Music Retail
Elizabeth Fernando grew up in her parent’s retail music store. By the age of ten she ordered special strings customers were asking for that her parents did not carry and sold them within the store as her side business. This clever approach to customer service was the beginning of her successful...
Leo Saleh was the very first person from Indonesia to be included in the NAMM Oral History program, which was an honor for us! His father enjoyed playing piano and Leo recalls music all around him as he grew up. Leo’s sister began teaching piano and had more than 80 students when their father...
Jesus "Jet" Fernando opened a small music retail store with his wife, Elizabeth, in their native Philippines. Elizabeth grew up in her parents store across town and knew the business side of the store while Jet offered the technical knowhow that was needed in providing customer service such as...
Scott Russ grew up in the music business, crawling around the floor. His parents opened a music retail store in 1947, before Scott was born. Growing up, Scott fell in love with the Hammond Organ and the daughter of Bob Seidman, the founder of the wholesaler Seidman Sales. Both loves followed him...
Jochen Stock is the president of Just Music in Berlin Germany, one of (if not the) largest music retail stores in the world! With a space of 7000 square meters, the vast store is equally impressive with the industry and knowledgeable staff members. Jochen has always been focused on the best...
Thomas Austin was a key part of the Sherman Clay team for over 40 years! The store chain focused on pianos; however, Thomas recalls the home organ boom in the 1970s as the company was a Hammond Organ dealer. The company was formed in San Francisco in 1870 and grew to be the biggest (for a time)...
Kevin Rindlisbacher is a passionate music maker who has enjoyed his role in music retail providing musical instruments to bring music into the lives of others. He was a kid when his father opened a small repair shop in the chicken coop in the backyard. As the repairs built into a store business,...
John Waltrip began being involved in music as a small child and in fact, became the main pianist for his church as a teenager. He played in the school bands and studied music in college. He taught music after college before being drafted. Even in the army, John sang in the choir group, which...
Kurt Zentmaier fondly recalls the stories his father told him on how the family music store was established back in 1959. Rondo Music’s first location was right outside of New York City and soon developed a strong business known for its customer service. The full line store gained a reputation...
Allan Small played music as a young student and earned his degree in music education, then became a band director for almost a decade. As a band director in Pennsylvania he was involved with a program created by the Selmer Company called Bands for America. The training for this program was a...