I generally am ok with Guitar Center, sure there are a few people that work there that may not be the brightest and it can getting annoying but I always try to go in with a mission hah.
As far as Sam Ash, I've only recently gone to one and what did they have on the wall, a brand new Mustang...of course they had the price at $799, it was set up really well though and the strings looked/sounded new.
