Music Shops Return, Live and In-Person: X Music, The Red Cow, Dublin

X Music was founded in 2008 by former music distributor of instrument brands, Gerry Forde. Today, the Red Cow Retail Park shop operates on 20,000 square feet premises and over three floors.

Like other major music shops, X Music greeted customers in person for the first time this week. Gerry says that the excitement was palpable for both customers and his staff to see each other again.

"The atmosphere was unbelievable," he says.

"As soon as customers came in the store, the guys are smiling. They're joking, they're bantering. They're talking about their favourite gear, and their favourite subject: music. It was great."

Gerry maintains that while their online sales grew during the pandemic as their storefront was closed, music stores like his need to have human interaction to cater to their customers fully.

He says that his staff felt far more useful in giving customers advice face-to-face.

"Sound is very subjective," Gerry explains. "Hearing an acoustic guitar in a nice room, and comparing it to four others at the same price point, you can't do that online.

"In this industry, it's very important for the customer. But it's also very important for the staff because otherwise, you might as well have a robot vending machine out on the Red Cow."

Gerry praises the Government's efforts in helping businesses, saying that the supports were far different from when X Music faced difficulties during the recession Ireland went through in the previous decade.

"Without those supports, we'd all be in serious trouble," he says. "It was probably driven by Europe. I've been around a long time. In the financial recession, when people like X Music were in trouble, there was no help. It was laws of the jungle. Whereas this time, because it was a pandemic, it seemed to be European driven."

X Music spent a lot of their time with the business closed renovating their shop. New sections, including ones for bass guitars and synthesisers, and a guitar workshop area for repairs, will greet customers returning there for what might be the first time in over a year.

"We've got loads of new toys, loads of new products that we never had before," he says.

Gerry was no stranger to the Irish music scene when founding X Music. He spoke to Hot Press last year about playing in the Dublin band Eugene.

At Hot Press's 5th birthday bash, he encountered Rory Gallagher, who his band was supporting at the gig along with U2.

"I got there early to set up my gear,” Gerry recalled. “When I went to set up my guitar, I noticed another guitar in an open case sitting precariously on the head of an amplifier. I carefully closed the case and was about to set it down somewhere safe when suddenly the air was filled with expletives and I saw a man running towards me. That man was Donal Gallagher, who was rightly outraged when he saw some young punk touching what was, unbeknownst to me, his brother Rory’s prized 1961 Fender Stratocaster!"

You can visit X Music in their reopening week at 1, Red Cow Retail Centre, Ballymount, Dublin 22 or through their website at xmusic.ie.