The day the music dies

NEW HAVEN — Customers shopping at Sam Ash Music’s New Haven store at 95 Amity Road Wednesday were not happy about the news that the store will be closing its doors this spring — although several of them did stop by in the hopes of finding a bargain.

Some of those who did go bargain hunting said they were disappointed, both at what they perceived to be dwindling stock and at the lack of big bargains.

Most items appeared to be marked down 5 percent, with some specialty items given larger discounts, such as a 20 percent markdown for harmonicas.

Manager Eric D’Eugenio on Tuesday confirmed that the store, which currently employs 11 people, will close in May. It is the only music store remaining in New Haven proper and Sam Ash’s only Connecticut location.

On Wednesday, he was polite; but he said he was told by Sam Ash’s corporate office not to talk to reporters.

Officials at Sam Ash’s headquarters in Hicks-ville, N.Y did not respond to multiple requests for comment. D’Eugenio did not provide a reason for the New Haven store closing, but said several other locations around the country will be closing as well.

Several employees — some of whom have worked at the store for many years — looked glum, even if they couldn’t talk about it.

Outside, customers leaving the store had plenty to say.

“I think it sucks,” said Mike Merrill of Branford, who said he just bought an acoustic guitar at the New Haven Sam Ash store a couple of weeks ago and was “just getting back into it” after taking years off from music to raise his children and take care of other life tasks.

Where would he shop for musical instruments and supplies now?

“I don’t know yet,” Merrill said.

He said that while many smaller items, such as guitar cords or strings, are easy to buy online, some things you have to try or see in person first.

“If I’m going to buy an amp, I want to be able to play through it,” he said.

Similarly, if he checks out a guitar he might want to buy, he needs to be able to hold it in his arms, Merrill said.

Like Merrrill, Bob Mansfield of East Haven — who went because he heard Sam Ash was closing — came out empty-handed.

Mansfield also said he was not as active as a musician as he once was.

“I was a musician — not anymore,” he said. “I still like to go in and look.”

One of the things Mansfield was looking for was a ukulele.

“But they don’t have much,” he said.

Over the years, he said he has played a number of other instruments and bought many other products, including guitars, amplifiers, trumpets and supplies for vocals, including sheet music.

But he didn’t buy anything Wednesday.

“Maybe next week,” he said.

Other customers who came out of the store also came out empty-handed, saying there wasn’t much inventory and prices hadn’t dropped enough for them.

A manager at the nearby Guitar Center store at 50 Boston Post Road in Orange declined to comment on the Sam Ash store closing and referred a reporter to Guitar Center’s corporate headquarters in Los Angeles. A message left there was not immediately returned.

But one longtime veteran of the Greater New Haven music business, Jack Libero of Goldie & Libro’s at 380 Washington Ave. in North Haven, was saddened but not surprised to see Sam Ash go.

“It’s the effect of the economy, the effect of online buying,” said Libero, whose father founded Goldie & Libro’s in 1965 on lower Chapel Street in New Haven. Jack Libero moved it to North Haven 24 years ago.

Libero has felt those effects, as well, but has survived in part by focusing on instrument rentals for schools — and his rental business is now part of Music & Arts, a nationwide rental network that is owned by Guitar Center.

“That’s a good part of our business, in the school system,” he said.

With regard to Sam Ash, he said, “It’s a situation where I don’t think it’s going to get better. I think it’s just the beginning...”

A manager at the Brian’s Guitars store in Cheshire, which has no connection to Brian Guitars, which occupied the Sam Ash store before Sam Ash moved in, also declined to comment.

Sam Ash shares space in the 19,077-square-foot building at 95 Amity Road with Amity Wine & Spirits.

Sam Ash opened its first location in Brooklyn, N.Y. in 1924. The privately held company currently has 45 locations in 16 states.

The number of stores selling musical instruments and supplies has declined steadily in the United States over the last five years, shrinking at a rate of 2.9 percent per year on average, according to the market research firm IBISWorld.

This story incorporates prior reporting by Luther Turmelle.