The co-housed West Seattle Junction music shops Thunder Road Guitars and The Bass Shop (both WSB sponsors) are moving to a new home in Morgan Junction. The move also solves a long-running mystery about their future space, the former Kokoras. First, here’s the announcement from TRG proprietor Frank Gross (who also sent the top photo):
As many of you know, Thunder Road Guitars currently resides at 4736 California Ave in the heart of the West Seattle Junction. When I founded Thunder Road Guitars in the fall of 2011, as a life-long West Seattleite, I could only dream of one day having our store located in the Junction. In just 4 years we moved from the ActivSpace building on Alki, where I leased a 110 square foot office, to our first “cozy” brick and mortar storefront north of the Junction, to our current location, which I believed would be our forever home.
In the summer of 2018, I was informed by our landlord that our rent would be increasing significantly come June of 2019 and I knew that I had a tough decision to make. Forced with a ticking clock, we decided to start quietly looking for a new home for Thunder Road and I am ecstatic to announce that we found one in the Morgan Junction here in West Seattle, just a handful of blocks from our current storefront. In a growing city like Seattle parking is more of an issue now than ever and I am thrilled to also say that this new location will have a dedicated parking lot attached to the property with free parking for our customers.
This summer Thunder Road Guitars and The Bass Shop will be moving to 6400 California Ave SW. We will initially occupy half of the property and work on renovating the entire building over the course of the following year. We are now lucky enough to be our own landlords and as a friend of mine once said “own the dirt beneath our feet and the roof over our heads”. Much of 2019 will be a transition period so please bear with us while we make the move and begin putting together what will become the permanent location for our retail storefront, repair business, and guitar lesson studio.
Moving Thunder Road Guitars to the Junction in 2015 grew our business and brand in ways I could never imagine and for that I am forever grateful and indebted to this community. West Seattle is our home and has always been good to us, and we are so pleased to be able to remain a part of the community.
– Frank Gross, owner and founder of Thunder Road Guitars
After receiving this, we headed down the hill to the new space, also with the goal of asking The Wash Dog next door what’s in their future. Proprietor Thyra tells WSB she’s looking for a new spot but her lease runs through this time next year and her new landlord is working with her on the transition. The ex-Kokoras space has been empty for a year and a half.
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