Wednesday, December 26, 2012
Cream Gruhn Guitars To Relocate From Lower Broad to Eighth Ave.
Posted by D. Patrick Rodgers on Wed, Dec 26, 2012 at 12:15 PM
Here's some news you may have missed in the holiday rush: Both the Nashville Business Journal and the Tennessean report that iconic ax shop Gruhn Guitars will soon relocate from their longtime home at 400 Broadway to the former Emma building (and onetime Nashville Scene HQ) at 2120 Eighth Ave. S. The Broadway spot has been home to Gruhn Guitars for 42 years. The Tennessean reports that owner George Gruhn sold the property to Ruble and Brenda Sanderson — who, through the group Broadway Entertainment, own The Stage, Second Fiddle and Legends — for $4.8 million. Gruhn, says NBJ, bought the Eighth Ave. building for $2.18 million.
So, why is Gruhn relocating after spending nearly a half-century at his legendary spot on Lower Broad? Well, here's the quote Gruhn gave Biz Journal reporter Nevin Batiwalla:
“The neighborhood has changed,” Gruhn said of Nashville's downtown entertainment district. “It’s not the neighborhood my business grew up in. It’s become a mix between a hillbilly Bourbon Street and Daytona Beach at spring break, but every day. It’s not a pleasant place to look around and try out guitars. … I just don’t fit in the middle of a honky-tonk district.”
Hillbilly Bourbon Street and Daytona Beach at spring break. I know that's right. True, the price tags on Gruhn's top-notch guit-fiddles can be daunting for guitar-loving would-be local customers, but so can the sea of wayfaring buskers and pink-cowboy-hat-clad Okie tourists you'll find on Lower Broad year-round. Gruhn also told NBJ that he does "very little random walk-in business" at his current location. He expects to move in roughly five months.
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