ASHEVILLE, N.C. (828newsNOW) —
The Moog synthesizer company made electronic music widely accessible in 1964, changing the music industry forever. Now the music company faces a change of its own.
The Asheville-based company announced in a June 28 Facebook post it will close its Moog Store in the downtown Moog Factory, moving away from brick-and-mortar sales. The store allowed synthesists to purchase and experiment with current Moog machines, featured presentations on company history and offered free public tours of the Moog Factory.
The Moog move comes after its purchase by audio equipment conglomerate inMusic last June. Moog Music President Joe Richardson assured the public that Moog would remain a company committed to its reputation for hand-held local construction.
“We are proud to keep engineering, designing, and building instruments in our hometown of Asheville, North Carolina, USA,” said Richardson in a statement at the time. “This partnership with inMusic will allow us to reach new communities and continue to push the boundaries of music technology.”
In March, Moog told local media outlets that it would be moving its product design, development and engineering to the Asheville Citizen-Times building.
According to the most recent Moog Facebook post, the engineering and construction of Moog machines will persist in Asheville, even if the community cannot purchase them out of the factory itself.
“Our factory will remain open, and our talented engineers will still be in there, hand-crafting the instruments that define us,” the Moog post said. “Our shift away from brick-and-mortar sales allows us greater bandwidth to focus on researching and developing the next generation of synthesizers.”
In the comments on the Facebook post, Moog customers expressed sorrow and concern over the ownership change and loss of the company storefront.
“Love to all the employees at Moog who have been there through the ownership change,” Facebook user Dave Anderson said in a comment. “There are millions of people out here who will never forget what Moog is – and that’s something that inMusic will never own.”
“This was an incredible methodology of building customer and brand rapport,” Facebook user Tiger Arcade noted. “Wishing Moog all the best.”
With the Moog Store closed, Moog encouraged its customers to instead visit the Moogseum at 56 Broadway St. Front in Asheville, where “Moog’s legacy is carried forward through education and archive preservation.”
