FOR more than three decades an iconic main street music retailer has been selling instruments to the community, but this could soon change as the building is up for sale.
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Custom Music has been located at the prominent 44 Baylis Street site for 32 years, according to the general manager Neville Kschenka.
Mr Kschenka said there have been no plans to relocate and remained hopeful that the new owners will continue with their lease.
“We just have to go with the times as we always have, but we want to say in Wagga as we have a longstanding history with the customers,” he said.
The general manager said the biggest changes Custom Music has witnessed have been the increase and popularity of online shopping as well as different music trends.
“There are also no guitar heroes for our customers to aspire to,” he said.
“Back in the ‘80s, we had Guns N’ Roses and popular bands, but there’s no one like that now, we’ve got Ed Sheeran but that’s not rock ‘n’ roll.”
Despite the pianos and keyboards still being popular musical instruments, the rise of technology has been challenging.
“Even though everything is much cheaper than 30 years ago, there isn’t that wow factor that there used to be,” Mr Kschenka said.
“Everyone has mobile phones at their disposal as well as online sites like YouTube for accessing music.”
For 28-year-old Nick Gioia, who has been working at Custom Music for 12 years, the he said it would be a real shame if the business was to move.
“You never want to see anyone leave, Neville has had the business here for 30 years, and I guess everyone is scared of change,” Mr Gioia said.
“This block is kind of home for me, it would be sad because this is a great part of town and everything you need is right here.”
Commercial real estate agent Phillip Thompson, from Raine and Horne, said the building is still occupied with an upstairs music school and the Custom Music retailer downstairs.
However, he said the building will be sold with vacant possession and the businesses are likely to vacate once sold.
“The building has been listed for about three weeks and while we’ve had some inquiries we anticipate that the building will sell reasonably soon,” Mr Thompson said.
While the agent would not disclose the price, he said there are some great selling points of the building.
The ground floor retail offers a separate first floor office, glass frontage, an open plan retail space and the fact that little work needs to be down if it was to be turned into a showroom are the buildings prime features.
The block is 340 square metres with rear parking for approximately four vehicles.
