Matt Umanov Guitars Closing After 48 Years In The West Village

WEST VILLAGE, NY — Matt Umanov Guitars is closing its West Village shop after nearly 50 years as a New York music institution, the store's owner and namesake announced this week.

Umanov has run his eponymous guitar shop for 48 years in the West Village. He opened the first edition of Umanov Guitars on Bedford Street in 1969 before moving the shop to its current location at 237 Bleecker St.

"It is finally time for me to close this chapter of my life, relax some, travel some, play with the grandkids, all that kind of thing, though I wouldn’t quite call it 'retirement'," Umanov wrote in a statement on his website.

Although many beloved Village businesses have been forced to close due to dramatic rent hikes, Umanov has owned the building that houses his store since 1992. In a 2013 interview with the New York Business Journal, he acknowledged that that decision allowed him to stay open as long as he has. (For more information on this and other neighborhood stories, subscribe to Patch to receive daily newsletters and breaking news alerts.)

"It enabled me to stay in business," he told the publication in 2013. "Without buying it, I could never afford the rent,” he acknowledged."

For decades, the store has sold and repaired fretted, stringed instruments, including guitars, ukuleles, banjos and mandolins.

"I think that what I’ll miss the most will be having what someone called 'my clubhouse', where so many of you have come over the years to look, to buy, to get their treasured instruments back into working shape, to hang out and shoot the breeze," Umanov wrote this week. "I’ll miss the unpredictable, terrific array of all of you coming in and being who you are, fascinating and wonderful every one, made my day, every day."

Image credit: Ciara McCarthy / Patch