I've never been in a Guitar Center that didn't treat me like an idiot because I lacked the extra appendage most other customers had. It used to be funny: I would start asking questions about "single phase distortion attenuators" and such to see what the guy will make up. Or watch the dumb look on his face. But I don't have the patience anymore. I went to a demo there a few months ago... as I walked in with a friend, one of the employees stopped me to tell me that this was a digital recording demo -- could he help me find something?

We have a local Guitar Center competitor that is, if anything, worse. It's scary. They cop the Guitar Center attitude, but with less inventory.

I have a locally owned shop that is awesome. They treat everyone well, only carry high quality merchandise, and no one assumed I was an idiot the first time I walked in the door, even though I was asking some very basic questions and happened to be female. Unfortunately, they are always out of stock of whatever it is that I need ASAP, and they don't carry my strings :)