{"id":40071,"date":"2017-12-07T14:34:33","date_gmt":"2017-12-07T21:34:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/?p=40071"},"modified":"2021-02-12T09:20:39","modified_gmt":"2021-02-12T16:20:39","slug":"the-axe-falls-on-a-calgary-guitar-institution","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/2017\/12\/07\/the-axe-falls-on-a-calgary-guitar-institution\/","title":{"rendered":"The axe falls on a Calgary guitar institution"},"content":{"rendered":"

A<\/span>fter several years as one of Calgary\u2019s major music retailers, Axe Music Inc. is set to close its popular Macleod Trail South location at the end of its lease on May 31, 2018.<\/p>\n

D<\/span>ue to a struggling economy and competition with other music retailers, Axe has decided to depart Calgary and put a stronger focus on its online, and Edmonton, stores.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a bigger competition for music stores in Calgary than there is in Edmonton and I think that\u2019s part of the reason we\u2019re closing,\u201d said Lindsay Cooper in an interview.<\/p>\n

Cooper, 20, has been working for Axe as a part-time employee for the past three years and says that she\u2019s seen the in-store customer traffic slow down significantly.<\/p>\n

She believes this is largely due to the Calgary economy, as well as competition from stores such as Long & McQuade, St. John\u2019s, Guitar Works and other online retailers.<\/p>\n

\u201cSales definitely have been down the last little bit, plus our owner isn\u2019t able to be here as much either,\u201d Cooper said.<\/p>\n

Axe Music’s general manager and partner, Brian Cymbaluk, has been diagnosed with cancer, which has limited his involvement in the business.<\/p>\n

Nonetheless, Axe Music is still recognized as one of Calgary\u2019s major music retailers and despite a decrease in in-store sales, it still remains in good standing online.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe online store is doing better and better every year as our locations do worse,\u201d said Anthony Biafore.<\/p>\n

Biafore, 35, has been working at Axe for five years and says that it\u2019s not just his store struggling with sales, but all music retailers Alberta wide.<\/p>\n

He argues that online sales are why customers aren\u2019t coming in to stores any more. Most customers will just research exactly what they want before they even show up at the store.<\/p>\n

\u201cEverything is dealt online nowadays so I think it\u2019s a good thing that we focus on being the biggest online retailer in Canada,\u201d said Biafore.<\/p>\n

While the bulk of Axe\u2019s sales are in guitars, the past few years DJ and PA equipment has been in heavy demand as electronic music becomes more popular.<\/p>\n

Axe\u2019s top competitor, Long & McQuade, has seen a similar trend in sales.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need to stay smart and proactive with what our customers want,\u201d said Long & McQuade employee Ranjit Ranawaya.<\/p>\n

For now, it remains business as usual for Ranawaya and his store, but he believes that the shuttering of Axe\u2019s Calgary location is generally a bad thing for the music industry.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need competitors in this business,\u201d Ranawaya said.<\/p>\n

While the closure means that many of Axe\u2019s Calgary staff will now have to move on to other jobs, some of the employees will be making the move north, to work at their Edmonton location.<\/p>\n

I think it\u2019s a good thing we focus on being the biggest online retailer in Canada. – Anthony Biafore<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

In an effort to consolidate, Axe will be holding sales over the Christmas season, then shipping the leftover product back to its warehouse in Edmonton to be distributed online.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis definitely isn\u2019t the end of music for Calgary — music will never die — but it is definitely the end of an era for Calgary music retailers,\u201d said Biafore.<\/p>\n

For more information on Axe Music products and it\u2019s store closure, visit their website at\u00a0https:\/\/www.axemusic.com.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Axe Music Inc. set to close the doors of their popular McLeod Trail location upon the end of its lease May 31. 2018. [ READ MORE ]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":420,"featured_media":40072,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"image","meta":{"_ef_editorial_meta_text_assignment-slug":"S3 Axe Music","footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-40071","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-image","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-news","8":"post_format-post-format-image"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40071","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/420"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=40071"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40071\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":41351,"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40071\/revisions\/41351"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/40072"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40071"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=40071"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=40071"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}