“I thought it was strange that it shut down so quickly. It was a bit of a letdown, since it’s the one music place that I trust,” senior Agis Shaw said of the recently closed Carrboro Music Loft.
Jim Dennis owned and ran the music store that Shaw trusted, located at 116 West Main Street, with his wife, Katharine.
The pair released a statement on Facebook December 31 to confirm rumors that the store would bid farewell to the community permanently. In an additional statement on the business’ website. The owners cited increased competition from online music retailers as a factor in the Carrboro Music Loft’s closing.
The husband-and-wife duo bought the store from its original founder, Jay Miller, in 2002. Miller became the property’s landlord following the purchase.
He originally opened the local Music Loft location in 1985 as a counterpart to his Music Lofts in Greensboro and Durham. Miller chose to move the third store to Carrboro to be near The ArtsCenter and save on rent.
The Carrboro Music Loft also shared a building with the Nightsound Studios recording space, which remains open.
Jim told Indy Week in January that spending time with his wife and being around people he loves is important to him, and health concerns also played a part in the couple’s decision to close their business.
About 90 percent of the stores’ inventory has been sold, Jim told The Herald Sun. He has been directing regular customers to another local music store still in business just down the road at 204 West Main Street, Main Street Music.
Not only are local musicians disappointed at its closing, but many novices who grew up receiving music lessons from the Carrboro Music Loft, like Chapel Hill alumna Anna MacKinnon, are disappointed by its farewell.
“I was sad when I found out. It’s been there as long as I can remember, and I think it was an important part of Carrboro,” she said.
MacKinnon started lessons at the Carrboro Music Loft as a sophomore and continued taking them through graduation, consisting of weekly 30 minute lessons with instructor Brian Dennis.
After first looking for a bass there at age 14, Shaw became a regular customer of the store.
“Since then, I would go there all the time. I bought my strings there, I bought my picks there [and] I bought my ukulele there,” Shaw said. “The workers there are real nice. They just know what they’re talking about.”
However, in the open space that the Carrboro Music Loft has left behind, another music store is likely to surface. Miller is trying to devise a plan with former employees, including guitar repair specialist Brian McGee, to preserve the business with a similar store in its place.
