Guitar business chooses Elgin’s downtown over Randall Road

As downtowns across the Fox Valley lament the loss of businesses to Randall Road, one guitar shop will move in the opposite direction.

The owners of Fat Cat Guitars announced Sunday they will close their business at 2271 Randall Road in Carpentersville and reopen with a revised business model on Douglas Avenue in Elgin’s downtown.

“People go to Randall Road to experience mass market retail and that’s not us,” said Kate Darling Bond, who co-owns Fat Cat with her husband, Scott Bond.

The retail side of the business will disappear and two new ventures — Fat Cat School of Music and Fat Cat Custom Guitars and Repair — will occupy two spaces next door to the Quiznos building.

Tonya Hudson, executive director of the Downtown Neighborhood Association, said Fat Cat’s business model is one that will have the best chance of succeeding in the downtown market.

Hudson said the DNA looks for retailers with outside income sources — like the music lessons — as well as an existing customer base, which Darling Bond hopes will make the move from Carpentersville to Elgin.

Of course the guitar business will fit right in with the growing arts community in Elgin — a point Darling Bond said factored heavily into the decision to relocate to this particular city.

“We really see downtown Elgin as an opportunity and we are very excited to be moving to an area that is more in alignment with our values,” Darling Bond said.

Scott Bond will continue to design and build custom guitars to sell. A small retail component, including music books and strings, will offer merchandise mainly for people taking classes. The mass-manufactured guitars no longer will be a part of the business model.

That means major markdowns in the next few weeks as employees try to sell as much of the existing merchandise as possible from the Randall Road location.

That store will close at the end of the month with a soft opening of the two new businesses the first week of January at 57 and 63 Douglas Ave.

Though the move is bittersweet, Darling Bond said the new opportunity will be best for the business and its loyal customers.

“Without the distraction and weight of trying to compete in mainstream retail, we will have more time and resources to dedicate to the development and offering of what is unique to us,” Darling Bond said.