Music Retail
Andy Shearer along with this dear wife Rowena, opened Shearers Music store in Hamilton, New Zealand in 1963. The couple began with a modest inventory but grew to include top brands of musical instruments, a well-respected sheet music department and in the early days, stereo systems and records. ...
DW Caffey was very young when he found himself enamored with the piano. In 1940, when he was just fifteen years old, DW taught himself how to tune pianos. He read a book and asked an old time tuner a few questions and was soon hired by a music store. He worked for several piano stores in...
John Allegrezza began working in the piano business in 1957 and soon discovered he had a real passion for the business and the people. In 1981 he opened his store, Allegrezza Pianos, in Ridgeland, Mississippi, just north of Jackson. Over the years he has worked with some of the biggest names in...
David Angress has spent his career in the technology and specialty products markets, holding several senior executive positions in retail, manufacturing and installation segments at companies including Guitar Center, Harman, and Sound Genesis. Angress was an essential member of the core group of...
Jon Gold grew up playing in area bands and hanging out in local stores. He soon was able to answer customer's questions about guitars hanging on the walls and found he was offered a job. He later worked for the Fender Sound House in London and his love for the industry grew as did his knowledge...
Ron Sfarzo may be the only interviewee within the NAMM Oral History collection who served as a police officer in California! Ron has been involved with music his entire life, with both his father and brother involved with music retail. While working in his brother’s San Francisco store, Ron was...
Sharman Beasley-Vesecky grew up in the music business as her grandfather, William Howard Beasley, served as the president of the NAMM Board of Directors from 1939-1940. Sharman has become the holder of her family's history and was kind enough to share the history with us during her NAMM Oral...
Stu Goldberg established Marina Music in San Francisco at the beginning of the guitar boom. The folk music craze was in full swing and the Beatles just hit the USA and within a few months Stu opened his own music store. His small store had a very big impact on the music industry and soon became a...
Mike Greene is the president of Greene Music in San Diego, California, a store he started with his father in 1974. Mike grew up in the business and recalls dressing up like a circus barker to help his dad sell chord organs at state fairs. After the boom of the home organ, Mike focused on pianos...
Robert Walker worked for the retail stores of the Baldwin Piano Company. He was located in the San Francisco store but later traveled the western states repairing and adjusting organs as they arrived in the stores. While the retail arm of Baldwin did not last, the ideas created in the stores were...