Hicksville-based retailer Sam Ash Music to close after 100 years

Musical instruments and accessories retailer Sam Ash Music Stores will close the 100-year-old family-run nationwide business after announcing plans to close only some of its stores in March, according to the company’s website.

The Hicksville-based retail chain announced on its social media accounts Thursday that it would be closing all its stores, though no final date of operations was listed.

The Ash family declined to comment on the plan..

The company’s website said that store-closing sales began this week.

“It is with a heavy heart that we announce that effective May 2, 2024, all Sam Ash Music Store locations will begin store closing sales,” the company said online.

“This unfortunate news also presents a fantastic opportunity for great deals across our premium selection of musical instruments & pro sound equipment,” the announcement read. “Thank you for allowing us to serve musicians like you for 100 years.”

The family-run firm had announced plans in March to close 18 of its 43 stores across the country, including its Huntington Station location.

In March, Adam Ash, a regional manager for Sam Ash Music Stores’ Northeast division, said competition from online sales of instruments and other accessories were behind the decision.

“The world is moving online. It’s very unfortunate,” Ash, great-grandson of the company’s founder, said at the time. Ash did not indicate at the time that the business had plans to close its entire operation, even adding that Sam Ash would keep its “stronger stores.”

In March, before the shuttering of locations in nine states, the company had around 500 employees across its stores and distribution centers.

News of the closure came after Sam Ash filed a layoff notice with the state earlier this week concerning 118 jobs at its headquarters and distribution center operation in Hicksville. The company said the layoffs were the result of a sale of the business. 

The state notice did not indicate that the company would be closing all of its stores nationwide, but did say that its Hicksville operations would close either on July 31 or within 14 days after that date.

Kevin Bonilla, 23, of Amityville, a professional musician and longtime customer of Sam Ash said he’s often joked that he basically lives at the store location in Carle Place.

“Sam Ash is the one place I’ve been coming to since I was about 14, once I was old enough to make enough money to afford my own sticks,” said Bonilla, a percussionist and private music teacher.

Bonilla said given the wide selection of instruments, accessories, and sheet music, he’s unsure of where he and other musicians will turn to. Shopping online for specialized equipment or instruments is always a bit of a gamble, he said.

“I like to go in store and try something out, test it out,” he said. “It’s a little weird to know that it’s not going to be here anymore.”

Matthew Chase, 32, a musician and music producer in Huntington Station, said he received his first Fender bass from Sam Ash and has been a store regular since high school.

“Anytime you hear that a store you’ve grown up with is starting to close their doors, it is a shocking feeling,” said Chase, who plays guitar, bass, drums and piano.

Chase, who said he didn’t have a full drum set at home, would often go to the Huntington Station or Carle Place store to practice on their sets.

“To have a place where I felt like I could just come and jam out and explore and try new things … it is a little heartbreaking to see something like this close,” he said.

Founder Sam Ash (Ashkynase), a violinist, started the business in Brooklyn in May 1924 with his wife, Rose Dinin. Ash died in 1956, leaving the company to Dinin and their two sons, Jerry and Paul.

The closure of the fourth-generation business comes as the Ash family would be celebrating the chain’s centennial.