Woodwind & Brasswind history

In 1980 Mitchell inaugurated an Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP), a stock-sharing program for Guitar Center workers.

In 1983, at the age of 57, Wayne Mitchell did die of a heart attack.

Guitar Center had another short-lived involvement in manufacturing when it acquired amplifier producer Acoustic Amplification in 1987.

In 1991, Larry Thomas--after working as a salesman, a store manager, a regional manager, corporate general manager, and chief operating officer--became Guitar Center president.

Guitar Center moved into a flagship store on Sunset Boulevard, expanded and in 1997, with 28 stores mostly on the West Coast, went public and started rapidly opening stores across the United States.

In 1998 Guitar Center had a 6.7 percent share of the national market for musical instruments, up from 5.12 percent the previous year.

The company also operates a chain of approximately 20 musical instrument stores called American Music, a purchase made in 2001.

The company's growth led an editor of an industry trade magazine to remark to the Los Angeles Business Journal on September 30, 2002, "They have taken market share and they've pounded a lot of other businesses.

The task of blanketing the nation with "category killer" units fell largely to Albertson, who became sole chief executive officer and chairman of the company in late 2004.

And in 2005, they acquired Music & Arts, now the country's largest educational music source providing instruments, lessons and everything musical for students, parents and educators.

Guitar Center staved off those concerns for a few years when later that month it refinanced its $1 billion-plus debt from a 2007 leveraged buyout.

Los Angeles financial firm Ares Management took control of Guitar Center in 2014 in a $500 million debt-for-equity swap.

Since January 2017, the number of high-profile bankruptcies has been staggering — Toys R Us, Vitamin World, Gymboree, Payless ShoeSource, RadioShack and The Limited don’t even complete the list.