Guitar Center, Inc. operates a chain of guitars, amplifiers, percussion instruments, pro-audio and recording equipment stores. Its Guitar Center brand offers guitars, amplifiers, percussion instruments, keyboards and pro-audio and recording equipment through retail stores and online, along with repair services and a limited number of rehearsal and lesson services. The firm’s Music and Arts brand offers band and orchestra instruments for rental and sale, music lessons and a limited selection of products of the type offered by Guitar Center stores.
The company was founded in Hollywood by Wayne Mitchell in 1959 as The Organ Center, a retailer of electronic organs for home and church use. In 1964, after one of Mitchell’s suppliers informed him that in order to continue receiving organs he would have to also carry Vox guitar amplifiers, Mitchell added the amps and changed the store’s name to The Vox Center, capitalizing on the popularity of The Beatles and their association with the Vox brand.
Toward the end of the 1960s, as other brands like Marshall rose in popularity, Mitchell once again changed the name, this time to Guitar Center. By 1972, Guitar Center had expanded to eight stores, and eventually opened locations in San Francisco and San Diego, as well as several suburbs of Los Angeles.
The Guitar Center is such a large company that they employ more than ten thousand people at their various stores throughout the nation. Guitar Center currently has 269 locations spread throughout the United States and it’s the largest company in its industry niche, with its headquarters located in Westlake, Village, California.
According to moneyinc.com; forbes.com; en.wikipedia.org. Source of photo: internet
