With growing competition from chain stores and the Internet, independent music shops are adapting to the times to keep locals rocking
story and photos by Matt Kanner
There are few products that offer such lasting return on an investment as a musical instrument. Whether you play casually or professionally, alone in your basement or onstage in front of thousands, playing music can fill voids of boredom with excitement, give voice to artistic impulses, and express any emotion. You can play an instrument for 70 years and still learn new tricks, still create new sounds, still derive new pleasure. And just about anyone can do it.
“I think it’s the best deal in the world. I don’t think there’s a better thing you can buy for a relatively small amount of money,” said Gary Traversy, owner of Gary’s Guitars in Portsmouth. “For $500, you can buy a guitar that can last your lifetime. You’ll get enjoyment out of it, you might make money off it—I can’t think of another thing in the world that fits that bill.”
Traversy opened his small guitar shop at 800 Islington Plaza in 1989. A bass player trying to make a living as a musician, he recognized the opportunity to fill a niche on the Seacoast. At the time, he said, the area lacked service shops that conducted in-house repairs. He opened his business and set up an Atari computer with two megabytes of memory, just enough to keep track of the store’s inventory.
The business climate for music stores has changed immensely in the 20-plus years since Gary’s opened. The effects of downloadable music and iPods on the recording industry have been well documented, foretelling the gradual demise of major record labels and the compact disc. But stores that sell instruments, too, have been affected by online sales and corporate chains.
“It’s changed many times. It has a lot to do with the Internet, a lot to do with the big box stores, and the combination of the two,” Traversy said.
Music stores have also been affected, both positively and negatively, by popular radio and video games. The business climate is always changing, and to survive, independent stores must continually adapt.
Three independently-owned music stores on the Seacoast are in the process of moving into new spaces. Acoustic Outfitters closed its retail store in Stratham in August and is relocating to Barrington, where it will offer repairs, rentals and lessons. Michael Charles Music in Rochester will move from its current location on South Main Street up the road to North Main Street early next year. The Drum Center of Portsmouth, at 800 Islington Plaza, will occupy a larger space beside Gary’s in February.
While these moves are not necessarily specific responses to industry demands, they do represent the businesses’ efforts to remain viable in a new musical age. At a time when people do more and more of their shopping online or at national outlets, where shoppers forego a diversity of products in favor of rock-bottom prices, it takes a different approach to entice customers into the little guitar shop around the corner.
“The Internet has definitely taken over a lot of the sales,” said Brian Fischer, owner of Ear Craft Music in Dover.
Fischer founded Ear Craft in 1974, originally specializing in P.A. and lighting systems. In the ’70s, he worked with such acts as The Who, Stevie Ray Vaughan and Aerosmith. He converted the business into a retail store, now located on Central Avenue, in the mid ’80s.
A guitarist himself, Fischer advises against buying instruments online. Shopping for a guitar, he said, is like shopping for a car—you should take it for a test drive before you spend the money.
“People want to feel it, try it, play it, rather than just go online and buy it,” Fischer said. “You can’t go online and feel how it plays.”
Traversy agreed. No two instruments are the same, he said, even if they come with the same brand names and price tags. When you order an instrument online, you don’t really know what you’re getting.
“Guitars are one of the things in the world that you really do want to hold,” Traversy said. “I think people are silly to buy things off the Internet, because there’s a fair chance it won’t play the way they want it to.”
Traversy admitted he can’t always compete with the prices offered online or at chain stores. He has more overhead than an online retailer and fewer resources than a national chain. For one thing, he has to pay rent for a storefront in Portsmouth.
“I’m a small independent store. There’s just no way I can compete with people on the Internet who are doing it in their basement, or big box stores who have millions of dollars,” he said. “How am I gonna compete with their prices? I don’t. If they carry something I can’t compete with, I don’t carry it.”
The Web has also been inundated with cheap instruments from Asia and elsewhere. Charles Dunn, co-owner of Michael Charles Music in Rochester, said he has begun selling more used equipment to remain competitive.
“It’s harder and harder all the time, because you can’t compete with the Internet, price-wise,” Dunn said. “You can offer service, which we do, and lessons, but sales of major name guitars or whatever, you can’t compete. You can’t sell them and make any money.”
But it’s not always cheaper at the chains. Shane Kinney opened the Drum Center of Portsmouth in June 2009. He said the idea that big box stores always have lower prices than independents is a “gross misconception.”
“A lot of people seem to have this impression that they will pay less at a box store, when the truth is I’m cheaper than most all of them,” Kinney said.
Ralph Napolitano, owner of Ralph’s House of Tone in Dover, echoed that sentiment. Instrument wholesalers usually post a “manufacturer’s advertised price,” setting a minimum price for retail stores or online shops to sell at. If you can stay close to the MAP price, Napolitano said, the playing field is relatively level. 
Greg Walsh, owner of Working Class Music and Minerals in Portsmouth, said he does his best to sell at the MAP minimum. But, like Dunn, he also pushes the service aspects an online retailer or major conglomerate doesn’t offer. 
“When people come in and they want something, I ask them a million questions to start so I put them into what they really need,” said Walsh, who operated his store in Laconia for 15 years before relocating to Portsmouth in March.
Napolitano takes the same approach at Ralph’s House of Tone. He noted that an instrument needs professional attention even after a customer has taken it home. Instruments can undergo subtle changes due to excessive cold or dryness or humidity, “like the sticky cabinets in your kitchen when it’s really foggy outside,” he said.
“Instruments, in general, are living, breathing pieces of wood that actively move around and adapt to the environment,” Napolitano said. “These things have to be constantly monitored and adjusted and kept tuned.” 
Economic conditions have made repair services especially crucial to independent music stores. These days, people are more likely to restore an old instrument for $50 than buy a new one for $500. When Gary’s first opened, Traversy said, repairs constituted about 20 to 30 percent of his income. They now account for at least 50 percent. 
Lessons, too, have become an important source of revenue. Some stores employ their own music teachers, while others rent out space to independent teachers. Rich Bowles, co-owner of Exeter Music, said lessons have spiked in recent years. When he and Steve Brennan first bought the downtown Exeter shop in 1999, they owned a single unit and hosted about 100 lessons per week. They’ve since purchased the condo underneath the store as practice space and now do more than 300 lessons per week.
“We just noticed there’s been a surge in guitar lessons and music lessons for the children,” Bowles said. “A lot of kids are interested in music.”
In the effort to keep young people interested in learning how to play instruments, music stores have found an unlikely ally in video games like “Guitar Hero” and “Rock Band.” Napolitano said he at first viewed such games as an adversary. He wondered why kids would pretend to play guitar when they could do it for real. But, he said, the games do help novices develop better hand-eye coordination and rhythm.
“We’ve had an awful lot of kids and even some adults begin to get into this because they started with ‘Guitar Hero,’” Napolitano said. 
Dunn said more girls and women are starting to pick up instruments, as well. While the bulk of his customers at Michael Charles Music are males between the ages of 14 and 20, he said, more middle-aged people are rediscovering the hobby.
“Lots of guys who used to play and life got in the way with children or whatever are now coming back to it,” he said.
Interest in playing instruments also ebbs and flows depending on the radio sensations of the day. Napolitano, who currently plays bass for local ’80s cover band Gazpacho, noted that popular music is not as guitar-driven as it used to be. Aging rockers like Jimmy Page and Eric Clapton still often grace the covers of guitar magazines. But, when a new guitar-heavy CD becomes popular, guitar lessons skyrocket. One example, Napolitano said, was Green Day’s 2004 album “American Idiot.”
“My teachers never want to play Green Day again, I think,” he joked.
Another way indie music stores are staying relevant is through community engagement. Ear Craft regularly hosts guitar and songwriting contests, as well as other events. Many local stores work with area schools, renting instruments to band students and hosting instructional programs. Ralph’s House of Tone has launched a program called Rockright Academy, a real-life “School of Rock,” and is hosting a holiday food drive.
Such community involvement has made some music stores popular hangouts and gathering places for local musicians. Dunn said customers spend hours at Michael Charles Music talking and trying out different instruments. One girl, after tagging along with her father to the store, drew up a sign that Dunn keeps on display: “Where husbands who don’t want to go home come to hang out,” the sign reads.
“It’s like the old Floyd’s Barber Shop on ‘Mayberry R.F.D,’” Dunn said of his shop.
During his 15 years in Laconia, Walsh said his music store became an all-day hangout for regulars. “People would be in changing their strings on my counter, and customers would come in and think they were employees,” he said.
Since opening Working Class Music in Portsmouth in the spring, he’s struggled to spread the word about his establishment and develop a base of customers. In addition to guitars, amps, keyboards and other supplies, the store has a jewelry section.
Kinney, too, said letting people know his store exists has been his biggest challenge. He’ll soon move into a larger space at the former location of Express It Pack & Ship in 800 Islington Plaza, keeping his current space for storage and lessons.
With so many recognized chains to choose from, some people aren’t seeking out independent options. Massive retailers like Best Buy, Wal-mart and Target now offer instruments. Guitar Center has more than 200 locations across the nation (the only one in New Hampshire is in Nashua). Daddy’s Junky Music is a regional chain with roughly 20 locations across the Northeast, including one on Woodbury Avenue in Portsmouth. 
Traversy credited “buy local” movements with making customers conscious of the economic advantages of shopping at local, independently owned businesses.
“Fortunately, in Portsmouth, there is a pretty good awareness of ‘shop local,’ so people are trying to buy from me, but sometimes they can’t.”
Napolitano said operating an independent music store has been challenging and will probably remain so. But he plans to keep the volume turned high.
“At least for now, we’re still here baby. We’re still rockin’. The lights are on.”