Pros
At the time the bonuses were crazy because we were comping against COVID numbers. The employee discount is roughly 20% off. If you can find a full-time position at GC you should get full benefits. In my experience if you got the right store manager, and the right support, working at Guitar Center can be fun and rewarding.
Cons
The commission structure has changed (so I have heard), such that it is much much harder to make meaningful commission. Also foot traffic is down, and I don't see it getting a whole lot better until the economy comes back (thanks dems). In 2024 I tried to apply at a store in Texas and I found out that for the most part they have done away with the full-time sales associate, opting for part-timers instead. Depending on the store, and the current state of inventory across GCs, selling could be a bit of a nightmare due to lack of stock, inaccurate counts on a dated POS system (at least while I was there), and the fact that returns hurt your commission and often times the item returned is barely resell-able so you end up with a bunch of "clearance" of "scratch and dent" items that no one buys for a long time (typically). This comes from 1 year of sales associate experience at store 335, 1 year as a LCSA (Lead Customer Service Associate at store 323, though they are called something else now), almost 2 full years as Sales Manager (2nd to the Store manager) at store 333, and a full year as a regular sales associate 333 and 332.