BOUTIQUE - Music Inc. Magazine

10 I MUSIC INC. I JANUARY 2011
PErSPEcTiVE i By ZacH PHilliPS
NEW OWNERS SURF
THE UNExPECTED
Not surprisingly, the recession unleashed a flurry of hardship upon
music retailers — closures, cutbacks, sales declines. Turns out it also
produced a less-expected outcome: new music stores. Lots of them.
Music Inc. profiled a sample of these dealers during the past two
years. They’re the entrepreneurs who found a steal on a lease, bought
a floundering company or just decided that there was no right time to open shop.
Recently, I asked a half-dozen of the best and brightest
newcomers about the state of business, and whether
owning a store is what they’d expected it would be.
Their responses were remarkably similar — and a
telling sign of the times.
Nearly all agreed running a music dealership
has been much more difficult than they’d anticipated,
especially those who picked up an existing
company. Anthony Mantova was among this group.
He purchased Two Street Music in September 2009
and has since brought the Eureka, Calif., retailer back
from near-bankruptcy. Still, this required rebuilding
his inventory from scratch and performing a complete
store renovation.
Joe Summa purchased Greenwich Music of Riverside,
Conn., in October 2008, a month after the Fannie
Mae/Freddie Mac debacle. As he put it, “sales fell
off the face of the earth” the day after he closed the deal, and he immediately
had to cut staff and product lines.
Likewise, most of these new retailers said they’ve had to perform
drastic alterations to their original business models — and quickly.
Summa’s model, for instance, had been full-line retail first, lessons and instrument
rentals second. He’s since flipped that around.
“This past year, I think lessons and rentals are going to account for more
than retail for the first time,” he said. “And I’m ecstatic about that.”
The Laboratory of Deptford, N.J., which opened in 2007, didn’t feel a
downturn until this past spring. To combat it, co-owner Steve Delaney, like
Summa, said he’s refocused on expanding his rental business by reaching
out to more school music educators. Plus, he’s cut staff and scaled back the
store’s square footage to nearly half its original size.
Most of the retailers also agreed to being pleasantly surprised
by how much customers value good service.
“I’m really starting to see where being an independent dealer, spending
time with people and sort of befriending them can go a long way,” Summa
said. He even mentioned that customers will regularly thank him for being
around after they’ve shopped at chain music stores.
Phillip Jordan, who runs four-year-old Wilson, N.C.-based RedPhish Music
(profiled on page 15), was ahead of the curve. “I did expect service and attention
to customer wants and needs to be a key to success,” he said. “I thought
there was a market for that, and it’s turned out to be the case.” MI