Beloved Dublin music shop McCullough Pigott will soon close its doors for good after 200 years in business.
The shop started out as Pigott on Grafton Street back in 1823 and was one of the principal music stores in the city. In the 1960's, the store merged with Denis McCullough, a trained luthier and piano tuner from Belfast and became McCullough Pigott.
Today, the store is owned by sheet music publisher Hal Leonard and is based on South William Street, run by a small team of music professionals. Hal Leonard announced last week that they will be shutting the Dublin store, as well as UK shops owned by them in Edinburgh, Exeter, Lincoln, Salisbury, Stratford and York.
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McCullough Pigott shared the sad news with their customers in a social media post last week, writing: "It is with deep regret that we inform you, on Monday 20th February, Musicroom/Hal Leonard Europe announced their plans to restructure their Musicroom consumer business in the UK and Ireland.
"This involves the closure of seven Musicroom retail stores, including Musicroom @ McCullough Pigott Dublin. Please bear with us and we will post further updates when available. But for now, it's business as usual.
"We would like to thank all of our loyal customers for your business and we look forward to welcoming you over the coming weeks."
In response to the news, a petition called "Save McCullough Pigott Music Shop" was launched on Change.org and has received over 700 signatures.
"Many teachers teaching today including myself bought instruments from McCullough Piggott and have been buying their sheet music there all their lives, first as students, and now as teachers," the petition reads.
"While online and digital music is a good resource to have, it is vital that students still have a physical outlet to purchase their music. There is nothing like the feel of a good book and for every book they go into buy, they will probably leave with two or three others and maybe a nice mug or new pencil or even a new case for their music.
"The staff are wonderful and are masters of their craft as regards their knowledge of all things music. McCullough Piggott's needs to be saved so that it can continue to provide music books and instruments to students in Dublin and far beyond."
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