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 big-box store while fostering a sense of community usually reserved for independent music retailers. “The No. 1 thing I get from independents is that they personally know their customers,” he says, “and that’s what I want us to get to.”
A bad bet on beginners
Guitar Center is just now recovering from its epic, six-year COVID hangover.
During the pandemic, millions of Americans took up new hobbies to pass the time; some baked sourdough loaves, others took up the ukulele or guitar. A surge in online sales was a lifeline for Guitar Center as lockdowns shuttered its stores. Digital sales doubled in 2020 but remained a small percentage of the business.
To keep up with the surge in new hobbyists, Guitar Center made the ill-advised move of doubling down on inexpensive instruments that appealed to beginners at the expense of its core customer, the more serious musician. When sales came back down to earth, Guitar Center had the wrong merchandise on hand, a problem that was hard to remedy as Chinese factory shutdowns caused supply chain chaos.
“Because of all the beginners moving into the market, it just really got us out of position on our inventory, and it took us a long time to get back,” Dalporto says.
On top of store closures and unsold inventory, the company was choking on enormous debt from a private equity buyout in 2014. The music nearly stopped in late 2020, when Guitar Center sought Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.
The pivot back to serious players
Even after Guitar Center emerged from bankruptcy protection with a smaller debt load, it struggled to find its place in the market. Sweetwater, an online music instruments retailer, had swept in to steal market share with more serious musicians, while mass retailers like Walmart were attracting entry-level guitarists.
It was clear to Dalporto that Guitar Center had to refocus its efforts back on the guitar aficionado. (He was on the board during bankruptcy reorganization and became CEO in 2023.) Nine out of 10 beginner guitarists are not playing one year after picking up the instrument, so catering to those newbies meant a lot of churn, Dalporto says. The retailer had to constantly hunt for new customers, and even when it found them, they were typically buying from Guitar Center’s inventory of cheap guitars, which, Dalporto concluded, took up too much space in stores. “A beginner doesn’t need 200 guitar choices,” he quips. (Dalporto’s most-prized guitar is a 1964 Fender Stratocaster, a gift from his father.)
During COVID, some 75% of Guitar Center’s assortment was aimed at beginners, while 25% was dedicated to the serious musician. Now those percentages are reversed.
The strategy has helped Guitar Center get back on track: it has reported 10 straight quarters of sales growth. Guitar Center generated $2.6 billion in annual revenue in 2025, up 4% from 2024. In recent years, business has also benefited from factors outside the company’s control, like a country music resurgence boosting the sale of acoustic guitars and Taylor Swift inspiring more young women to take up the instrument.
At the same time, overall guitar sales have been in slight but years-long decline so growth has to come at rivals’ expense. On Dalporto’s watch, Guitar Center has leaned into relatively new, faster-growing areas like DJ equipment, keyboards, drums, and recording studio gear. It’s also strengthening its second-hand guitar business.
The local-store playbook
There are parallels between Guitar Center and two other big-box chains looking to protect their turf from online competitors: Best Buy in electronics and Barnes & Noble in books. All three are aiming to make their chains more like local mom-and-pop stores.
“If all you have is Amazon, you have no local music gear community, and that’s really what we have to be,” Dalporto says.
Dalporto says he sees James Daunt’s vaunted revitalization of Barnes & Noble as a model to replicate, and he finds inspiration from independents like the Chicago Music Exchange, which he admires for its selection, sense of community, and high level of service.
To capture some of that essence, Guitar Center is trying to make its stores a place to hang out for novices and pros alike. It’s launching open mic nights for local musicians and just held a national ‘Drum Off’ competition where 2,600 drummers performed across its stores. It also dropped its unofficial in-store ban on playing Led Zeppelin’s “Stairway to Heaven,” a favorite of newbies, to foster a more welcoming environment.
Guitar Center wants its staff to match customers’ enthusiasm for music, whatever their skill level.
“I want to be able to profitably put more labor in the stores,” says Dalporto. “Over time, we are going to be able to deliver a much better customer experience and that will drive additional revenue.”
This story was originally featured on Fortune.com
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