Combo Line
Fred Rubin ran one of the most active and successful music stores in Miami. His father opened Ace Music in 1955 and Fred grew up in the store. When he took over the business, Fred continued the key elements that his father instilled in the business, namely customer service and quality products. ...
Ziggy Haspod joined his brother-in-law in running a small music store before working for The Music Stand in Tucson, Arizona. It was at that store where Ziggy met with many traveling sales reps and was introduced to the idea of selling products to music stores around the country. He soon had...
Andrew Schertz runs Schertz MusiCenteR in Bloomington, Illinois, with this father Randy. Andrew's uncle, Craig, once owned Byerly Music, which had locations throughout Centeral Illinois. Andrew grew up with the music business all around him and even as a boy sweeping up the store and pricing...
Craig Schertz worked for Byerly Music in Peoria, Illinois and saw an opportunity to purchased two of the company’s ten locations when his boss and the current owner, Loren Zimmerman, was ready to retire. The stores continued to grow throughout the 1970s and 80s and when Craig decided to sell the...
Loren Zimmerman owned Byerly Music in Peoria, Illinois during the 1970s and 80s and is credited for being among the first music retailers to have locations in shopping malls. When he purchased the company from his father-in-law, Eldred Byerly (who served as President of the NAMM Board from 1963-...
Jerry Portman learned so much from his father and his grandfather about how to treat customers. Those lessons became key as Jerry set out to not only take over the family’s music store, but to expand it over the years. The small shop, which his father, Ben Portman, began in 1936, became the...
Reese Marin is the president of Bellevue American Music in the Seattle suburb of Bellevue, Washington. The store reflects Reese's passion for music with carefully designed display space catering to the customers and sparking interest to those walking in the doors. His career began in San...
Michael Kirman was on hand for the 50 Year Milestone Awards during the 2015 NAMM Show. The award went to Steve's Music, a chain of stores in Canada, which were established by Michael's father in 1965. Since his father’s passing, Michael and his team of veteran store managers and salesmen, have...
Art Hedley and his brother, Kevin, caught the music bug at the time of the British Invasion of the 1960s. They both played in bands and enjoyed witnessing the role music made in bringing enjoyment to people's lives. After working for Radio Shack and getting involved with retail, Art realized...
Kevin Hedley proudly recalled the inspiration behind the name of his store, Uncle Ike's Music, which he opened with his brother, Art, in Iowa. Both were encouraged in music and in business by their friend Ike, not an uncle to them, but they loved the use of the word and thus the name was born. The...