- March 28, 2024
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A national guitar store chain is in expansion mode for the first time in four years, with the Gulf Coast an integral part of the growth.
The chain, Westlake Village, Calif.-based Guitar Center, recently opened its 13th store in Florida, in a shopping plaza off University Parkway in east Manatee County. The opening is one of at least nine planned new stores for the chain nationwide in 2011.
“We feel this is the right time to open stores again,” Robert Stannard, Guitar Center vice president of real estate, tells Coffee Talk. “We believe Sarasota will be a great place to build a successful business.”
The chain, with 216 stores in 42 states, stopped growing in 2007 for internal reasons, not just the recession, Stannard says. The company went through a period of rapid growth through 2007, he says, and executives wanted to slow down to manage what they had.
Guitar Center's return to growth, and Florida, also marks the introduction of a new concept for the company: Stores built with in-house studios, where people of all skill levels can take lessons. Bands can rehearse there, too. The first store with a Guitar Center Studios opened in Louisville, Ky. in late January.
Stannard says the company picked Sarasota for a new location because there was gap in the brand between Clearwater and Fort Myers, where the company has stores. Guitar Center was also drawn to the region for its arts and music scene.
The chain, meanwhile, selected the specific shopping center to open a store because it has worked with the landlord, Benderson Development, in at least five other locations.