Small town music store has big plans

SANDPOINT — There is a race, of sorts, going on behind the locked door at 203 Cedar St.

Hidden from view behind covered windows, construction workers are rushing to stay ahead of a pair of musicians who follow close behind, hanging guitars, basses, mandolins, banjos, ukuleles and fiddles on the wall as fast as they can install pegboard and display mounts.

On Saturday, March 5, they will cross the finish line as the newly-opened Sandpoint Music will welcome customers to the first full-service music store the local area has had since a different business by the same name closed a few years back.

Along with a vast assortment of stringed instruments, the shop will showcase a large selection of amplifiers, drums and accessories, pro audio gear and recording studio equipment. If the inventory seems uncharacteristically diverse for a small town music store, one need only point to the owner’s background to find the reason for such a wealth of musical resources.

Dan Wallace had retired from the retail trade after years of successful operation of Seattle Music — a popular store with a reputation for attracting everyone from hobby guitarists to top names in the music industry. Earlier in his career, he made a name for himself as a store manager for some of the largest Guitar Center locations in that national chain.

Content at first just to play some blues guitar with a few friends in his new hometown of Sandpoint, the musician quickly found himself considering a move back into the retail world.

“I never thought I would get into this business again,” Wallace said as he unpacked instruments and cases from a mountain of shipping boxes stacked up on the sales floor at Sandpoint Music. “But my involvement with the local music community changed that. Per capita, there are probably more musicians around here than there are in Seattle.”

The shop will open with a bang, the owner added, with full walls and a full-service approach that rivals that of much larger stores in metropolitan areas. Based on his own experience and a sense that the region’s musical needs have been underserved, Wallace decided to go big from the moment he opens his doors for business.

“It’s all speculation, but you have to take a gamble now and again,” he said. “I spent eight years with Guitar Center and there’s no such thing as a small Guitar Center store. So that’s kind of my mentality going into this.”

His progression from manager to retailer was a profitable move, according to the owner, who said he took Seattle Music from $160,000 a year in sales to $1.6 million in annual revenues during his time at the helm there.

A host of national and international brand names will be represented in the store, including Marshall and Gallien-Krueger guitar and bass amplifiers, QSC amps and powered speakers, PreSonus pre-amps, sound mixing boards and recording equipment, Samick guitars and Audio-Technica microphones and accessories. Add to that a strong selection of quality used instruments and amplifiers and the list of brand names grows even longer.

“My claim to fame is used gear,” Wallace said. “We’re opening the doors with 13 used (Fender) Strats on the wall.”

With the front of the 2,600-square-foot store dedicated to instruments, amps drums and accessories, the backstage portion of Sandpoint Music will house three private-lesson teaching studios, as well as a full stage and seating area that will double as a pro audio room and live music venue.

“Our intention is to have music clinics, open mics and jam sessions in the store,” the owner said. “I’d like to make it a venue that’s available to musicians at all levels and create something fun for players who haven’t had that opportunity before.”

In small towns and big cities alike, full-service music stores have been crowded out by the availability of low-priced equipment sold over the Internet. Wallace not only plans to buck that trend, he has leveraged his experience and industry contacts to do so with prices that he said will compete with the online music retailers.

“There’s no longer a need for musicians to have to make all their purchases over the Internet,” he said. “Now they can come and talk to a real expert, in person, and try it out before they buy it.”

The expert he has in mind is Sandpoint Music store manager Robert Packwood — an ace guitarist who grew up locally before his career as a professional musician took him on the road to cities across the U.S. Now that he has come full circle, Packwood will be on hand to assist beginners and seasoned pros alike, Wallace said.

As an added on-site benefit, Wallace has constructed a complete instrument repair station in his new store. That service will be operated by former Colville, Wash., musician Fiddlin’ Red, who will teach private lessons at the store and call on more than 25 years of experience for repairs on all stringed and brass instruments.

For the past few weeks, Wallace has been like a performer without an audience, working behind the scenes to ready his shop for a clientele he thinks will be impressed once he peels the covering off the windows and flips over his “open” sign on the first day. From then on, it’s show time for a business that he believes will be a good fit for its namesake town.

“It’s been a long time since I was excited about getting up and going to work, but I’m so excited about this store that I can’t sleep nights,” Wallace said. “If I wasn’t in Sandpoint, I wouldn’t be doing this at all, because the business can be so cutthroat. But there’s something about Sandpoint and all of the musicians here that is just refreshing enough to make it fun again.”

Sandpoint Music is located on the south side of Cedar Street, next door to Vanderford’s. For information, call 255-4999.