Life Guitars Co moves to former Mansons guitar shop building in Exeter

Established in July 2020 amidst the start of a global pandemic, award-winning Life Guitars Co burst onto the UK independent retail scene with a vision to breathe new life into old and used guitars, amps and effects pedals. Since then, they have quickly established themselves as a popular and trusted guitar shop and have consistently grown from humble beginnings.

With a strong ethical and environmental backbone, they repair, restore and upcycle second-hand guitars, amps and pedals whilst doing everything within their power to use or save every part of every piece of gear that comes into their shop. This significantly reduces wastage and decreases the environmental impact of used equipment being discarded by the general public.

The result? A fantastic store based on South Street, Exeter, which has become a treasure-trove full of beautiful, high-quality used guitars, amps and pedals that are as close to new as physically possible (oftenbetter than new, given that woods age and improve over time).

From May 15th 2023 onwards, Life Guitars Co are excited to announce that they will be opening the doors of their new location in McCoys Arcade on Fore Street, Exeter and will be saying goodbye to their original store location on South Street which has served them so well since their launch in 2020.

Those with a keen eye for detail will note that the premises are the same as formerly occupied for 21 years by Mansons Guitar Shop, one of the premier independent guitar stores in the world. With exacting standards, a star-studded black book of clients and a relentless pursuit for excellence, they established themselves as the standard bearer for what a premium guitar shop should look, feel and sound like.

And due to the recent retirement announcement of Mansons Guitar shop owners Hugh Manson and Adrian Ashton, an opportunity arose to see a fresh and exciting approach to guitar sales and servicing with a priority for sustainability from the team at Life Guitars Co.

Moving into the custom-designed former premises of Mansons Guitar Shop means that Life Guitars Co customers can still experience the layout, custom design, sound booths and spacious environment which the store offered to its previous client base.

They’ll be maintaining the Mansons Guitar Shop feel-good-factor built over the last three decades whilst introducing their unique approach to sustainability. Many services will be uninterrupted including continuing accessory supplier arrangements and offering similar maintenance and repair services to Mansons Guitar Shop.

They’ll also be using the same phone number as Mansons have used historically, meaning that both Life Guitars customers and former Mansons Guitar Shop customers can enjoy uninterrupted service once the Life Guitars team have moved into the premises.

Dan Frye, co-founder of Life Guitars Co, commented, “Despite the many challenges that have come with starting a business in pandemic conditions, we’ve built a loyal community of customers and creatives. The business has continued to grow and thrive since day one, so now we are moving into expanded premises and growing our team to keep up with this growth.”

The other co-founder of Life Guitars, Joff Alexander-Frye, continued, “It is a huge honour to be moving into the space previously occupied by the incredible Mansons Guitar Shop team. Most of our team bought their first ever guitars there and we deeply respect their legacy and what they have worked so hard to build over the last three decades. We will do everything within our power to keep the fire and passion for guitar excellence burning bright in that location for the next 30 years and beyond!”

Hugh Manson, co-owner and co-founder of Mansons Guitar Shop said, “Having designed and built the shop as a unique guitar-centred premises I am happy to see it continue in that vein and wish Joff and Dan the best of luck.”

Adrian Ashton, co-owner and co-founder of Mansons Guitar Shop added, “I’m delighted to see Life Guitars, with their genuine approach to sustainability, the environment and upcycling, bring this fresh approach to guitar buying and selling in our former premises. The existing space will suit their goals and ambitions perfectly and knowing how many of our customers enjoyed the feel and vibe of a cool pre-owned or vintage instrument, this expansion will make them a destination store of pre-owned instruments in the South-West.”

Joff Alexander-Frye commented, “We are so grateful to every single person who has helped us in a variety of ways since we launched in 2020. It has been quite a ride already and we can’t wait to see what the next chapter of our growth story looks like as we move into much larger premises and put our spin on a space which is already set up so well to succeed as a guitar store.”

Dan Frye added, “We’d love for as many people as possible to come and check out the store once we open on May 15th and we have all sorts of awesome plans for in-store events, intimate gigs, workshops and open-evenings, so do follow us on Instagram or Facebook to stay up to date with these plans as they are announced.”

Dan continued, “We are actively looking to increase our staffing and stock levels to facilitate the larger new space so do get in touch if you feel that you are the right fit for our team or if you are looking to part with any guitar equipment to part-exchange, sell to us or put into store on a commission sales basis.”

And Joff concluded, “Our long-term vision is to become the biggest and best provider of high-quality used guitar gear in the UK, so this move represents a huge step towards achieving that goal!”