After 75 years on the corner of Seventh Street and Cherry Avenue, Gilmore Music is closing its doors for good.

Since the death of the shop’s owner, Clint Gilmore, who died of cancer at 70 last year, Clint’s wife, Linda Gilmore, had stepped up to run the store. But owning a music shop was never what the former special needs educator envisioned for her life and for months she was actively looking for a buyer to take over, preferably someone who would want to continue Clint’s and Gilmore’s legacy as the city’s last independent, non-specialized music store and repair shop.

Despite her own attempts and efforts on behalf of the community to try and save the store, finding a new successor proved unsuccessful. The 5,000 square-foot storefront is in the liquidation process and will close down permanently May 31.

“My daughter and I really are sad that I have to close down the last music store in Long Beach. There is such a need for the arts,” Linda said. “But on the other hand, this has been a difficult six months and I am looking for the light at the end of the tunnel.”

Roughly 300 instruments and hundreds of accessories are still currently for sale at Gilmore Music, at half price.

The bulk of the remaining stringed instruments are violins and cellos, with the violins running anywhere between $20 to $200, said Eddie Montana, a music broker, appraiser and former luthier at Gilmore Music who Linda hired to help coordinate the liquidation process.

Cellos, most of them three-quarter to half-size are going for a few hundred dollars apiece. Brass and woodwind instruments, such as French horns, trumpets, piccolos and clarinets are still in stock, including a selection of flutes, both nickel plated and solid silver. The nickel-plated flutes are priced at $50 to $60, the silver flutes at $400.

Though the aforementioned prices already have the 50% discount factored in, Montana said they’d be open to haggling, such is the nature of liquidation, after all.

But instruments aren’t the only items for sale at the shop, many old antiques, knickknacks and collectibles Clint had accumulated over the years still line the shelves.

The most ornate, and expensive, is an antique 12-foot Baroque-styled showcase with gold inlay and glass doors. Big enough to comfortably showcase a couple of guitars, or a gun collection, whatever your preference, Montana said.

“There’s old check machines, cash registers and Christmas decorations,” Montana said. “I know some people coming in just wanting a piece of Gilmore, actually crying in the middle of the store because they were so sad to see it leave.”

The interior or Gilmore Music in the mid 1950s. Clint, a young boy at the time, sits behind his father Glenn, who is addressing the crowd of musicians. Image courtesy Linda Gilmore.

Montana noted that the store, its name, and phone number are still up for sale in the event a last-minute buyer would like to swoop in.

“I hope that someone who’s a musician or who’s an investor could see the benefit of it. Especially someone, maybe from Hollywood who would like a beautiful 5,000 square-foot place to operate, remodel, renovate. It’s got a beautiful recording studio in it,” he said.

Gilmore Music will be open every day from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. until May 31.

Gilmore Music is at 1935 E. Seventh St.