Downtown Minneapolis Violin Shop Begins Delicate Move

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- Some valuable and fragile instruments had to be carefully moved through downtown Minneapolis Wednesday.

The Claire Givens Violin shop is being forced out of its long-time location. The building where it leased space for decades will soon be demolished to make way for an apartment tower at 10th and Marquette.

The owner, Claire Givens, didn't trust anyone but her own employees to make the delicate move.

"We told the movers to stay home today, and the restorers in our workshop have engineered this entire move," Givens said. "We are hand-carrying everything down the stairs, and we're wheeling it down the street to its new home."

Givens, with its large shop, provides services to many of the violin, viola and cello players from the Minnesota Orchestra and St. Paul Chamber Orchestra.

In their inventory for sale are instruments ranging from a few hundred dollars to $150,000.

"It's just driving me crazy how much care we have to take because of the precious quality of our inventory," Givens said.

The business has been in the old Handicraft Guild Building for 34 years. It has some historic significance, but its drafty windows and ceiling problems weren't ideal for the type of work they do.

The company's new location is just a block away.  With more space, climate control and security, the owner could breathe easier as everything arrived.

"The whole place came alive as soon as we put those violas here at the end of the day," Givens said.

Givens' husband, Andrew Dipper, has his own violin restoration and bow-making business, going into the same new space.