Waymouth St music retailer John Reynolds Music City forced to close its doors

A SOUTH Australian music legend has fallen on tough times and been forced to close the CBD retail business he started nearly 50 years ago.

John Reynolds, with wife Leonie and daughter Kelly, has been forced to close his Waymouth St music store John Reynolds Music City which he started nearly 50 years ago. Picture: Matt Turner

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SOUTH Australian music stalwart and legend John Reynolds is no longer drumming to his own beat and has been forced to close the retail business he started nearly 50 years ago.

But the 73-year-old, who was inducted into the SA Music Hall of Fame in 2015 for his service to the music industry, has not ruled out making another comeback.

Mr Reynolds has blamed the internet and lack of musical “heroes” on the downturn in trade which plunged his John Reynolds Music City business on Waymouth St into administration this month.

It caps a tough period for the former drummer who nearly lost his right arm after it was caught under a runaway forklift at his houseboat business at Morgan.

The father-of-four has undergone five surgeries to repair the arm which he said was “degloved” from his hand to elbow, requiring multiple skin grafts and has forced him off work since April.

Mr Reynolds said the internet had done “a lot of damage” to his business in the past 18 months.

“All of a sudden turnover started to go backwards,” he said.

“The buck stops with me, it’s my fault ... unfortunately it’s gone belly up because we just haven’t got enough turnover to warrant the overheads, the customers have gone down.

“Drum kit sales have gone down all over the world, acoustic guitar sales are okay but not electric guitars and the economy in Adelaide is very flat, we tried everything to trade through but to no success.

John Reynolds in 2012, back when he was re-opening his old store in Waymouth St.

“It’s tough times, retailers are doing it tough and if they are not, tell me the secret.”

Mr Reynolds, who also ran a music school on site, said aspiring musicians no longer had “guitar heroes” such as The Beatles.

“Now you’ve just got vocalists and he or she is a hero, they are not playing guitars or drum kits,” he said.

“There’s (also) nowhere to play, there are not a lot of garage bands around anymore.”

The Angle Vale resident started John Reynolds Drum City in 1968 with a $400 loan from his then girlfriend and now wife Leonie in a former barber shop at 220 Waymouth St and two years later bought the Spurden’s music store to create John Reynolds Music City.

He sold the business in 2006 to Allans Billy Hyde, who rebadged the store Billy Hyde Music Adelaide.

When Allans Billy Hyde entered financial strife six years later, Mr Reynolds returned, reopening John Reynolds Music City and saving 14 jobs.

“It’s very sad for me to get out of it,” he said of the latest chapter. “I treat my customers as if they are my own kids, I try to look after them — I can see they have got a dream and I want them to follow their dream.”

And while Mr Reynolds has walked away from the business its name may live on with administrators Duncan Powell looking for a potential buyer of the business including its name and all intellectual property.

Mr Reynolds, who said he had signed a contract of sale for the Waymouth St site to a developer, has not ruled out an encore in the retail game.

“Never say never,” he said.