After 37 years of keeping Louisville in tune, Guitar Emporium owner Jimmy Brown is moving on. The famous guitar shop has serviced clientele ranging from Bob Dylan to the Rolling Stones to U2, all while giving local musicians refuge and comfort, too. But with a new grandchild and a wistful realization that all good things come to an end, Brown has decided to sell his Louisville ‘home away from home’ and focus on other things in his life. The Emporium, which has been a constant fixture near the corner of Bonnycastle Avenue and Bardstown Road after moving from its original location near Baxter Avenue and Hepburn Avenue in 1989, will be closing its doors on March 9th. Musicians living in Louisville, and a lot of other places for that matter, will certainly shed a tear.
It’s yet another tough loss for the Highlands, which has seen several iconic businesses shutter their doors in the past year. The closing of Lynn’s Paradise Café, Ear X-tacy, and John E’s has created a sizable void in the Highlands real estate map and left the local commerce guild scrambling to contact new businesses that want to find a home in the Highlands.
It’s not all bad news for music enthusiasts, though. The silver lining is that Guitar Emporium will be running a huge sale on their merchandise from now until they close on March 9th. While Brown still holds out hope that a buyer will be found to keep the store going, he’s prepared to sell nearly all of his current stock before the store closes. For a music lover like Brown, it’s still about making sure that his guitars all find a good home in Louisville, the city whose music scene he helped build one purchase at a time.
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