Ivor Mairants to close & Re-open as Mak's Guitars !

oh_pollo

Sad news. Their electric selection was always, erm, eclectic but they had some nice acoustics.

From their website:

Sixty-one years ago, in 1958, Ivor and his wife Lily opened The Ivor Mairants Musicentre, Britain's first specialist guitar store, situated in the heart of London's West End. Many of the world's best guitars and guitar accessories were introduced into Britain by Ivor at his store, which became and has remained, a mecca for professional and amateur guitarists at all levels of ability.

On 31st December 2019, the lease on our iconic Central London storefront ends, and sadly the Musicentre will finally close its doors on Saturday 14th December 2019.

Visit our website now and take advantage of an EXTRA 15% OFF our already great Clearance Prices by entering Discount Code IMMC15 at checkout.

If you want to call in to the store and say goodbye to the fabulous Musicentre team; Mak, Glenn and Phil they'd be happy to see you. And if you tell them the code you'll also get 15% off your purchase in store too!

Remember everything must go by 14th December - When it's gone - it has gone!

Whitecat

https://www.thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/166977/another-landmark-closing#latest

oh_pollo

Bollocks. I did search...

Funkfingers

Searching is made much easier when the thread starter inserts the business name in the thread title, innit?  

oh_pollo said:
the lease on our iconic Central London storefront ends, and sadly the Musicentre will finally close its doors on Saturday 14th December 2019.

Reading between the lines. Any new lease on the store property is going to be vastly more expensive. Alternatively, the property owner is going to change to a rental business occupancy agreement at an extortionate price.

Heel

Shame.  Nice people. 

blueskunk

Sad news. 

Jalapeno

Heel said:

Shame.  Nice people. 

Yes they are, very sad.  My fave C.London GAS emporium

Sassafras

I'm not repeating my story of buying a Gretsch Tennessean off Mr Mairants himself for about a £120.
I'd just rather forget all about it TBH.

prowla

Hmmm, I went in there once a couple of years ago and walked past several times since.

jellyroll

I popped by today. The former manager Mak is going it alone in the same premises, opening in a few weeks. Doing Eastman and similar plus classical to start with. 

Jalapeno

jellyroll said:

I popped by today. The former manager Mak is going it alone in the same premises, opening in a few weeks. Doing Eastman and similar plus classical to start with. 

Awesome news !  How'd he get over the premises price hike ?

https://www.maksguitars.co.uk

Kebabkid

Great news and thanks @jellyroll ;@

I've known Mak a while and he's a good guy (and great player, too).

ToneControl

btw
The original firm is selling the last stock by mail order from a Leeds warehouse

Jimbro66

That’s brilliant news! I’ve known Mak a very long time and he’s not only a great guy and outstanding player but he’s just the person to make a success of the shop. It takes away some of the sadness at losing Ivor Mairants’ shop after so many decades.