Brighton’s GAK – a pillar of the UK music retail trade – has confronted weeks of hypothesis after closing its retailer and shutting down its web site in March.

As rumours of the retailer’s destiny swirled, trade spectators noticed an inventory on UK enterprise market Enterprise Sale Report, promoting a “Musical Instrument Retailer and Provider” looking for a “quick sale”.

Now, it’s been revealed that UK-based on-line music gear market Gear4music – which additionally has a bodily retailer in York – has bought GAK’s remaining inventory, “along with sure intangible property together with web sites, logos, and business information”, per a press release on its web site.

Gear4music goes on to state that it has not acquired “any a part of GAK’s buying and selling enterprise, nor another property or liabilities, and has no present plans to make use of the GAK buying and selling title”.

It says that whereas its property, inventory, branding and web site has been offered to Gear4music after GAK entered insolvency, GAK “nonetheless legally exists and stays answerable for its liabilities, however might not have funds to fulfill them”.

Any prospects that positioned orders with GAK previous to the insolvency won’t have their orders fulfilled, though G4M says they could find a way make claims as unsecured collectors within the insolvency. Equally, warranties issued by GAK are possible void, with Gear4music having no obligation to honour them.

The GAK web site now redirects to Gear4music’s homepage. Based on The Enterprise Desk [via Guitar World], Gear4music’s shares went from “19 per cent to 139.9p in early buying and selling”. The price of the inventory was round £1.8 million plus “sure intangible property together with web sites, logos, and business information [for] £0.6m”.

Chatting with Brighton-based information outlet The Argus, GAK retailer worker Connor Wyatt says workers had been instructed the enterprise was going into administration and on 7 April, they’d be made redundant.

GAK – which stands for Guitar, Amp and Keyboard – began in 1992 as a small market stall by Gary Marshall. It later expanded right into a brick-and-mortar retailer that turned one thing of a landmark within the Brighton metropolis centre, and later as an internet retailer.

Some large shifts have occurred on this planet of musical instrument retail as of late; earlier this month, Dutch retailer Bax Music was declared bankrupt.