R Retail Excellence Awards
GUITAR CENTER Westlake Village, California
Founded: 1959 Principals: Gabe Dalporto, CEO Locations: More than 300 Employees: 13,000
SUPPORTING SUPPLIERS Guitar Center’s customer experience success is partly due to a proactive approach to AI. “AI is fundamentally disrupting every- thing we do and everything we’re going to do,” Dalporto said. “Early on, we decided that AI wasn’t going to be a top-down project with me telling people what to do. Instead, we gave all 13,000 of our em- ployees licenses to use ChatGPT to build working prototypes to help the company.” That experiment yielded great results, including Guitar Center’s groundbreak- ing Rig Advisor online tool. “Do you want to know how to make your guitar sound like Jimi Hendrix did in 1968?” Dalporto asked. “Or if you have a $5,000 and need a new P.A. for a live gig, how do you know what to buy? Rig Advisor knows the inventory in each store and can answer questions like those using the best available equipment. It’s basically like hav- ing the most knowledgeable gear associate on your smartphone. It loads up immedi- ately via QR codes, and our associates are loving it as much as our customers.” New technologies are elevating the Gui- tar Center customer experience in less vis- ible ways, too. Dalporto described how AI streamlines a wide variety of backend pro- cesses related to purchasing and inventory, for example, all of which make stores more efficient and allows sales associates more time and flexibility to directly support cus- tomers. Additionally, Dalporto continued, “90% of sales transactions can happen from the floor on iPhones rather than behind the desk, so our team members can spend more time on the floor directly with customers.” For Dalporto and his team, memorable customer experiences are key to a bright future. “You can argue that the only right brick-and-mortar stores have to exist any- more is to deliver experiences, not just to sell products,” Dalporto said. “If you’re able to provide customers with fun, enjoy- able, amazing experiences, that’s really a great thing.” MI
Gabe Dalporto
REMAKING THE RETAIL EXPERIENCE An improved in-store experience and leaning into AI have put Guitar Center front and center on Excellence voters minds and ballots. — By Michael Gallant
G uitar Center has been reinventing how musicians engage with brick- and-mortar MI stores, and Excel- lence-voting suppliers took note in 2025. “Despite a challenging market, they continue to make steady improvements to both the store experience and custom- er service,” wrote one Excellence voter, while another said that Guitar Center is “remaking their retail experience from all aspects,” and is “a very important re- tailer for our industry.” That kind of success is no accident, and according to Guitar Center CEO Gabe Dalporto, it’s been years in the making. Since he assumed leadership of the re- tailer, Dalporto has been advancing a new strategy to elevate key business qualities like customer experience, product assort- ment, sales team knowledge and digital engagement. According to Excellence vot- ers and customers alike, that approach is paying back in dividends. “The results have been amazing,” Dal- porto said. “For the first time in years, traf- fic in stores is up. Internet commerce has
been eating brick-and-mortar [business], but we’ve reversed the trend. Over the last two years, customers are spending 18% more time in stores and we’ve seen six con- secutive quarters of growth. Those are the sorts of metrics I get excited about.” Another indicator of success? “There’s lots of noise in our stores!” Dalporto said. “Lots of people playing mu- sic, trying out instruments and just hav- ing a good time. That’s wonderful to see.” A key part of Guitar Center’s custom- er-focused strategy is giving shoppers smooth access to all levels of instruments for that hands-on experience. “We made our stores cleaner, better organized and more experiential,” Dal- porto said. “Historically, the best, most expensive instruments were kept locked up, but we changed that in all of our stores. Now, we bring even our highest- end products to eye level, so you can grab a high-quality PRS and have fun trying it out. We also have large experiential pedal boards with over 100 pedals that musi- cians can play with.”
42 I MUSIC INC. I DECEMBER 2025
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