This past week saw Long and McQuade make the massive move from their location at 851 Stafford to 1854 Pembina Highway. The massive new store near the University of Manitoba will be an improvement over their rabbit warren old location that was just north of the Pembina underpass.
Long and McQuade started in Toronto in 1956 but one of their first moves of Ontario was to Winnipeg in 1971 when they bought Winnipeg Piano on Osborne Street. It was the third store for the entire company at the time. By 1975, they have moved to Corydon and it was there for many, many years that they supplied and taught so many artists in the province. By 1997, they were bursting at the seams and moved to 651 Stafford until this past week.
The musical instruments and lessons store also has a second location on Wall Street from the time they took over Gorden Price/Mother’s Music in 2011. Long and McQuade did a complete reno on that shop in 2014. Mother’s will long be remembered for their location on Portage Avenue near the University of Winnipeg before they moved to Wall Street in 1993.
The location at Stafford served the store well but the building was soon bursting again with rentals, repairs and sales work. It was obvious a building that was tailor made was in order.
This week near the University of Manitoba, Long and McQuade has opened their new store and by the looks of it, is a beauty. Anyone driving down Portage Avenue can’t miss the pass with huge sign up.
Long and McQuade is all across Canada but this store for Winnipeg has to be the most prominent address they’ve ever taken up. One can imagine a whole generation of artists will pass through their doors.
This has been an editorial by John Dobbin.
To read more from John, visit his blog Observations, Reservations, Conversations
