Allans, Billy Hyde Stores Will Close Within Weeks

Whie they had previously expressed hope that a buyer would be found, it has been announced today that Australian Music Group Holdings, the owners of Allans Billy Hyde, will be shut down and all arms of the music retail outlets will be closed within weeks.

Brendan Richards from liquidators Ferrier Hodgson announced the news in a statement this morning, confirming that 513 staff from AMG businesses would be losing their jobs.

"The loss of jobs is disappointing, but we exhausted all avenues and there is no other way forward for this business," he said.

"These people have served music lovers and been a key part of the Australian music industry for generations. It is a sad day for live music in this country."

The group went into receivership in August of this year, though former CEO John Helme was optimistic a buyer could be found when speaking with The Age last month. One of those buyers could have been Giibson guitar distributor and owner of the Gallin's Musician's Pro Shop reatail chain Con Gallin; he made an offer to buy the debt ridden Australian Music Group, but his offer was knocked back, which prompted him to take a swipe at the operation of the business.

“We made an offer for the whole lot, which was Musiclink, Allans + BIlly Hydes, Intermusic, and we offered more than double what we had offered earlier in the year. That was rejected. I said, 'What choice do you have now?' Earlier in the year there was no buyer anywhere in the world other than this liquidator who wanted to liquidate it, now you don't have a buyer anywhere in the world, let alone Australia. Nobody in Australia can raise this kind of money.

"Although they bought it for bugger all earlier in the year, [they said] they had a fixed inflating charge of three and a half times what they paid for it and unless we could come up with a ridiculous offer, we wouldn't buy it. So we upped the bid, then we upped it again and still it was not enough. I said, 'Well what have you got to sell? You have a broken down wreck losing money!' They said, 'We're going to liquidate it'.”

Read our full interview with Gallin here.

Four franchise stores also existed alongside the 25 company owned stores; those four stores will continue to operate as per normal.

Muso's Greg Phillips reported on what the demise of the company could mean for the music instrument retail landscape. Read his piece here.