Music Retail
Mo Meloy-Palmateer purchased the Fullerton Music Center in Southern California in the early 70s. She soon expanded the store’s services to include greater attention to the sheet music department and lessons. During the 1980s, she added a well-respected boutique element to the store, selling music...
Roger Palmateer met his soon-to-be wife just years after she purchased the Fullerton Music Center in Southern California. Mo and Roger have become a vital part of the Fullerton music culture with a well-respected store, a performance area, music lessons and great customer care. Roger focuses on...
Gordy Wilcher believes that with the right mixture of passion and knowledge, the independent music retailer has the strength to bring music to young students, build new brands within their stores and pass along a joy of music to those who walk in their doors. And every day Gordy and his staff try...
Johnnie Wilson has been involved with music in his church his entire life. He has performed at weddings and church services for many years. So, it seemed like a natural progression to open a music store to provide music to others. Johnnie and his wife are among the very few African-American music...
Shenae Wilson loves providing a musical instrument in the lives of the young children who come into her store. She feels blessed that she and her husband work so closely with local churches and that they play a role in the worship music created in their customer churches. As founders of Keyboard...
Paul Craft always felt a pull towards music but was not just sure how it would take hold in his life. For a time he ran a music store in Memphis called Paul Craft’s Music and Drum City all the while writing poems and setting them to music. When he felt he could write songs, he headed up the road to...
Kyle Barker began working in the piano retail industry in 1969 when the Sherman & Clay Piano Company in Northern California hired him. Five years later he established Barker Music in Modesto, where he would later expand the line to include guitars and percussion. Kyle also opened a second store...
Katinka Lathrop was married for over 60 years to a guitar player with a passion. After he retired from the ceramics industry, the couple moved to Modesto, California, where they opened a small retail shop. Her husband Buck was not too interested in the business of selling instruments, he mostly...
Phillip Stanger began playing drums at an early age and took lessons from the famed percussionist, Roy Knapp. Phil remembers with great joy the first time he walked into Frank’s Drum Shop in Chicago. Years later he would teach out of the world-renowned percussion store and over the years got to...
Arlette Day and her husband, John, formed Day Murray Music in 1946. The name comes from the young couple’s last name and their hometown of Murray, Utah. They worked closely together and struggled in the years following World War II but persevered based on their commitment to each other, their...