Guitar Center flipped its floors back to serious musicians and ran up 10 growth quarters

Guitar Center came out of its late-2020 Chapter 11 into a hangover it had partly built itself. During the pandemic it doubled down on inexpensive instruments for the wave of new hobbyists, and when sales normalized the assortment was out of position: at one point about 75% of it aimed at beginners while nine out of ten beginner guitarists quit within a year. Online specialist Sweetwater took the serious musicians, mass retailers like Walmart took the entry level, and supply-chain chaos made the wrong inventory slow to fix.

Gabe Dalporto, a nuclear engineer and board member during the reorganization who became CEO in 2023, judged the chain had to refocus on the guitar aficionado. The assortment flipped to roughly 25% beginner and 75% serious musician. Guitar Center leaned into faster-growing categories like DJ equipment, keyboards, drums and recording gear, strengthened its second-hand guitar business, and set out to make big-box stores feel like independents.

The community playbook is explicit: open mic nights in stores, a national Drum Off that drew 2,600 drummers, and dropping the unofficial in-store ban on playing 'Stairway to Heaven' so novices feel welcome. Dalporto, who calls instrument buying a deeply personal experience people want to do in person, points to James Daunt's Barnes & Noble revival and independents like Chicago Music Exchange as models, and wants to 'profitably put more labor in the stores.'

The results: ten straight quarters of sales growth and 2025 revenue of $2.6B, up 4% from 2024 — achieved while overall guitar sales have been in a years-long slight decline, so the growth is coming at rivals' expense.

Ten straight quarters of sales growth; 2025 revenue of $2.6B, up 4% from 2024, with the assortment now 75% serious-musician gear.

Beginner guitarists churn: nine in ten quit within a year, so a beginner-heavy assortment meant constantly repurchasing its own customers.

Cheap beginner guitars crowded floor space that serious gear and the customers who keep playing needed.

Dalporto kept stores as the moat: instruments are personal purchases customers want to touch and hear before buying.

Community programming copies what independents do best — personally knowing customers — to give people a reason to return.

When a demand shock inverts your customer mix, the inventory that carried you through becomes the anchor; reweighting floors and staff toward the customers who return is the way out.

The pivot is still a work in progress. Guitar Center reported ten straight quarters of sales growth, with 2025 revenue at $2.6B, up 4%, aided by a country-music resurgence and Taylor Swift inspiring more young women to take up the instrument. Dalporto is pushing further into DJ equipment, keyboards, drums and recording gear, growing second-hand guitars, and hiring more store staff, betting that a better in-store experience will drive additional revenue.