A gypsy jazz storefront in the USA!

adrian · October 2011

A guy here in Chicago is opening a storefront devoted to gypsy jazz! It's called Caravan Guitars (caravanguitars.com), and I'm told it will mainly focus on guitars but will also stock books, picks, strings, etc. He claims it's the first storefront in the U.S. devoted to this music.

It opens tomorrow in the Lincoln Square neighborhood, for any of you Chicagoans out there (4754 N. Rockwell St.). I'm playing with my trio at the opening party from 7-8:30, so stop on by.

It'll be interesting to see whether the demand for gypsy jazz stuff will be enough to keep a storefront going. We do have a great scene here in Chicago, though, so I guess if it were to work anywhere in the country, it would work here.

(Sorry if it's not kosher to mention competitors on the DjangoBooks forum; my take is that competition is good, a rising tide lifts all ships, etc.)

Adrian

MichaelHorowitz · October 2011

Hi Adrian,

I wish Josh luck with this new endeavor. Of course, this is everyone's dream: to be able to go and try lots of Selmer style guitars in a public location. Even in France I don't think there is a single brick and mortar store that only sells Gypsy jazz related merchandise. Chicago does have a great scene for this style so hopefully the local players will provide enough business for Josh to keep it running.

Hey, maybe he will even have some copies of Gypsy Picking for sale??!!

Mazel Tov,

Michael

anthon_74 · October 2011

Gotta get my ass to Chicago !

Anthony

Dario Napoli · October 2011

Gosh I used to live so close to there!
Will have to stop by when I come visit for sure!

www.darionapoli.com

Jim Kaznosky · October 2011

Good luck to Josh. He's a very patient person and I hope having the storefront works out for him.

Steveareno · October 2011

Good luck to him. Cool concept. He might want to stretch out a bit and also offer some high-end archtops. After all, alot of GJ players also use them and they are not so easy to find in brick and morter stores. Kinda frustrating to come across a vintage L5 stuck in the acoustic room at Guitar Center gathering dust...or worse: some teenage kid thrashing away on it with intense emo angst. :?
Swang on,

HotTinRoof · October 2011

Steve, steve, steve. I can't believe you soil this site by daring to mention the bane of instrument shopping, the end of ma & pa music stores, the destruction of intelligent salespeople, the "store that must not be named"! :evil:

I move to filter our that name on this site to nothing more than ****** ******

Steveareno · October 2011

Point taken. That chain: ****** ****** is apparently owned by the same crowd as Toys-R-Us, which makes total sense. The thing about the vintage L5 is true (the Hollywood store...best experienced on a crowded, hot, Sunday afternoon...earplugs optional). 8)
Swang on,

Stringswinger · October 2011

It takes guts to do a high end bricks and mortar store for any product these days. Good luck to the dude in Chi Town doing this.

Competing against Michael Horowitz seems like a tough row to hoe. Ask **** or Jacques Mazzolini (both of whom lost market share to Michael, deservedly). Michaels fair prices combined with superb service and impeccable integrity is a tough act to follow.