Guitar Center

Guitar Center said last week that it expects to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection after negotiating a debt-cutting deal with key investors and lenders. The country’s largest music instrument seller plans to emerge from protection before year’s-end with nearly $800 million less debt. By filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, Guitar Center would be able to continue…

"Move smartly, train and communicate to bring teams along in the process of evolving an organization to meet the new demands being placed upon it."

Guitar Center has chosen retailing veteran Darrell Webb to be the company's new president and CEO. From 2011 to 2013, Webb served as chairman and CEO of the Sports Authority. Webb has more than 30 years of experience in retailing and has led several multibillion dollar companies. "Given Darrell's extraordinary track record of success in growing and leading large specialty retail companies, we're confident in his abilities to enhance Guitar Center's customer experience and further bolster the company's position as a world-class omnichannel retailer," said David Kaplan, a member of Guitar Center's board of directors.

eBay Now is a same-day delivery service, but not for items offered on eBay.com by its millions of sellers — at least not yet. Instead, the eBay Now service is exclusively for local brick-and-mortar retailers in certain cities: San Francisco and the Peninsula, San Jose, parts of New York City, Chicago, and Dallas. While Best Buy, AutoZone and Toys"R"Us were among the first retailers to participate in eBay Now, the list of retailers now participating include the following featured stores: Home Depot; Office Depot; Walgreens; GNC; Radio Shack; Macys; Microsoft; Guitar Center; Bloomingdale's; and Urban Outfitters.

What's intimidating about the use of your product or service? How might you create a class about your product? What would your customers be interested in learning and how can you position your product as part of that process? How are you inspiring new customers to try your product?

A compilation of this year's best and brightest ideas.

Cloud adoption is driven by the need of businesses to get the greatest value from technology budgets through better adoption of business applications, improved collaboration and increased agility. This is particularly relevant in retail, where marketing teams have to manage an increasing number of customer touchpoints — e.g., e-commerce sites, web-enabled smartphones, social networks, etc.

Kirit Sarvaiya, director of enterprise multichannel product management marketing systems at multichannel retailer Guitar Center, talked last week at the NRF BIG Show in New York City about his company's efforts to leverage the knowledge and enthusiasm of its local store associates to drive cross-channel sales.

The National Retail Federation's Annual Convention & Expo wrapped up yesterday with a roundtable discussion on leadership. Lending their expert advice were seasoned retail leaders Stephen Sadove, chairman and CEO of Saks, who moderated the discussion; Marty Albertson, chairman of Guitar Center; Brian Devine, chairman of PETCO; Angela Ahrendts, CEO of Burberry; and Brenda Malloy, managing director and global retail practice leader, Russell Reynolds Associates.

Medford, Ore. -- Harry & David Holdings has named Craig Johnson as its CEO. Johnson most recently served as chief supply chain officer of Guitar Center. Prior to that, he was CEO of Musician's Friend, a Guitar Center subsidiary. He has also held positions at Oriental Trading Co., Golfsmith International Holdings, and Coldwater Creek. The company exited Ch. 11 bankruptcy protection last month. "With its successful restructuring now complete, improved capital structure in place and an outstanding harvest and holiday gift selection, the company is poised for a successful holiday season," Johnson said in a statement.