Matt Umanov Guitars
VANISHING
After nearly 50 years in business, Matt Umanov Guitars has announced they'll be closing.
On the shop's website, Umanov writes:
"After fifty-three years of having been in the business of helping so many guitar (and all the other fretted instruments) players have the tools with which to make music, forty-eight of those years at my store here in Greenwich Village, in the great City of New York, it is finally time for me to close this chapter of my life, relax some, travel some, play with the grandkids, all that kind of thing, though I wouldn’t quite call it 'retirement'; I’ll still be around."
(Thanks to Jarrod for the tip.)
Umanov, a native of Brooklyn, opened his first shop on Bedford Street in 1969 and moved to this spot on Bleecker in 1982.
In 2013, he told New York Business Journal: “Bleecker was the shopping street for Italian immigrants in the Village. We had two fish stores, five bakeries, children’s stores and furniture stores." Most of those shops have vanished, and now Umanov will go with them--though he owns the building.
"Back in 1992," Business Journal reported, "Umanov was given the opportunity to acquire the building. He seized the day and bought it. 'It enabled me to stay in business. Without buying it, I could never afford the rent,' he acknowledged."
photo via GVSHP
In today's goodbye note, Umanov concludes: "I think that what I’ll miss the most will be having what someone called 'my clubhouse,' where so many of you have come over the years to look, to buy, to get their treasured instruments back into working shape, to hang out and shoot the breeze. I’ll miss the unpredictable, terrific array of all of you coming in and being who you are, fascinating and wonderful every one, made my day, every day."
After nearly 50 years in business, Matt Umanov Guitars has announced they'll be closing.
On the shop's website, Umanov writes:
"After fifty-three years of having been in the business of helping so many guitar (and all the other fretted instruments) players have the tools with which to make music, forty-eight of those years at my store here in Greenwich Village, in the great City of New York, it is finally time for me to close this chapter of my life, relax some, travel some, play with the grandkids, all that kind of thing, though I wouldn’t quite call it 'retirement'; I’ll still be around."
(Thanks to Jarrod for the tip.)
Umanov, a native of Brooklyn, opened his first shop on Bedford Street in 1969 and moved to this spot on Bleecker in 1982.
In 2013, he told New York Business Journal: “Bleecker was the shopping street for Italian immigrants in the Village. We had two fish stores, five bakeries, children’s stores and furniture stores." Most of those shops have vanished, and now Umanov will go with them--though he owns the building.
"Back in 1992," Business Journal reported, "Umanov was given the opportunity to acquire the building. He seized the day and bought it. 'It enabled me to stay in business. Without buying it, I could never afford the rent,' he acknowledged."
photo via GVSHP
In today's goodbye note, Umanov concludes: "I think that what I’ll miss the most will be having what someone called 'my clubhouse,' where so many of you have come over the years to look, to buy, to get their treasured instruments back into working shape, to hang out and shoot the breeze. I’ll miss the unpredictable, terrific array of all of you coming in and being who you are, fascinating and wonderful every one, made my day, every day."
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