Not worth the drive! - Anonymous employee Guitar Center Employee Review

1.0
May 30, 2012
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

It's hard to find pros in working for this company because as soon as you think you have conquered something, there is someone right behind to knock you down.

Cons

This place is extremely competitive. I mean that I have NEVER worked at a company in which no matter how many years of experience I have, this place makes you seem like you are the dumbest person ever. They seem to make it their purpose to knock people down instead of building up their team. I work in an area where you have to interact with several different people in different capacities and different levels of management. From what I have heard from SVP down is that this place is competitive and each person in the room does their best to tear the next person down. This is not the environment where a "team" environment is fostered. From the top to the bottom is very "I blame you". Speaking on top level management, this place is extremely heavy in "titles". There are SOOOOSOOOOOSOOOO SOO many Directors, VP, SVP that the managers are really coordinators or at least doing the work of a coordinator. I believe they have all these titles to get people to work for them because I cannot see how anyone else would want to work out here if they have down their research they would truly know better. The salaries are not competitive with other companies in the area and it takes about 20 people to make a decision unless you are an EVP. Enough said...you get the picture!!

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5.0
Jan 9, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Got to work with so many people

Cons

Long hours during holidays were rough

1.0
Jun 29, 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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