JAN. 3 I GUITAR CENTER, AUDIO VISUAL DESIGN GROUP I ACQUISITION
GC Acquires Audio Visual Design Group

Guitar Center has acquired the San Francisco Bay Area-based Audio Visual Design Group. AVDG will serve as a key element of Guitar Center's Business Solutions Group and expansion into integrated solutions.

"Guitar Center has been seeking opportunities to bolster our Business Solutions Group and we have found an ideal partner in AVDG," said Doug Carnell, Guitar Center vice president of business solutions. "This mutually beneficial relationship will provide AVDG's team the vast resources offered by Guitar Center while opening up Guitar Center's Business Solutions Group to opportunities in the commercial and residential market sectors."

Robert Scharffer, AVDG's CEO, stated, "We are excited to join the Guitar Center organization as part of the Business Solutions Group. We believe that AVDG offers all of our clients more than just AV integrated solutions; we have become their trusted advisor and business partner. Just as Guitar Center is not your typical musical instrument retailer, AVDG is not just another integrator, and as such we want to continue and grow what we have built. Guitar Center will give us access to additional financial and operational resources, offering new avenues of growth and new opportunities to better support our clients."

AVDG is a design-build firm specializing in audio-visual systems for commercial and residential spaces worldwide. Over 80 people make up AVDG's staff, which includes programmers, installers, design engineers and technicians.

"The business-to-business channel has always been an important sector for our company, and now, with the changes in the marketplace, we've decided to apply additional resources to expand our presence to service clientele who are looking for system design and installation of audio, video and lighting solutions and beyond," said Ron Japinga, president and CEO of Guitar Center. "With this in mind, we are excited to have AVDG join the Guitar Center family and will be looking for other opportunities to grow our brands in the future. This is a natural growth path for our company because we are unique in being able to leverage our experience in these different product sectors to offer turnkey solutions to our clients."

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