Guitar Center

I’ve been cruising in here for a while now, long enough to remember the awful, smelly, loud air conditioner and the remnants of whatever clothing store was there before GC that they were too lazy to take down. They didn’t have any strings unless you liked Ernie Ball. Sometimes they had good deals, but it was on stuff that was passed over at other stores.
Nowadays, it’s a «real» guitar center. This isn’t really that factual, but they finally have rotosound strings, so I don’t have to drive to la Mesa to get decent strings anymore. Their current selection is paltry, but at least they have a few American standard fenders lurking around.
It’s nice that it is close to imperial beach, but it is not nearly as nice as GC La Mesa.

ALL THESE NEIGHSAYERS MISSED OUT COMPLETELY!!! HAHAHA!!! JOKE’S ON YOU!!! Here’s why I’m writing a 5 star review — I made an insane amount of money off this place flipping the stuff I bought for TWO YEARS STRAIGHT. Everyone leaving horrible reviews are only looking at the very few signs for items that don’t work. Attn IDIOTS — THIS WAS AN OUTLET CENTER!!! ITS WHERE OTHER GC STORES SENT THEIR DEAD STOCK THAT ISN’T MOVING and along with it came some returns, and yes some of them didn’t work, but the majority of them in fact did you pessimistic douchebags. You could haggle the shit out of these guys if you didn’t like the prices but I think you are just those kind that only wanna leave bad reviews instead of using your heads and getting what you want — Again, I made a TON of money off this place flipping the stuff on ebay and other seller sites. It was the best thing that’s ever happened to me financially. I also now own an awesome array of quality microphones, electric guitars (bought a fender Jag — my dream guitar — for under $ 700. Beat that! I dare you!), acoustic guitars, a roland vkit, a roland guitar synth, 3 korg synthesizers all special editions, the list goes on and on and on and on. Sorry you all were too stupid to use your heads! LOL!!! This place was actually a fucking goldmine! Good one dumbasses!
Now this location is an actual guitar center location with the majority of the stuff that most regular guitar centers have. This listing actually needs to be updated because now its not an outlet store — its an actual GC. And now the mourning to the best two years of my life begins… Goodbye GC Outlet of San Ysidro, old friend. RIP.

I should have read the reviews for this store prior to driving all the way down to San Ysidro… So for anyone on the fence about this place, let me help you out *****THIS PLACE IS TERRIBLE!***** DO NOT GO HERE!!! *******
Prior to visiting this location, I called with some inventory questions and the girl that I spoke with was extremely unprofessional, not helpful at all, and made it seem like I was ruining her life by asking if they had any 7 string guitars in stock… I should have taken that as a red flag, but I’m new to San Diego, and was desperate to find the perfect gift for my husband.
Fast forward a few days later and I make it down to the store and I was met with a sad, pathetic hodgepodge of broken, overpriced gear, and three sales people all sitting/​standing behind the back sales counter texting and talking. Aside from the three useless employees the store was a complete ghost town, except for some unattended children running around, playing tag, and simultaneously playing with guitars/​drums, anything that they could get their grubby little hands on. Fortunately, I knew what I was looking for so I didn’t need any help, but damn… can you at least greet me? I came here looking to spend several hundreds of dollars, and you can’t even be bothered to speak to me? Swerve!
This store looks and feels like a dumpster where music equipment goes to die. There are tacky signs posted on any available wall-​space throughout the store that say «items purchased here can only be returned for store credit» and it just felt like anything bought here was either #1 already broken, or #2 going to break as soon as I get it home, and then I’d be stuck with it.
Compared to other music stores that I’ve been to, this place is the absolute bottom of the barrel… and even when you throw in that it’s an outlet store (I was expecting older and/​or discontinued/​slightly damaged items), there is absolutely nothing that could have prepared me for how overwhelmingly shitty this «Guitar Center Outlet Store» is.

Some of these 5 star reviews are coming from someone who is either chemically enhanced, is trying to build their review counts… or possibly all of the above. But trust me, this is not a 5, 4 or even 3 star establishment. Quality of gear or state of repair aside, this is a unfriendly, un-​managed boneyard of gear that looks like Trent Reznor used some of this stuff as smash-​props on stage. Yep– That bad. Most of the gear has signs that state «I Don’t work». Yeah… Nice. The bored-​looking staff hide behind the counter, and look like they fear any possibility of an actual customer asking a *YIKES* question. A short trip here last Sunday revealed a couple of texting teenage girls with ZERO musical, gear or even retail sales knowledge. This location is an absolute travesty in the otherwise vanilla world of Guitar Center. One of the absolute killers for me (someone with actual cash in their pocket, BTW) is the fact that hardly any gear at all is plugged in and ready to demo. Very poor merchandising and even worse sales help– Do you actually want to make money? How about greeting the customer? And possibly engaging their needs with questions? Features and benefits? C’mon, guys. Needless to say, this location needs work. I’ll stick with the relatively informed crew at La Mesa for now.
BTW, management– What’s up with your employees sending nasty notes on Unilocal private messaging? Really? I’ll be in touch.

Horrible excuse for a Guitar Center. I’m a drummer and I live in San Ysidro, but I drive all the way to the Guitar Center in La Mesa whenever I need to get something. I went in to buy a drum set and was asking a sales lady, (chubby, I think she had glasses), about a drumset and she never paid attention to me, she seemed annoyed by my questions and she kept rolling her eyes. I was going to help her store a lot by purchasing some drums but instead I drove to La Mesa and as usual the people there are friendly, knowledgeable and don’t mind when a CUSTOMER asks questions. I dropped $ 1,400 on a Gretsch Marquee and I’m glad I did! !!!NEVER!!! going back to Guitar Center outlet.

5 stars for making my @ss laugh so hard. This store got the name wrong. It should be called The Bone Yard of Guitar Center or simply «I Don’t Work.» 90% of the items here do not work! Have you ever been in a store where just about everything had a note that said «I don’t work?» LOL Please refer to my pics for a good @ss laugh! The drum kits work but the drum heads are used. The guitars look used. The few items not used and that DO work are locked in cases. Cracks me up! Table of CD DJ mixers don’t work, lighting don’t work, mics & headphones don’t work, speakers and monitors don’t work. And Guitar Center regular stores is notorious, NOTORIOUS for not helping customers and ignoring them. As noted at this locations Unilocal reviews. So apparently the workers don’t even work! LMBO !!! And who the heck are the patrons buying non-​working equipment at still an expensive price??? Here’s a rhetorical question: Why? lol So 5 stars for making me laugh so hard. I forgot what was making me grouchy. Negative 5 stars coz I do not see why this place is in business selling stuff that don’t work. Definitely can’t make or record music. Best to keep playing your air guitar. And please don’t ask me to change my review and give a higher rating coz that isn’t going to work either hahahHahaha

Selection was okay, but that’s about it. Maybe I just expected more, but it was generally three or four of the same guitar on display and not much else. The dj equipment seemed plentiful though, but it wasn’t what I expected and at no point was I greeted, which was somewhat off-​putting.

This is a great store to pick up items at a fair price. I went in to buy some gear and was helped by Edgar. He was very helpful and knowledgeable. I was happy with the service I received and will continue to shop here in the future.

Such a disappointing experience! They were two «over weight» sales girls (I’m describing, not discriminating, as I am over weight myself), one of them in particular had no clue what she was selling. When I gently asked her to let me try the Behringer PA/​Keyboard amp (that she didn’t know what it was until i explained), then suddenly she said something like. «ohh this was returned because the costumer said it only works with a specific keyboard) ! Woow I have 25+ years of experience in music (live and studio) and have never seen such an attitude in particular in music shops! Then I said, this makes no sense, if it works then it works, please let me try it with my Godin Multioud she replied as if she was all knowing, «you wanna try this amp with a guitar?!» I said YES let me choose and decide if the tone is ok to my needs! She could not lift the amp, and said (in a lazy voice) to the nicer sales girl «ohhh we need a dolly to move it! I asked where do you guys want to take it, and once she pointed, I moved it myself it was only 18ft! Then the sales girl said «ok but ill have to try this amp with a keyboard» woooow! She does not know that you can try the Behringer ULTRATONE K3000 FX with whatever source if you know how to match the gain! A keyboard, guitar, or a passive mixer! And insisted on not helping me, probably she didn’t even know how turn the thing on! I simply said «forget about it and left» while the nicer sales girl said, «Ohh wait… she just wanna try it on a keyboard» Guitar Center, do you know how sweetwater and amazon treat their customers?
That wasn’t professional and your (order taker) didn’t even wanna sell!
I don’t want this preview to impact or effect other good sales people, but what happened today was unacceptable.

This place is awesome, you won’t often find deals this good even on high quality used gear, the only complaint I have is that the hours are less than accommodating. You can buy high quality gear for 50% off or better here.

This maybe the best hidden secret of musical instruments. I am surprised not a lot of people know about this hidden gem. Guitar Center has fairly good prices but with the web I rarely shop there plus I like to avoid tax so I just buy from an online dealer that is not in the state of Ca. But this place is the cheapest I have seen and if you happen to find what your looking for you will walk away very happy. Now if only my lunch was as good as my visit here. Five stars as I have found my new guitar store.

Good prices on clearance and closeouts. Small selections of instruments compared to the retail stores but worth taking a look.
Thus store is located right across from the San Ysidro Outlets so not really convenient unless you have a gig in TJ (or something like that).