Yup. The way I see it, GC went head to head with Mars Music back in the day. Mars contributed to helping close out all the local mom and pop stores by selling gear by volume at barely over dealer cost prices. GC was forced to match.
When the crap hit the fan with Mars, GC reigned king of the hill and set prices at higher margins. Then corporate mismanagement almost bankrupted them and by that time the guitar interest was at a lull. Perfect storm. GC and Fender are probably barely hanging on at this point.
Now, nobody can afford inflated mortgages at 8+% interest, so nice things gotta go.
There is about to be a massive, massive buyers market to the likes we haven’t seen in years, if you can afford it and I wouldn’t be surprised to see GC fall.