A Utah institution is closing its doors after more than 30 years. It blames tariffs.

After 32 years, a Utah guitar shop that has become a staple for local musicians announced that it will close its doors.

Guitar Czar, located in Murray, is shuttering because of tariffs, online shopping and economic downturn, according to owner Mason Morris.

“It just became unsustainable money-wise,” Morris said. “COVID[-19] shifted things with people being more comfortable shopping online … inflation kind of drove up prices. Then this year, we just saw a pretty sharp decline with tariffs.”

Morris said it’s become apparent that it’s harder for families to get entry-level guitars for their kids because of these factors, adding that the shop has also seen a decline in sales of high-end products.

As it approached the Christmas season, Morris said the shop found itself at an “impasse.”

“There’s no way,” he said, “we can make this work anymore.”

Morris said he took over the store in 2013 from the original owner, Eric Sopanen. Running the shop became a passion project for him, since he does other business on the side. In the past year, Morris said he hasn’t paid himself for work at the store, but it still didn’t help.

Service pros could count on

Guitar Czar not only sells guitars, amps, strings and other supplies, but also provides lessons and has a sizable repair shop.

“We just provided a place that was very approachable for all levels, where we have the knowledge and we can service the professionals, the gear,” Morris said. “It’s always important to me to create [the] feeling [that] you can ask any question. We’re here to teach you [and] kind of invest in your musical future.”

It’s an investment that new and longtime Utah musicians can attest to.

Skylar Johnson, a folk singer-songwriter who plays in HOOCH and Trauma Blonde, said the store became a “critical piece of my ecosystem” and “peace of mind” since moving to Utah from northwest Arkansas four years ago.

Johnson considers himself a working musician, meaning he plays as much guitar and books as many gigs as possible, so it’s important to him to know his instrument will perform as it needs to. That assurance is something he says is guaranteed from the experts at Guitar Czar.

“I’m not playing in front of people and stressed out that the notes aren’t going to be where they’re supposed to be,” Johnson said, “because it isn’t intonated properly, or something is going to go haywire.”

Johnson said there’s a certain magic when it comes to handling and repairing guitars.

“The guitar is a beautiful thing that will never really give away all of its secrets,” he said, “so these guys having this type of expertise, an eye [and] ear for things … there’s no one else around that has the level of expertise that Guitar Czar does.”

Shepherding young talent

The shop has also helped nurture musicians at all levels of their music careers. Talia Keys, a popular cross-genre, multi-instrument artist based in Salt Lake City, said she got advice as a young musician from Guitar Czar employees, making her feel like she had a community around her.

“Ever since I kind of graduated from just playing as a hobby to really wanting to make it more of a career, I started shopping at the Guitar Czar,” Keys said. She got her first Gibson SG at the shop, and later her Gibson ES-335, too.

It was an employee at the store who helped her pick up the SG, suggesting it as a better fit for Keys since it’s smaller. Because of that, the employee told Keys, a lot of female musicians gravitate toward that model.

“I actually really appreciated that it wasn’t like, ‘Hey, you’re a girl, play a girl guitar. He’s like, check this out. I think you’re going to dig it,’” Keys said. “That’s been kind of my staple guitar ever since.”

As a woman, Keys said she often goes to music stores and is ignored. That hasn’t happened once in the 15 years she’s been shopping at Guitar Czar.

It’s that type of interaction, Keys argues, that can’t be replicated by the online shopping experience. The store, she said, is a “staple.”

“If you think about all the bands, hobby musicians, and young kids, how many thousands of people this store has had a huge effect on, that’s a legacy that goes beyond a brick-and-mortar store,” Keys said. That’s what makes Guitar Czar really special. That’s why everybody is kind of freaking out right now.”

Guitar Czar, which is having a closing sale, will officially shutter on Saturday. The shop is also pointing patrons to other guitar stores across the state, like Murphy’s Guitars in Bountiful, Guitars and More in South Jordan, Performance Audio and Acoustic Music in Salt Lake City, and Riverton Music, which sports locations in West Jordan, Sandy and Clearfield.

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