Electric, acoustic and bass guitars stretch from wall to wall at Guitar Center, spilling over onto floor displays.

Guitar Center doesn’t carry only guitars, however — it provides musicians with many kinds of equipment.

Guitar Center, a large chain music store, opened its doors last month in Des Moines at 3910 University Ave. Some Ames music businesses say they think the chain will have an impact on their stores’ sales, but hope it spurs more interest in guitars and other instruments.

Richard Casciato, president and CEO of Keepers Music, 327 Main St., thinks some customers will be deterred from visiting his stores in Des Moines and Ames after the opening of Guitar Center.

“I think that we may lose some business in the first few months until the newness wears off,” Casciato says. “Then customers will realize that they miss the personal service that we give.”

Matt Summy, Guitar Center company spokesperson, says the new store shouldn’t have to distract business from the local stores and emphasized that all music stores are out for the same goal of taking care of musicians.

“If the local stores are good at what they do, it’s not going to affect them at all,” Summy says. “All it’s going to do is create more music makers, and in the end everyone will win.”

With respect to stores like Rieman Music and Keepers Music, Summy says he is sure the stores have built up a loyal following, and the company respects that. Guitar Center is just trying to do the same thing in its new location.

A month after Guitar Center’s opening, Casciato says, Keepers has yet to see a major negative impact on its store.

“It’s affected our floor traffic a little bit, but for the most part, it has all been positive,” he says.

Kelli Robinson, sales associate for Rieman Music, 409 Douglas St., said she isn’t worried about the new store taking away its business of ISU students and other local customers.

“We provide a good service here,” Robinson says. “We try to build relationships with our customers, and I believe in what we do here.”

Robinson says that Rieman’s Des Moines store may have some kind of impact, but doesn’t think the Ames store will see any change right away because of its adequate local following.

Derrick Gourshe, sales associate for Rieman Music, doesn’t think the Ames store has seen much of an impact, either. He stands on the faith of knowing Rieman Music offers a diverse amount of personal services to its customers.

“It’s mainly a concern for our Des Moines store,” Gourshe says.

Although they say competition between small local stores and larger chain stores can be threatening at times, associates from Keepers Music, Rieman Music and Guitar Center all agree that competition can also be good.

Casciato says if Guitar Center can stimulate the market for musicians and get more people involved in playing musical instruments, it would be a good thing.

At the end of the day, he says, the goal of each music store is to provide the best possible service to its customers and help point future musicians in the right direction.

“In a way, you never want to see competition, but sometimes that makes us do our jobs better,” Casciato says.