STORE WATCH.

Guitar Center held three simultaneous grand openings for stores in the greater New York market on September 23. With the opening of stores in Larchmont, New York, and Paramus and Totowa, New Jersey, the company now has seven locations in the New York area. Guitar Center added ten stores in 1999 and also rebranded six Musician's Friends stores following the May acquisition of the catalog and Internet retailer.

October was a hectic month at MARS The Musician's Planet. The company opened its 27th store on October 13 in Birmingham, Alabama. "We're looking for cities with a more upscale consumer and a good music scene," said Mark Begehnan, founder and president. "Birmingham lends itself to both." Six days later MARS opened its 28th Superstore in Las Vegas. November 3rd saw a new MARS open ill Salt Lake City.

All three of the new stores are approximately 25,000 square feet in size and will employ 40 people. To date MARS The Musician's Planet has opened in the following markets: Atlanta (three stores), Austin, Baltimore (two stores), Birmingham, Boston, Charlotte, Cincinnati, Dallas (three stores), Fort Lauderdale, Houston (two stores), Indianapolis, Las Vegas, Miami, Milwaukee, Minneapolis, Nashville, Orlando, Raleigh, Springfield, St. Louis, Tampa, and Virginia Beach, and it plans to have a total of 50 stores by the end of the year 2000.