By RACHEL BRANT
Staff writer
Guitar riffs, classical piano solos and trumpet blasts can now be heard along Plaza Road.
Ted Brown Music moved from Ross Plaza to Plaza Road next to Round Table Pizza in August and store manager Wes Gergely said business is booming.
“It seems to be hopping,” he said. “It feels like we’re doing a lot.”
Ted Brown Music spent 12 years in Ross Plaza before outgrowing the space. The old location was so small that Gergely had to turn his office into a studio to accommodate the growing number of people taking music lessons at the store.
“We just outgrew the other place,” Gergely said. “The other store was like a shoe box, this place is better.”
The new Ted Brown Music shop is about twice as big as the former location. The larger space allows Gergely to have more instruments and equipment available to customers. Ted Brown Music carries everything from guitars and banjos to clarinets and oboes. If the Silverdale store doesn’t have an item in stock, Gergely said they can order it from the Tacoma store.
“We may only have one of them on the wall here, but we have many in the system,” he said. “The longest it takes is a week to get stuff.”
Gergely also changed the hours at the Plaza Road location. Ted Brown Music now opens at 10 a.m. and customers seem to enjoy the new hours.
“Our hours were actually different at the old place. I felt we were missing the morning people,” Gergely said. “I think we’re running a lot more efficiently now.”
Gergely said business at the new location is doing well. He said guitars are their most popular instruments, but other items go in waves of popularity as well.
“Guitar is the No. 1 selling instrument in the world and we’re kind of reflective of the industry,” Gergely said. “Last month was a keyboard month. We probably sold 10-12 nice keyboards.”
Gergely enjoys watching customers purchase their first instruments and says it can be difficult to not purchase instruments himself.
“I want everything,” he said with a smile. “You start living vicariously through your customers.”
Ted Brown Music also offers music lessons on numerous instruments. Various teachers come to Ted Brown Music throughout the week to teach lessons on all types of instruments. Gergely said he is still searching for banjo and oboe teachers, but most of the more popular instruments have instructors.
“You can buy stuff on the Internet, but those guys can’t guarantee that you’ll learn how to play,” Gergely said. “That’s just a really big part of the company, the education side of it.”
There are eight studios in the Ted Brown Music shop where music lessons are held during the week. Information about the music instructors can be found on the music shop’s Web site at www.tedbrownmusic.com.
The Plaza Road location also has a large recital room. The room can seat 40-45 people and has a baby grand piano. Gergely said they have held a couple recitals and will host birthday parties as well.
“The recital room is huge. We can do a lot of things with it,” Gergely said.
The walls of the shop must be thick because Gergely said the music from the recitals and music lessons haven’t bothered their neighbors.
“We haven’t had too many complaints from Round Table Pizza next door about playing music too loudly,” Gergely said with a smile.
Ted Brown Music
3276 NW Plaza Road #103
Silverdale
(360) 692-4030
www.tedbrownmusic.com
Monday-Friday
10 a.m.-6 p.m.
Saturday
10 a.m.-5 p.m.
