Canadian Music Trade - December / January 2020 | Page 21

The Music Shop Concert Theatre and SOUP House
they have friends or family that play, when it
comes time for Christmas and so on, they’re
thinking of us, and we’ve had that happen
quite often.”
On the live performance side, in
addition to hosting local artists – including
Bradshaw and McGillivray themselves, who
perform as a duo – and community events
like the Great Rocky Mountain Talent
Contest, they’ve welcomed internation-
ally-touring acts like Shari Ulrich, Lynne
Hanson, and Prairie Oyster frontman
Russell deCarle to their stage, much to the
delight of Rocky Mountain House residents
and the town itself.
“We’re getting positive feedback from
as far away as Texas, Australia, Switzerland,
Germany… We’ve gotten messages from all
over the world, really, and we know the town
also references our business when trying to
attract people to town; they really like what
we’re doing.”
What they’re doing is enriching people’s
lives through music, which was the goal
from the moment The Music Shop first
opened its doors; now, they just have more
ways to do it, and more ways to earn reve-
nue to boot.
In some cases, retailers are diversifying their
businesses out of necessity; in others, it may
be a more gradual and organic process, as
has been the case at Dorval, QC’s Music Red
One. Current owners James and Tommy
Ozgur opened the business with their father
back in 2011. Store manager and MI in-
dustry veteran Sergio Travaglione joined the
team in 2014, and together, they’ve grown
the business considerably in both scale and
scope.
“When I started here, we were three
employees – me and the two owners; now, a
little over five years later, we have 20 to 25,”
shares Travaglione, who boasts decades of ex-
perience in the MI and pro audio industries
preceding his stint at Red One.
Much of that growth stems from the
company’s expansion into AV system rentals
and installations since Travaglione’s arrival.
While much of Red One’s business is driven
from its expansive webstore, it also boasts a
loaded showroom in an industrial park adja-
cent to Pierre Elliott Trudeau International
Airport. Travaglione says that in addition to
generating a significant amount of revenue,
offering AV rental and installation services
gives Red One a unique advantage in the
very competitive MI space and gets the
brand name out in the local community to
draw traffic towards the store.
“That’s the whole concept – brand recog-
nition and local support,” Travaglione states.
“We want our local clientele to be confident
and know that they can come in here for
good service and trustworthy expertise.”
The basic idea is that there are a lot of
places you can go for, say, a DJ mixer in
the Montreal area; however, there are fewer
where you can buy a DJ mixer, rent a sound
system with or without a technical crew, and
even commission a loudspeaker installation
in a nearby nightclub where a DJ might per-
form. Through specific expertise and good
service in the more specialized pro audio
sector, they can generate brand recognition
and loyalty towards other aspects of the
business.
“For us, service is everything,” Travagli-
one reinforces. “There’s no reason for a client
to ever be unhappy, and that’s across the
board, whether it’s a repair, a sale, an instal-
lation… People are trusting you and want to
feel good about how they’re spending their
money and we want to live up to that.”
He credits the Ozgurs with leading by
example to create and maintain that culture
of hard work and good service.
“They’re workaholics; sometimes it’s
scary,” says the store manager with a small
chuckle. “I’ve seen one of my bosses leave
his house at 3 a.m. because someone’s
rental speaker stopped working. He threw a
replacement in his trunk and went out right
away. They’re relatively young but have that
really strong work ethic. That’s actually what
inspired me to come and work here a few
years ago.”
He says the audio rental and install
services have been key to driving growth
throughout the business and show no signs
of slowing down.
“I’ll be honest with you,” Travaglione be-
gins. “The rentals are the root of everything.
They bring people through the doors, and
once they come in and see what we do here,
we can make sure they’re well taken care of
and will come back for anything they might
need in the future.”
For nearly 40 years, The PA Shop has been
serving musicians, producers, engineers,
and other music and audio pros in Lon-
don, ON and its surrounding area. In that
time, adjacent businesses like Charterhouse
Studios, a large-scale commercial recording
space, and the MI-focused London Guitars
and London Percussion retail operations
have cropped up at the PA Shop’s HQ at 46
Charterhouse Cres., all run by the Schroeyens
family.
At the end of 2019, they launched Music
CANADIAN MUSIC TRADE
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