Business
Happenings - JULY 2001
The Sound of Music - Everybody
Wins with the New Owners of
Music of Moab!
Music
has charms to soothe a savage breast,
To soften rocks, or bend a knotted oak.
William Congreve
The man that hath no music in himself,
Nor is not mov’d with concord of sweet sounds,
Is fit for treasons, stratagems, and spoils;
The motions of his spirit are dull as night,
And his affections dark as Erebus:
Let no man be trusted.
William Shakespeare
If we are to trust Willy Shakespeare,
you should be cautious when dealing with people who don’t like
or listen to music. He suggests there’s something not quite
plumb about them. William Congreve says it a little more softly:
“Music has charms to soothe the savage breast.” Who can
argue with that sentiment? How often are you in a gnarly mood and
you put your favorite music on and everything seems to mellow out?
How much faster do you get your house cleaned because you’ve
put on some tunes to keep you company during your labors? Music
does, indeed, play a large role in our lives and has the power to
change the day.
In Moab that means that Music of Moab has the power to change our
day, to turn it around and make it a little bit brighter or more
relaxing. The local music shop has been making days bright for Moabites
since 1990 the store first opened in McStiff’s Plaza. It moved
to Main Street for awhile, then moved to Center Street, and is now
back at McStiff’s Plaza, but the vital service of bringing
music into our lives has been uninterrupted for 11 years.
Things
have recently changed again at Music of Moab, but everyone wins
as a result. Two months ago Racheal and Randy Martin bought Music
of Moab from Andy Nettell. You all know Andy…he loses his head
in the newspaper all the time, and has been the slightly manic,
but definitely happy, owner of Music of Moab since 1997. It was
time for Andy to make a few changes in his life and in doing so,
he decided to sell the store. Serendipity had Randy and Racheal
looking for a new business to purchase after they sold the Portal
RV Park. But let’s start at the beginning…
Like so many people, Randy and Racheal came to Moab and fell in
love with the landscape and the rural lifestyle. They had three
young girls and decided that living in the fast-paced city of Chicago
they weren’t spending enough time as a family. They began in
looking for a place where they could raise their children and lead
a quiet life together. They found Moab, bought the RV Park, and
moved here with their three happy girls. After owning the RV Park
for two years, they discovered they still didn’t get quality
time as a family. Because they lived at the park, they found they
were always working. Sticking to their original purpose, they decided
to sell the park and start anew once again. At exactly the same
time, Andy had reluctantly decided to sell his store. He didn’t
have much time to change his mind. It went on the market, the Martins
came to see it, made an offer, and within a week there was a handshake.
But
the more things change, the more they stay the same. If you go down
to Music of Moab, you’ll still find Andy Nettell’s cheery
face behind the counter. That’s because Randy and Racheal recognized
immediately that they couldn’t have a better or more experienced
store manager than Andy, so they offered him the job not long after
the deal was done. Are you following all of this? Andy was here,
then Andy was gone, and now Andy is back again. The really good
news is that none of the staff has changed and now instead of just
Andy’s friendly, smiling face behind the counter, you have
Racheal and Randy’s as well as their superb staff.
Andy sees this as a win-win-win. He’s happy because he sold
the store to people who value music as much as he does. The Martin’s
are happy because when they don’t want to work they can leave
the store in the capable hands of Andy, and the community wins because
they still have their music store.
Racheal and Randy promise not to change things too much. What is
going to change is changing for the better.
“We’re making our inventory deeper,” says Randy.
“With Andy’s help we’re buying more music than ever,
so that people will have a better chance of walking in and finding
exactly what they want.”
Of course, Music of Moab is always happy to special order. “We
can get most any music within 24 hours,” says Racheal. “The
next best thing to immediate gratification,” Andy chimes in.
The Music of Moab team talked about the competition in today’s
music market. With the internet for on-line discount shopping, the
ability to download music from internet sites, and discount stores
across the state line, selling music in a small, locally owned store
seems tough.
“I think Music of Moab has established itself as a community
resource,” explains Andy. “We have become a place where
people like to come and hang out and explore music. They can listen
to the music before they buy it, and they like that. They stay in
the store long enough to hear a variety of music, and customers
talk to each as well as to the staff to exchange recommendations
about music. You can’t get that kind of community interaction
on-line.”
“There’s also shipping charges,” reminds Randy. “Those
on-line stores really hit you with stiff shipping charges. Plus,
you don’t get your music for a week or sometimes longer.”
Shopping on line can’t possibly be as much fun as going in
to Music of Moab. There’s always lively interaction with the
customers, new music to look at, a big selection of magazines, and
movies, movies, movies.
“We’re getting into movies in a BIG way,” says Racheal.
“We just keep buying more new movies. As soon as we figure
out where to put them all, we’ll have all the new releases,
plus all the art and foreign films that people come here to rent.
And still for only 99 cents.”
The
other new element at Music of Moab will be a larger selection of
electronics. “We want to make it easy for people to shop in
Moab,” says Andy. “If you want a stereo, you don’t
have to drive elsewhere and shop at those giant, corporate mega-stores
that don’t care about people. You can buy your new system right
here in Moab. If we don’t have it in the store, then we can
order anything you want. We have a 400-page catalog of electronics,
and we use the same supplier that those big stores do. We’re
just friendlier, we’re local – and we’ll beat the
competitor’s price on any stereo.”
Music of Moab also offers a frequent buyer deal. After you buy 12
CDs, you get one free. And if you watch the local papers, you’ll
often see big in-store sales. It seems like Music of Moab will find
any excuse to have a sale.
“We like making people happy,” says Andy. “Sales
always do that. If music soothes the savage beast, then music on
sale has really got to make them smile, right?”
The MOM team spent some time talking about how important they think
music is in their lives and in the lives of everyone.
“Music reaches to the soul,” says Andy. “Everything
in life can be expressed through music.”
“Everyone has a kind of music that speaks to them,” adds
Randy. For Randy, it’s Frank Sinatra. Racheal has too many
favorites to narrow it down to one. Andy…well, everyone in
Moab knows Andy is fiend for folk music.
“We sell it all,” says Racheal. “We have something
for everyone and we’re just going to keep getting better at
reaching that goal.”
Andy has always like to quote Shawn Colvin in his advertising: “But
if there was no music, I would not get through.”
Fortunately for folks living and visiting Moab, you don’t have
to worry about not having music because, in spite of lots of changes
over the year, Music of Moab is still here and getting better every
day at filling your car and home with the sound of music.
Music of Moab is located at 59 South Main, #8, McStiff's Plaza.
To place a special order call 259-4409 and be sure to mention you
read about Music of Moab in Moab Happenings.
© 2001 Moab Happenings. All rights
reserved. Reproduction of information contained in this site is
expressly prohibited.
