Monday, July 29, 2019

Sunday road trip, small music stores

SHERYL AND I took a road trip Sunday to get out of town for a few hours and to enjoy the day. We went to Town and Country, near St. Louis, and stopped at the Whole Foods at Town and Country Crossing. Sheryl likes Whole foods because we can get Keto-friendly food not normally available in Quincy. That being said, we love our Yum Factory and Grown N Gathered downtown, and HyVee. We shop local for as many things as possible.

In the Town and Country Crossing is a music store called Music & Arts, a national chain with more than 200 locations. It's a small but well-organized space and the employee was quite friendly and helpful. As music store owners ourselves we love to visit other places and compare what and how we are doing.
Triple Cream  Brie anyone?

Our prices were the same for most items. They didn't have many guitars and seemed content with selling the starter packs. They had very few guitar and bass amps, a few junior drum sets, sheet music and books with music, and lots of school band instrument items. They even had some instruments on the wall right behind the counter - "Most of these are step-up instruments," the employee said.

In the back they had seven lessons rooms, and by the counter was a huge board with little round magnets. They give lessons seven days a week for a lot of different instruments, and every musical genres.

We didn't want to seem too nosy but it was fascinating. Even in the sprawling St. Louis suburbs, here's a small music store which realizes lessons are the lifeblood of the business. We'd be interested to know how much they charge and how they find teachers to hire.

Every business is unique, and it is always great to see how other places are set up and run. Ultimately it's the people who make the difference. And as much as a Sunday afternoon visit to greater St. Louis is fun, I like it just fine in little old Quincy, Illinois.

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