AURORA | Most of the merchandise at the Music-Go-Round store on East Hampden Avenue in Aurora has a good deal of history behind it.
There’s a Telecaster guitar built in 1974 and a Les Paul from the 1980s, the eras of big hair and brazen solos. In a separate room dedicated to acoustic instruments, salesmen show off a quirky acoustic Catalina K steel-string model with an exaggerated, curvy body. Along with other acoustic axes of all makes and models, old ukuleles and other random stringed instruments line the walls.
“We bought that odd, wooden music stand,” said Tracy Swearingen, a salesman and manager, pointing to an elaborately carved piece standing against one of the store’s racks. “Somebody made that. We’ve bought stuff like that before. It’s all used stuff. We’ll buy used synthesizers, keyboards, drums,” he added, pointing to a large African drum sitting near the front door. “There is a market for that.”
Unlike the big-box music stores in neighboring Denver, Music-Go-Round stays away from new instruments, opting instead for a kind of pawn-store model. In addition, the store hosts music lessons in its sole Aurora location, and also offers maintenance and repair work on all of the gear they sell.
That business model may seem specialized, a dynamic that overlooks customers searching for brand new instruments and top-of-the-line gear. But it’s served the owners of Music-Go-Round well for more than a decade. That approach has also kept the store alive in the face of Internet competition and a sluggish economy — apart from a store in north Aurora that specializes entirely on organs, Music-Go-Round is the only remaining specialized music store in a city of more than 300,000.
“We have the niche of carrying primarily used gear. People are looking for ways to do the same things with less money,” said Ed Duggan, a manager who’s been at the store since it opened in 2000. “I think by carrying used gear, we appeal to the parents whose kids are getting involved in music. They can buy a used guitar and save money. We’re also here if the kid gives up.”
Filling that niche has been instrumental in the store’s growth and its survival in a competitive economy. The growth of big-box music stores like Guitar Center — chains that offer a wealth of new, name-brand instruments of all kinds for discounted prices — have forced a reinvention of the independent music store model. In just the past 10 years, small music stores in Aurora have shuttered, leaving Music-Go-Round the only close option for local players.
“Obviously, it’s economic factors. There’s Ebay, Craigslist and Guitar Center is kind of the Wal-Mart of music stores. They’ve got everything, and it’s really hard for Fender or Gibson. They go to the big-box stores because they kind of have to,” Swearingen said. “You would think there would be another music store in this area … but you can buy online. With all of those factors, supporting a brick-and-mortar store is difficult.
“The market’s just changed,” he added.
But the model at Music-Go-Round has worked well enough to support two moves to bigger locations in the past 12 years. The store started out at a site on Mississippi Avenue and Chambers Road, and moved to a strip mall on Alameda Avenue in 2005. Two years ago, they moved to their present site in the Seven Hills Shopping Center off Tower Road, and have kept up the model of used gear, music lessons and repairs.
Along with the fact that the store is staffed entirely by musicians, Duggan accounts the store’s survival to its multiple roles.
“We try to provide everything that a musician needs,” Duggan said. “People have a one-stop place where they can come for lessons, service and shopping,” he added, referring to the staff of about 12 teachers who specialize in everything from saxophone to drums.
But the focus remains squarely on the instruments. Along with another location in Littleton, the Aurora store prides itself on the quality of its used gear, instruments of all models, makes and vintages. The model of the store has brought in plenty of unique items from customers, rare finds that include a vintage 1970s Moog synthesizer and old Rodgers drum kits.
“We got a ‘70s Moog. I saw the owner buy that thing and I thought it was going to sit around,” Swearingen said. “Within three to four weeks, we sold it on the net. There are people who are looking for that kind of thing.”
While the staff at the store has made use of the Internet, staff says the music store model will never go completely online, due to the nature of the business. A seasoned player needs to play an instrument before they make a purchase; a warped neck or a fake brand name isn’t always detectable online.
“Somebody has to sell new gear for there to be used gear in the future. One of the biggest forms of competition now is the Internet, which is OK for some kinds of instruments. With an electronic keyboard, you know you’re getting what you’re getting online,” Duggan said. “But guitars, horns — those types of things — you really have to hold it and see how it plays. I don’t know that the Internet will ever be able to replace holding an instrument as part of the buying process.”
Reach reporter Adam Goldstein at agoldstein@aurorasentinel.com or 720-449-9707