A MUSIC store seemingly lost to the recession has rocked WGC town centre – by re-opening as a new business within a month.

City Sounds, in Wigmores South, closed down on November 6 due to the lack of passing trade in the area and the drop in CD sales, as reported in the Welwyn Hatfield Times.

At the time, it seemed the business had become the latest victim of the credit crunch and the ongoing Sainsbury’s megastore scheme, which saw several retailers move away from the area as the supermarket giant bought up units to develop on.

But City Sounds owners Bill Menzies and Angie Coffey had other ideas, and this week the store relaunched – as a musical instrument retailer.

Gone are the racks of CDs, vinyl and DVDs. In their place are walls of electric and acoustic guitars, ukuleles, keyboards and drum kits.

“From the support of lots of our loyal customers we decided that although we’re in difficult times, there’s a future for instrument retail in WGC,” Bill said.

“Customers and volunteers all came to our assistance. There’s many exhausted people who helped us strip the store completely. We’ve moved tons of racking out of the shop. We were extremely well supported in this.

“We’re looking at this as a fresh start. We’re stocking some of the world’s leading brands in music, and we’re one of the few stores that supports the Take it Away scheme.”

The Take It Away scheme is an Arts Council initiative that encourages people of all ages to take up playing a musical instrument. Budding musicians can apply for a grant of up to �2,000 to buy the instrument of their choice.

They then pay the money back in nine monthly instalments, interest free.

Call City Sounds on 01707 372700 for more information.