Sam Ash, the family-owned music store chain that has supplied guitars, drums and other instruments to countless beginning and working musicians, announced this week that it will close all of its stores after 100 years in business.
Derek Ash, whose great-grandparents Sam and Rose Ash opened the first Sam Ash store in Brooklyn’s Brownsville neighborhood in 1924, said the company’s 42 stores can’t compete in the age of online shopping. Ta.
Sam Ash announced in March that he would close 18 stores in hopes of buying time for the company to survive. But he said it ultimately became “necessary” to close all stores.
“A lot of it is the shift to online shopping,” Ash, the company’s chief marketing officer, said in an interview. “There are so many choices, it’s very difficult to maintain a store with this much selection.”
Sam Ash has stores in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Florida, North Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, California, Pennsylvania, Nevada and Ohio, Ash said. Some stores are expected to close by the end of this month. All stores will be closed by the end of July.
The news, announced by the company Thursday, saddened many musicians who remember stopping by Sam Ash to buy instruments and equipment or try out guitars, amps and keyboards. It’s a tactile, collaborative experience that can’t be replicated online.
Michael Whalen, a two-time Emmy Award-winning composer and recording artist who lives in Queens, went to the Sam Ash store on West 48th Street in Manhattan, also known as Music Row, to buy synthesizers, recording equipment and a studio. I remembered that. Speakers from the 1990s.
At the time, the area was filled with music stores such as Manny’s Music, Rudy’s Music and Alex Musical Instruments, and Whalen might run into a musician he knew. However, those stores are closing or moving. The Sam Ash store on West 48th Street was replaced more than a decade ago by another store on West 34th Street, which is also slated to close.
“Since the pandemic, I’ve been walking around the city constantly speaking out about all the establishments that have been closed,” Whalen said. “I feel like this is kind of the culmination of that. The city is changing a lot, and a lot of people are criticizing Manhattan for being a place where only the super wealthy live. Places that feel like community are disappearing. So I understand that.”
Steve Stevens, a rock guitarist who has played with Billy Idol, walked into Sam Ash’s store in the Forest Hills neighborhood of Queens in 1983 and bought a black Kramer Pacer guitar for about $700. I remember buying it. He reportedly played that guitar during the recording of Mr. Idol’s hit album Rebel Yell, which was released later that year.
“Even though it was a corporate store in multiple cities, it still had a family-owned feel,” Stevens said in an interview. “It was 48th Street in Manhattan where we always hung out. It was like family.”
The company’s roots go back to a different era in New York. Sam Ash immigrated from Austria in 1907 at the age of 10 and settled in the city, working in the garment industry. He also played the violin at weddings, dances, and bar mitzvahs, and was determined to open his own music store.
He and Ms. Ash pawned her engagement ring for $400 as a down payment on what would become Sam Ash’s first store, according to the company’s website. She then got her ring back.
For decades, Sam Ash has employed many musicians and given them a steady paycheck while they busily worked on gigs.
Luis Infantas, manager of the West 34th Street store and drummer for a post-punk band called Black Rose Burning, said customers can always count on “real musician-level advice and equipment.” .
“That’s the only thing that sets us apart from our competitors,” he said.
However, some customers visit the store just to try out instruments they researched online, he said. Then they went home and bought the instrument online.
Infantas, who has worked at Sam Ash for 29 years, said the practice known as “showrooming” highlights how difficult it is for traditional stores to compete with online giants like Amazon. Told.
Still, working for Sam Ash “was the next best thing to being on stage,” Infantas said. “Because he was around his favorite equipment and musicians, and he listened to music while he worked.”
Customers didn’t know who was coming in the door.
One Tuesday night, Infantas said, he sold the monitor and keyboard to Stevie Wonder, who was buying them for President Obama’s White House performance. On another occasion, James Gandolfini stopped by to buy his son a drum.
“You don’t get to experience anything like that unless you’re at a facility like Sam Ash,” he said.
