Another UK music shop closes down

Another UK music shop has closed down, with the Purple Ukulele in Tiverton, Devon shutting its doors, after the owner decided to call it a day just three years since opening up. 

The shop which specialised in guitar and ukulele accessories, shut on 23rd September after three and a half years in business.

Owner, David Kerslake told the Mid Devon Gazette that 2015 was his “do or die year,” and he was approached by another business wanting to take on the lease for the shop.

He said: “I had somebody walk into the shop and they fancied putting their business in here, so we have had an offer on the lease. I thought to myself it was quite interesting and it came after I had thought about whether or not to stay another year.”

Kerslake started the shop after a career in the care industry and decided to make his hobby of playing in bands, his profession. 

“I always had been in bands playing guitar, so I thought to myself ‘why not?'” he added. “I feel as if it is a project I tried and it hasn’t failed drastically, but it’s probably not gone the way I wanted it to.”

He fired a parting shot at some of the industry’s bigger manufacturers mentioning Fender and Marshall, saying their stock commitments were unmanageable for smaller stores

“You find these things out when you start,” he said. “You’ve got to be on the track to be in the game, and so looking at Fender guitars to sell them it would have cost quite a bit of money. You can’t just have one item from the dealer, in some cases you have to buy the entire range, and sometimes it can cost up to £20k just to get the stock in.

“There are not so many smaller retailers in the country now because of that. You have to buy in bulk and get 15 or so when you only want three. You then see why the internet is quite an attractive place to buy stuff.”