Locally owned stores help keep music alive

Despite fusillades from eBay and Craigslist, the locally owned music store is not dead. The musical instrument is the ultimate high-touch item. Customers want to hold them before they buy them.

And, despite lousy economic times, people continue to send their kids to band class, and they continue to bash on guitars on the back porch because, says Marietta retailer Kenny Stanton, it makes them feel good.

“People keep playing music.”

While the start of the school year is the conventional crunch time for music stores that handle band instruments, right now is not a bad season to shop.

Some stores are clearing out old inventory to make room for this year’s models. Some music students are upgrading for All-State auditions or giving up their chosen instrument for good after a year of trying, leaving stores with used instruments at reasonable prices. And guitars are just plain fun, no matter when you get one.

Atlanta is strong in music stores that are locally owned. On Page G4, we take a look at five worthy stops, each with at least 20 years in the business.

CARERE MUSIC

www.careremusic.com; 4947 Winters Chapel Road, 770-671-0517

Carere Music, started by sax and reed man Tony Carere and his wife, Karen Carere, has been specializing in woodwinds at his north Fulton shop for 20 years. Carere, a top session and pit orchestra player in Atlanta, still teaches lessons at the store, but he leaves management to his daughter Jeanne Carere, principal flute with the Atlanta Ballet Orchestra.

Specialties: Carere concentrates in woodwinds but also sells brass instruments.

Strengths: The staff includes many full-time musicians with years of professional experience.

Lessons: Carere’s 25 instructors teach about 350 students a week.

Rentals: Yes

Rock ‘n’ roll: No

Band instruments: All band instruments except percussion instruments

Orchestral instruments: No

Repairs: At least three artisans handle repairs on-site.

KEN STANTON MUSIC

www.kenstantonmusic.com; six locations

The granddaddy of the bunch, Ken Stanton celebrates its 60th anniversary this year. The late Ken Stanton Sr. opened his first store in Marietta in 1949, and Kenny Stanton Jr., who bought the chain from his dad, now has stores in west Cobb, Roswell, Woodstock, Snellville and, the latest addition, Stone Mountain.

The massive 17,500-square-foot mother ship in Marietta contains a mind-boggling array of things that make sound.

Specialties: A new arrangement with Apple that will allow KSM to carry computers, production software and iPods. Also notable: a deep library of sheet music.

Strengths: Breadth of inventory: Ken Stanton covers the waterfront, with an inventory and variety that rivals the national chains —- hundreds of guitars, basses, amplifiers, band instruments, orchestral instruments and electronics.

Lessons: KSM teaches about 1,500 students a week.

Rentals: Yes

Rock ‘n’ roll: The full range of electric guitars, basses, keyboards, amps and effects.

Band instruments: All brass, woodwind and percussion instruments

Orchestral instruments: Beginner and intermediate violins, violas, cellos and basses.

Repairs: Seven technicians repair all instruments that KSM sells; they send electronic gear to outside repair shops.

MAPLE STREET GUITARS

www.maplestreetguitars.com, 3199 Maple Drive, 404-231-5214

The music retail business is drowning in guitars. Incorporated in 1981 by George and Claire Petsch, this Buckhead boutique has carved a niche by concentrating on quality and focusing on a few strengths, in particular classical guitars.

The couple started out as teachers and players, and they began acquiring guitars for their students before opening their shop. The Petsches grew the market by hosting clinics and performances, and their customers include notables such as Earl Klugh and Joe Walsh.

“We have more classical guitars than anyone in town,” Claire Petsch claims.

Specialties: Classical guitars and high-end acoustics.

Strengths: A have-it-your-way approach, offering different variations of the same guitar with different wood, neck widths, inlay and ornamentation.

Lessons: At least 11 teachers give lessons on premises.

Rentals: No

Rock ‘n’ roll: They carry electric guitars, amps and accessories, but no drums, only fretted instruments.

Band instruments: No

Orchestral instruments: No

Repairs: Yes

WILLIAMS GENGAKKI VIOLINS

www.williamsgengakkiviolin.com; 3104 E. Shadowlawn Ave. N.E., 404-233-2811

Founded 21 years ago in Tokyo (Gengakki is Japanese for “stringed instrument”), this shop opened in Buckhead in 1991. Proprietor Reginald Williams has one of the deepest string inventories in town, carrying entry-level violins along with instruments that cost several hundred thousand dollars —- about 250 violins, violas and cellos at any given time. He sells basses by special order. Williams and his staff also repair, restore, appraise and build violins. “I call myself a matchmaker,” said Williams, who delights in putting together individuals with instruments that suit them.

Specialties: Attention to the importance of the bow.

Strengths: International connections: Williams frequently travels to find the instruments his customers desire.

Lessons: Yes

Rentals: A few

Rock ‘n’ roll: No

Band: No

Orchestral: Obviously

Repairs: Yes —- Williams has three violin makers on staff.

ATTINA’S MUSIC STORE

www.attinas.com; three locations, 866-519-5414

Attina’s has been helping band students on the Southside blow their own horns since 1966. In that year Nick Attina, a retired director of Army bands, and his wife, Mary Attina, a registered nurse, opened their first shop in Forest Park.

They added two more, in Fayetteville and McDonough. Son John joined the business in 1979. After his parents passed away, he kept the shops rolling, though the economic downturn has made his job tricky, he says. “Running a business like this, you’ve got to be on your p’s and q’s all the time,” he said. “It’s a crystal-ball thing.”

Attina’s also carries what John calls the “combo” inventory —- i.e., guitars, basses, drums, amps, microphones and sound reinforcement —- but made its reputation on band instruments. “Being able to start a kid from the beginning, caring about what they’re doing, answering all the questions correctly,” that is the Attina’s mission, John said.

Specialties: Band instruments

Strengths: Clerks with degrees in music education who can demonstrate every instrument.

Lessons: Yes

Rentals: Yes, plus a liberal rent-to-own policy

Rock ‘n’ roll: Yes

Band instruments: Yes

Orchestral instruments: Yes

Repairs: Yes

MORE STORES WORTH CHECKING OUT

Earthshaking Music: 543 Stokeswood Ave. S.E., 404-577-0707, www.earthshakingmusic.com/: Exotica, from tablas to didgeridoos.

Atlanta Pro Percussion: 2520 Spring Road, Smyrna, 770-436-3786, www.atlantapropercussion.com/: In business since 1978. In stock: 100 drum sets, 250 snare drums and 1,000-2,000 cymbals.

Guitar Center: www.guitarcenter.com/: Perhaps the biggest music retailer on the planet, with four stores in metro Atlanta.

Banjo.com: 1148 JVL Court, Suite 170, Marietta, 770-874-0304: Run by the same family that operates unicycle.com. In stock at the physical store: 600 banjos; 1,200 unicycles.

DeKalb Musicians Supply/Emile Baran Violins: 113-115 Clairemont Ave., Decatur; 404-378-3100, 404-378-3109, dekalbmusic.googlepages.com/home: “Home of the hard to find.” A band instrument store side by side with a stringed instrument store.

“There is hardly a better way to spend time during an ‘economic downturn’ than banging on a guitar, and it has worked for folks for centuries. The purpose of TV is to sell products, and the purpose of a guitar is to make you happy and take your mind off whatever is bothering you —- like the products you can’t afford. Music has always flourished in hard times, and either playing it or listening to it can be therapeutic.”

MUSICIAN HARVEY REID