Category: Shine A Light
Teach Your Children Well
For Howard Gittli, being the Manager of Louisville KY-based Mom’s Music is not just about making a sale. It’s about making a customer and—even more than that—it’s about making a musician. “We want more people playing music, and we want to help them with those dreams,” said Gittli, who began working for the store 16 [...]
The Sound Of The Underground
The main location for All Music Inc. in Plainview NY, on Long Island, is in a precarious position within the area’s retail landscape. Not only are there two Sam Ash stores and two Guitar Center locations within a 15-minute drive, but the store itself is also only noticeable to the most eagle-eyed of customers. “We’re [...]
This Grandma’s No Little Old Lady
Grandma’s Music & Sound is currently the largest music store in the state of New Mexico—in terms of both square footage and sales—but that wasn’t always the case. Thirty years ago, when Micky Patten first moved to Albuquerque, he barely intended to open a music store in the first place. “No one was hiring,” recalled [...]
A Living Legend
By Michelle Loeb It had been 47 years since Doug John first started working at Delta Rubber Co. at the young age of 13, and he and his partner had decided it was time to sell the company. He was not yet at retirement age, and he’s the first to admit he “can’t sit at [...]
Hats Off To Larry’s
By Michelle Loeb When Gabriel O’Brien first joined the payroll as a cashier at Wooster OH’s Larry’s Music Center in 2001, he brought along a valuable perspective—that of the customer. “I was a customer of the store long before I was ever hired,” said O’Brien, who plays guitar, as well as some banjo and mandolin. [...]
Blues Angel Flies High
By Michelle Loeb After 28 years as a fighter pilot in the U.S. Navy, Jim DeStafney would have been more than within his rights to live out a peaceful and leisurely retirement at his home in Pensacola FL. But retirement was the furthest thing from his mind. Two years before he left the Navy, DeStafney [...]
‘GOTT’ MUSIC?
By Rebecca Apodaca The modern Gottschalk Music Center’s history traces back to a business started in 1936, by John Gottschalk’s aviation pilot grandparents, out of their home. They lived in Adrian MI, about 85 miles southwest of Detroit. Without knowing it, they had filed the flight plan for their future grandson! The grandfather was a [...]
Tegeler Music Charts Successful Course
By Rebecca Apodaca In 2003, Don Tegeler embarked on a journey that took him and his family out of the state of Florida and landed them back in his home state of Iowa to become President of Tegeler Music Enterprises, Inc. Tegeler had spent 10 years managing another music shop in Florida before coming home [...]
Senseney Makes Sense
By Rebecca Apodaca One of the dreams of almost every store owner is to grow a store and, eventually, pass it on to a family member or an outstanding employee, or sell it to a worthy successor. Many times, that is what it remains…a dream. In this case, however, the dream came true. Senseney Music, [...]
‘The Candyman Can’
By Rebecca Apodaca Rand Cook joined The Candyman Strings & Things in 1990 and worked his way up in different managerial positions until he and his wife, Cindy, who had a background in marketing, eventually took it over in 2009. The store started in 1969 in a 200-square-foot space, operated by the original Owner, Matthew [...]
