The owner of South City Music says he took the decision to suddenly close the much-loved independent shop because he wanted people to “remember how it was”.
Adam Masters had set up the music shop three years ago and saw it quickly become the regular haunt of stars including Johnny Marr, The Charlatans and Oasis guitarist Bonehead.
But last month the shutters abruptly came down on the Ashley Road shop and nothing was heard from Masters until a Facebook post last week announcing his decision “with a heavy heart” and alluding to the “many reasons” behind its closure.
Over a coffee in Scalini next door, we sat down with Masters to hear the real version of why another highly regarded independent had closed in Altrincham – and, after Beatnik’s demise, the second music shop to go in a year.
He said: “We got it right for two years – it was flying and we were a profitable company. We never conformed to what a music shop should be. We did it the way we did it because we’re musicians and we know what musicians want.
“Because of that, the likes of Johnny (Marr) and Bonehead migrated to us. Bonehead’s son was my Saturday lad for a while. The Charlatans, The Inspiral Carpets and many others were customers.
“The truth is, it’s shut for all the wrong reasons. What some people don’t understand is that behind the business and the shopkeeper is real life, and I’ve had a particularly difficult year personally. My business partner left – on good terms I might add – in January. That ripped the heart and soul out of it because his job was to be out there finding the vintage gear and the stuff that we were known for. I’ve ended up as a bit of a busy fool.”
Altrincham-born Masters has been a vociferous critic of Trafford Council, particularly in relation to parking. In April, an open letter he wrote to the council – in which he lambasted its two-hourly parking policy and how “time flies when you are trying to survive” – reached over 10,000 people on Facebook.
It’s an issue he is still just as passionate about today, and one he clearly believes is a factor in South City Music’s downfall.
“Twice I’d be in there with a customer, who didn’t know well enough to ask them to watch the shop,” he said. “They’d spend £25 and then I’d get to the car and there’d be a ticket for £25. You’re driving round in circles because you’re not allowed to feed the meter.
“Why don’t I use public transport? Because I live in Lymm, and the public transport from there is a bus once an hour. The other thing is, because of the nature of what I’m selling, I need a car.”
He admitted the day finally arrived in July when he thought the shop was unrecognisable from the one that had built such a name for itself.
“I was stood there one day looking around and I didn’t have a guitar over £200,” added Masters, a well-known face on the Manchester music scene for many years and the former guitarist in five-piece Juno Ashes.
“It wasn’t the shop it had been. I didn’t want a Johnny or someone like him walking in and going ‘what’s happened here?’ I just took the decision there and then that now was the time. I did it the wrong way in a way because I just disappeared, but I didn’t want people coming in and seeing it on its arse, and there was no way I was going to do a closing down sale.
“I wanted people to remember it how it was, and that’s why I chose to close it that way. It was quite liberating, because it was time, although it was really hard clearing it out and taking the pictures off the wall.”
Three years ago, Masters raised £6,600 for two children’s hospices by convincing stars including Marr, Elbow and The Stone Roses to sign a ‘Madchester Guitar’.
And in 2013, Masters teamed up with Beatnik for a sell-out music festival in Altrincham that celebrated independent stores and featured the likes of Jah Wobble, Bonehead’s new band Parlour Flames – and even George Harrison’s actual amp.
But if he had his time again, would he have chosen a different town centre location?
“No. My philosophy was that if you get a good enough shop, people will find you, and that was what was happening. The thing that did annoy me was that right up until the last week, there were people who would come in to the shop and say ‘how long have you been here?'”
Much of Masters’ stock has now gone back to the suppliers, and he is selling the rest. He insists he has not gone bankrupt and will not be closing the company down.
“I’m going to go online for six months and see how that works out. Then if I feel inclined to open a smaller unit, maybe just doing vinyl, I’ll do that. I want out of the guitar game for a while, though.”
