Mike’s Monster Guitar closed its doors Monday after more than a decade in business in Cambridge. In his retirement announcement, owner Mike Feudale said he spent “30 years contained in these same four walls,” since before opening Mike’s with his wife in 2013, he worked for Sandy’s Music, the previous tenant of the storefront, for 18 years.
The location at 896A Massachusetts Ave., in Riverside between Harvard and Central squares, has served as a music store since the 1970s. The future tenant of the storefront is not yet known.
Known as “Skinny Mike,” Feudale was the frontman and guitarist of The Coffin Lids, a Boston band. A lifelong lover of vintage guitars, Feudale also bought and sold vintage music equipment, and Mike’s Monster Guitar sold and repaired instruments and offered guitar lessons.
“As a guitar repairman, you’re counted on and trusted to take care of people’s guitars that are essentially their babies,” Feudale said. He created strong, “friendly” bonds with his repeat clients.
Feudale referred clients to his longtime friend Curt Florczak of Curt’s Guitar Repair Boston in Roslindale. Guitar Stop, at 1760 Massachusetts Ave. in Cambridge’s Neighborhood 9 near Porter Square, may be the more convenient place for some for guitar repairs and music lessons.
Though Feudale said via social media on June 14 merely that at 63 he was retiring to “start a new chapter” of his life, he was embittered in an interview.
“The City of Cambridge selling out to developers – with these high-rises and luxury condos – is pushing up rent and forcing regular people, like myself, out,” he said. Many of those regular people were his clients, Feudale said. “The fact that a lot of those people have been driven out of Cambridge and aren’t able to come back is disturbing to me.”
Though acknowledging that lower sales are an issue at guitar stores nationwide, he also blamed bike lanes along Massachusetts Avenue for making parking more complicated and hurting businesses, including his own. There are bike lanes along both sides of the street in front of Mike’s Monster Guitar.
“The city puts on this ruse that they are supporting small businesses and artists. They are just making it tougher for musicians and artists to exist in this city,” Feudale said.
Parking across the street was removed in the summer of 2021, but parking in front of the shop was kept, said Jeremy Warnick, a city spokesperson.
Feudale raised the issue of nearby businesses: The Door Store, which announced its closing this month; The Atomic Bean Cafe, which closed in 2020 and has been vacant since; and the Mass Ave Diner, which Feudale said has “nobody in there” when he walks by. The diner was called Monday for comment, but a worker would not make an owner or manager available.
The situations at the closed businesses are complex: Though a Door Store manager said bike lanes hurt their business, it is also a remnant of a “furniture store alley” that saw roughly a dozen similar shops close over the years long before bike lanes came. And the store saw a surge of customers over the past month. “People are finding ways,” owner Andrew Anisimov said.
The cafe closed apparently because of the Covid pandemic, and new potential tenants were rejected by surrounding businesses in a commercial condominium arrangement that has led to a legal dispute.
Feudale said businesses remaining empty throughout the day “is a trend now.”
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Typical Cantabridgian.
Ahhhh rents are too high…..ahhhhh there’s too many bike lanes.
Hard to have your cake while you are eating it.
I look forward to visiting the marijuana market that storefront becomes.
I know I know it’s amazons fault it’s no one plays guitar anymore it’s anything except what the small business owner “blamed bike lanes along mass Ave”.
Meanwhile there are no rules or regulations for the bikers and they are literally being run over and killed.
What started out as innocent bike lanes has torn the heart and soul one lost life and one lost business out of the city at a time.
Business owners need to stop blaming bike lanes. The real issue, as identified, is:
“The City of Cambridge selling out to developers. These high-rises and luxury condos are pushing up rent and forcing regular people, like myself, out.”
Blaming bike lanes is nonsense. I’ve visited Mike’s Monster several times, had my guitar repaired, and bought gear there. I guess I have announced, “I arrived by bike” as soon as I walked in. Sigh.
Studies show that business owners vastly overestimate the number of customers who drive. They think it’s 50% when the actual figure in Cambridge is about 15%.
Mike: Congrats on your retirement, but stick to guitars. You are no economist.
Mike: yes, I can think of no other changes to your broader business environment over the past 30 years except bike lanes that slightly reduced the amount of nearby parking.
Yes, take out the bike lanes. But then what happens to people who bicycle? They just bike in the middle of the road? Whenever I attempt that, I get aggressively honked at, tailgated, and at least a few times a year, literally run off the road. How about the MBTA? Oh, right, it’s in shambles since no one wants to fund it.
Nevermind, I’ll just buy a car. Enjoy sitting in worse traffic, and having to compete with me for parking spaces.
@Jake L +100 The anti-bike lane advocates need to realize that without bike lanes, more people will drive, increasing traffic and competition for parking. God forbid we try to make people safe and reduce traffic by encouraging an alternative to driving.
@prc Bike lanes are not to blame for business failure or loss of life. Where is the evidence for any of that? Things aren’t true simply because you say them.
@AvgJoe
Permanently Closed – For Lease!
The owner is literally quoted “blamed the bike lanes on mass Ave” same as the door store, the rockler woodworking on and on. With all the lost revenue for the city they won’t have money for schools never mind bike lanes geez. The owners of 30 40 50yr old local small business are dumb oh ok but avgjoe knows!
Setting tourists off with electric blue bikes no helmets to navigate pylon heaven no wonder the bike lanes are paused.
Local small businesses are closing like there’s a pandemic and there isn’t one.
There is no evidence that bike lanes harm businesses. In fact, they often help. In NYC, bike lanes significantly increased local retail sales.
@prc Claims that bike lanes hurt businesses, like Mike’s, are unfounded. People frequently say and believe things that aren’t true. Just read a newspaper. Or many of the comments you have made in Cambridge Day.
@prc It’s interesting that you focus on a guitar shop closing while ignoring the thriving businesses next to bike lanes.
Bagelsaurus is expanding! Skendarian predicted six years ago that bike lanes would shut them down within a year. Guess what? They’re still open. Frank’s Steak House also predicted closure. Still open.
Mike blamed the bike lanes after citing other issues like rent increases and clients moving away. His business was mainly guitar repairs. Do you know how little revenue that generates?
As AvgJoe mentioned, maybe he’s wrong about the bike lanes. People often say and believe things that aren’t true. Bagelsaurus, Skendarian, and Frank’s were wrong too.
All evidence indicates that bike lanes do not hurt local businesses. Nothing you say changes the evidence.
Your claim that bike lanes cause safety issues is false. Studies show that our bike lanes have decreased accidents by 50%.
Finally, how many lives is a guitar shop or door store worth? Do you have a number?
Wishing you a happy retirement! You did an absolutely beautiful repair on a classical guitar that I inherited. It became one of my favorites to play.
Kindly ignore the selfish comments. They represent a small group of self absorbed individuals who haven’t contributed anywhere near as much to the community as people like you.
Ok avgjoe we won’t and aren’t allowed to believe what each of the last 3 business owners who’ve closed. They all said the bike lanes contributed to them shuttering decades old small businesses.
They are all conspiracy theorists!! 🤣
@prc. It is not a mystery. Studies show that retailers overestimate the number of their customers who use cars.
They often give estimates like 50% of customers arrive by car when the actual number are 15-20%.
That explains why Mike and others make the mistake of blaming bike lanes. They are wrong because they overestimate car use.
You can read about this in these articles. They have links to the studies.
Shoppers’ mobility habits: Retailers overestimate car use
https://phys.org/news/2021-07-shoppers-mobility-habits-retailers-overestimate.html
Why Local Businesses Shouldn’t Worry About Eliminating On-Street Parking
https://www.fastcompany.com/3067515/why-local-businesses-shouldnt-worry-about-eliminating-on-street-parking/
https://www.toronto.ca/legdocs/mmis/2017/pw/bgrd/backgroundfile-107582.pdf
Bike lanes and safer streets benefit everyone, including businesses
https://www.cambridgeday.com/2022/08/29/bike-lanes-and-safer-streets-benefit-everyone-including-businesses/
You see, @prc? There’s clear evidence directly relevant to this issue.
Educating yourself with these studies would benefit both you and the shop owners.
Speculating and spreading misinformation isn’t necessary when we already have the answer.
By the way, how many lives do you think a guitar shop is worth?
Here’s an example from Vancouver: Business owners initially opposed bike lanes but changed their minds as business improved.
Read more about it here: [Downtown Vancouver businesses’ attitudes towards bike lanes have changed in the last 5 years]
https://vancouver.citynews.ca/2015/05/27/downtown-vancouver-businesses-attitudes-towards-bike-lanes-have-changed-in-the-last-five-years/
Similarly, in several US cities, business owners who were skeptical about bike lanes were proven wrong and eventually changed their minds. (https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-12-08/for-store-owners-bike-lanes-boost-the-bottom-line)
And don’t forget Bagelsaurus, Frank’s, and Skenderian’s—they predicted they’d go out of business due to bike lanes, but they’re thriving. Bagelsaurus even doubled their space. Looks like they were mistaken about bike lanes, right?
So, @prc, believe it or not, business owners can be wrong about this.
@prc Let’s look at the facts. We should not selectively believe business owners who support our viewpoint while ignoring those who have been proven wrong.
For instance, Bagelsaurus predicted that bike lanes would put them out of business “in months.” What actually happened? They had lines down the block and are now expanding due to increased business.
Skendarian claimed they’d be out of business “within the year.” Six years later, they are still open and even have the resources to buy TV ads.
If we had listened to their predictions, we would have been wrong, just like them.
So, no. Don’t believe what people *say*; believe the results.
Hey Skinny Mike,
I’ve been a customer, and you do great repair work.
Don’t take this personally—it’s human nature to make misattributions. Everyone does it at some point. I just wish this one didn’t compromise safety.
@Passingbell: Improving public safety is kind of the opposite of self-absorbed. You can’t blame people for commenting when Mike raised this issue.
Love how the Atomic Bean Cafe is mentioned, when the problem there has to do with A Condo Trust board trying to block competition with the Diner which is why the space remains empty and another property (I believe where the plough and stars is).
I would prefer the city prioritize what is proven to help at keeping people alive over a misguided idea about what is good for local business.
The City leadership is definitely bending over backwards for developers in recent years and have this concept of infinite space growth for infinite tax base.
Reality is the city is small, you can only build so much as the infrastructure can’t handle infinite growth. And rather than trying to deal with things like taking long empty buildings and homes and taking them by eminent domain and turning those into housing the city wants to partner with big developers that will try to weasel out of agreements for 20% “affordable” when there is no legal definition for such. Define Affordable. Is it the Salary of a starting Teacher in our public school system? The Starting Income of retail employee? The Starting Income of a City DPW worker?
@Slaw That’s really the bottom line.
The city needs to focus on implementing proven life-saving measures rather than following unproven notions about what might hurt local businesses.
Using claims from some business owners while ignoring those proven wrong is not a valid argument. You can’t selectively choose evidence.
It seems schools aren’t teaching debate skills anymore.
@prc I see others have debunked the argument that we should heed these business owners’ claims.
It’s absurd to prioritize unsubstantiated claims of harm from some business owners while ignoring documented cases where they have been wrong.
As others mentioned, businesses along Mass Ave claimed bike lanes were harming them, but they are actually thriving.
The articles I posted earlier show that business owners’ claims of harm have been consistently proven wrong.
You can’t only listen to those who tell you what you want to hear. Actual evidence shows that bike lanes do not harm local businesses.
Besides, I prefer to live in a society that values human life over a few businesses.