Canadian Music Trade - December/January 2019 | Page 23

the cherished environment and vibe of the previous store. “We brought
in the photos we had in the old store,” Sazant explains – “a cash register
Steve started his first business with, and we’re going to display photos of
the old store so that people have that nostalgic vibe.”
Loda specializes in retail, and Steve’s Music’s contact there is actu-
ally a musician and a store customer. “So they understood the business
and spent a lot of time doing research to ensure we’re preserving the
feel of the old store in a new environment,” Kirman notes.
The key to the design was balancing those elements – creating an
open concept feel and providing a more efficient and pleasurable shop-
ping experience without sacrificing the familiarity and character that has
made Steve’s a go-to for musicians of all kinds for so many years.
“It’s very easy to put four walls up and put products there, but that
wouldn’t have the character we wanted, the character that makes people
feel they are at Steve’s instead of some big-box store, and hopefully that
will help differentiate us from everybody else out there,” Kirman adds.
Ultimately, the Ste-Catherine Street space offers a number of benefits
over Steve’s Music’s previous location, including higher ceilings, floor-to-
ceiling exterior windows, and the aforementioned modern, open concept
feel. By “open concept,” however, Kirman and Sazant don’t mean your basic
square or rectangular big-box operation. Instead, they focused on vibe,
atmosphere, and functionality.
They’ve also added some features that would have been impossible
to incorporate on St-Antoine. Growth, after all, at the old location, involved
taking over the building they inhabited by blowing out walls and incorpo-
rating the next retail space 15 ft. at a time. In the new store, they’ve been
able to custom design the environment to provide a new and yet familiar
experience for customers.
Read the full story on
Steve’s Music’s new
location in the February/
March 2018 issue of
Canadian Music Trade.
THE MOVE
The fact that Dave’s Drum
Shop was moving on a
weekday meant that many
who’d initially volunteered
to help weren’t available.
Ultimately, in addition to
the Dudley family and their
part-time help, 10 customers
– mostly retirees – showed
up to move everything in
STEVE’S MUSIC PRESIDENT MICHAEL KIRMAN
the store.
They started at 10 a.m., with Dudley anchored at the old location
and orchestrating the move to ensure things were going out properly
and in the ideal order. Being the two locations are only three blocks
apart, it was a relatively quick process. Dudley says the old store was
ATTRACTING CUSTOMERS
TO YOUR NEW LOCATION
The U.S. Small Business Administration, which offers various pro-
grams and services to help small business owners succeed, has
shared a list of tips for attracting customers to your new retail loca-
tion after a move. Check out the full article at www.sba.gov.
empty by 2 p.m. that afternoon, and when he finally made the trip to the
new shop himself, he walked into a cluttered room of drums, boxes, and
people devouring pizza.
Dudley went home mid-afternoon for a brief respite and then
returned to the store that evening to get the computers online, some
shelves set up, and things organized well enough to be open for busi-
ness the next day.
“I have an amazing customer base that just really wants to see the
business thrive,” he says in praise of his volunteer labour force. “It was
really encouraging from a business point of view that people would be
that supportive.”
Looking back, he calls the process a “total blur.” Ultimately, he decided
against a grand opening event and got right back to business.
The new store, which boasts 1,500 sq. ft. of retail space with a 600-sq.-ft.
back room and workshop, maintains Dave’s Drum Shop’s signature prod-
uct mix – new and used, entry level to high-end, common and obscure
– with a few tweaks enabled by the boost in space.
For example, some of the stranger and subsequently less liquid of-
ferings that were previously kept in storage are now on display. He’s also
been able to bring in more high-end and sought-after new and vintage
kits, too, “so it’s a bit of a museum now as much as a shop,” Dudley says.
“Even if you’re not selling many of those kits every day, it’s a nice way to
present drums for people, and I think makes it more special to be in a
dedicated drum environment like this. It also kind of celebrates the histo-
ry and evolution of the instrument, I think.”
As for other enhancements enabled by the move, Dudley now has
more and better cymbal displays. “I never had a great spot for cymbals
before,” he says, recalling his previous location’s converted bedroom, “and
cymbal sales are a key part of the business. They really need to be on
prominent display and readily available.”
As he points out, a move is an opportunity to do some research and
incorporate new ideas into your operations. The slatted wall he uses for
his cymbal display, for example, came through a recommendation from
Dave Hamilton, the owner of Toronto’s Just Drums.
He’s also incorporated an isolation room for customers to test out
gear that’s “slowly, frighteningly becoming a snare room,” as it’s now
stocked with about 100 snare drums.
“As soon as I got over the hump of those first few weeks, business
really took off,” Dudley says. As far as things he’d do differently the next
time around, he’s generally pleased with how everything came together
and transpired. “I’m not really a look-back kind of person,” he admits; “I’m
just kind of always moving forward, for better or for worse.”
If his customers are happy, he’s happy, and approaching the one-year
anniversary of the move, that’s certainly the case. It’s a new location with a
new look and some new features, but the vibe matches that which Dave’s
Drum Shop has developed throughout its dozen years of business.
“It’s a difference space,” Dudley says in closing, “but the gear is the gear
and the people are the people, and that’s what customers come here for.”
Andrew King is the Editor-in-Chief of Canadian Music Trade.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Communicate pre- and post-move
Update your online listings
Use location-based services to attract passersby
Give existing customers an incentive to visit you at your
new location
Host an event to attract new and existing customers
Don’t forget customers that may not have checked you
out for awhile
CANADIAN MUSIC TRADE
23