Bax Music, one of Europe’s biggest musical instrument retailers, was declared bankrupt yesterday by the Netherlands’ Zeeland-West-Brabant court.
The company – which has six stores in the Netherlands and Belgium, alongside an online store that serves Europe – filed for suspension of payments at the end of last week, which served as a precursor to bankruptcy.
According to De Telegraaf, the ruling came after years of financial troubles that saw the company struggle with debts and owe money to different creditors, including the Dutch Tax Authority.
Bax Music also suffered as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and is still suffering the ramifications of a fire that broke out in 2023 and damaged many instruments at the company's facility in the city of Goes.
“It went wrong since Corona,” co-founder and shareholder Jochanan Bax told Omroep Zeeland [translated from Dutch]. “Then professionals stopped performing. We received Corona support at the time, but of course, it still had to be paid back.”
Despite the bankruptcy ruling, the co-founder – who recently left Bax Music's board following a dispute but remains one of the major shareholders – has expressed interest in restarting the company. As reported by De Telegraaf, Bax has asserted that there is also interest from other investors to support such a move.
Bax Music was founded in 2003 by brothers Nathanaël and Jochanan Bax with a store in Goes – eventually expanding to Apeldoorn, Rotterdam, Amsterdam, Antwerp, and Bruges.
Aside from its brick-and-mortar stores, the company managed to build a significant online presence and store, and employs over 300 people.
This bankruptcy ruling continues to reaffirm the worrying trend of major musical instrument stores closing up shop in the U.S. and Europe.
Just last week, GAK – one of the UK’s biggest music retailers – fueled closure speculations by taking its website offline and closing its physical store in Brighton, allegedly for maintenance.
In the States, Guitar Center recently appeared on Moody's and S&P Global Ratings’ distressed retailers’ list – while Sam Ash closed all its stores in March 2024.
