unique merchandising features. One of the first things customers will see is the wall of 350 guitars on display, with famous name brands like Fender and BC Rich. The wallpaper that serves as a backdrop for the guitar wall makes the display very lively, with one wall adorned with famous guitarists, such Jimi Hendrix and Eddie Van Halen.

"One thing that's unique about Guitar Center is it's a hands-on store. That means that you can take any guitar, any gear off the wall and play it. When I was a kid you go into a store and you couldn't touch anything, but here we encourage you to touch everything. If we have a $5,000 guitar on the wall, you can pull it down, plug it in and play it. Nothing is behind glass here," said Fabrocini.

Another merchandising distinction is the Vintage Room. With its '50s movie theatre marquee signage reading, "NYC Rocks," and its retro feel, the Vintage Room contains classic, original guitars ranging in price from $100 all the way up to $5,000. Next to the Vintage Room, and resembling a cigar humidor, is a climate-controlled room made of cedar that is filled with acoustic guitars. Then there's the Rumble Room for bass-heads who are striving to be the next John Entwistle of The Who. Near the bass room begins a wall covering designed to look like a heavy-duty safe. Called The Vault, it's filled with "the best of the best" new guitars ranging from $5,000 to $12,000.

But Guitar Center carries more than just guitars, as evidenced by the drum and cymbal rooms located on the first floor. In addition to the more than 300 drum kits available, a Tiki Wall, with its hula grass and faux thatched roof, displays congas, timbales and other Latin, African and world music percussions.

The DJ room downstairs represents the urban flavor of NYC. Graffiti wallpaper identifies this room that is twice the size of those found in other Guitar Centers and has about twice the amount of equipment, everything from turntables, mixers, lighting to even fog machines.

Other departments within this New York City flagship include a recording room with new and vintage microphones, keyboards and a live sound room.

The store also features a special area set aside for celebrity musicians who may want some privacy while testing new equipment. "We have an Artist Relations Office to cater to the needs of artists," said Fabrocini. "In other words, if a celebrity were to come into the store, we have an area where we can take them in private away from the general public."

Guitar Center's new store is expected to attract a large clientele of well-known musicians who reside in the New York City area in the same way its flagship store in Los Angeles has since it opened in 1966. "Guitarists like Eric Clapton, B.B. King and Eddie Van Halen are all regular customers there," said Ross.

But Guitar Center has some competition to deal with in the form of Sam Ash Music. That chain is the third-largest music retailer in the country and has been doing business in New York City for more than 70 years.

"Really, the only competitor we see here is Sam Ash," said Fabrocini. "And we're here to compete with them on their home turf, which they attempted to do with us at our Hollywood store without success."

While opening a Manhattan store is a landmark occasion for Guitar Center, it's just part of an ambitious expansion plan that will open 17 stores in 2003, including another new flagship store next month in Nashville, Tenn.

Looking forward, Ross said Guitar Center would continue to expand its footprint by 15% to 18% each year with the opening of 20 to 22 stores in 2004. The chain, which did $1.25 billion in sales last year, also operates 19 American Music stores, which specialize in band instruments.