I recently went by my favourite Guitar store in Basel, UpTown Music, and to my surprise I saw that it was closed and empty. I checked the website - which referred guitarists to a place in Zoffingen, but no mention of when or why it closed down.

Does anyone know what happened?

It was a good shop, the owner - Mischa - was great at matching you and your style of playing to the right guitar. He, and the shop, will be missed.

I noticed it had closed about three weeks ago. It seemed very sudden and I don't recall any "Everything Must Go" sale signs or seeing any indication of imminent closure.
So, in answer to your question: dunno.

..well, Switzerland is not imune to economical issues. I can only imagine, that you'd have to sell a lot of guitars to keep yourself afloat.

Me neither. I'm pretty sure I've had a promo email from them as recently as the last couple of months, although it's been deleted, so it may be longer than that.

Shame, though. Decent shop, as you say, although I had to do some re-work after they replaced the topnut on my Ibanez acoustic a year or so back - they'd set the action way too high - took me days to get it just right again.

Guitars are just too expensive here in Switzerland compared to Germany. Even if you can talk the shop down you can still save 20-30% by importing an instrument. Sadly the time of popping into a guitar shop and having a good chat and cup of coffee are is no more.

I went in there once, looking for a particular kind of guitar. They assumed I was totally ignorant and tried to sell me a different kind of guitar, without pointing out the differences. Fortunately however, I was only 90% ignorant and had done some research beforehand and knew they were talking rubbish. Three of the five guitar shops (or shops with guitars in some cases) I visited in Basel tried the same trick. In the end, I bought a guitar in Germany and claimed the tax difference.

I do miss seeing all those nice guitars in the window as I go by on the bus or tram though.

Strange that you said that, I wonder whether it was Mischa who served or one of the young lads that "helped out". Mischa (who does play [and studied at the Guitar Institute of Technology in LA]), was usually very good in talking about gear and discussing the pros and cons of each (he once dissuaded me from buying a 50W head and cab, saying it wasn't quite the thing for an apartment practice amp). The young lads were a bit clueless.

I'm not sure who it was, but from your description I doubt it was Mischa. I didn't consider the possibility the guy was clueless though - I figured he was being economical with the truth in order to make a sale!

Hanlon's Razor (paraphrased): Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity.