KOSMIC Sound is back, after the WA music shop was rescued by South Australian music retailers the Dale Cleves Music Group.

The company already operates the Australian Piano Warehouse in North Perth, and was responsible for the recent revival of Billy Hyde Music in the eastern states.

Kosmic closed last month after 51 years in business.

According to Dale Cleves’ managing director Michael Cleves, they had long admired Kosmic and owner John Goldsmith.

“Kosmic is a local institution and, like John who made it what it was, music is in our blood,” Cleves said.

“We know many people would be sad to see it go, so we thought we’d step in and make sure it continued on and was in good hands.

“It would be a tragedy to see such an iconic name disappear from the Perth market.

“We know retail can be tough but we refuse to believe local musos don’t want to still come in and touch and play their instruments and get advice from locals who know what they’re talking about, before they buy them.”

Goldsmith welcomed the proposal.

“It’s been a family business all this time, and it will still be part of a family business so there’ll be real people in control rather than a faceless corporation,” he said.

“That was really important to me.

“There’s a couple of those sorts of businesses around at the moment and that’s not what Kosmic has ever been about.

“It’s been heartbreaking to think the business might end after all these years, so to have the Cleves family step in and understand what Kosmic was about and bring it back to life has been fantastic.”

At a practical level it means the Kosmic name lives on and jobs will be saved.

After a brief transition period, Kosmic Music should be back up and running by late March.