What was your favorite music store as a kid?

[richardh253]

I’m the late 80’s I bought my first (Used) Rogers set from Mike Gassman the owner of The Percussion Shop. He was a great guy who took the time to help me (A young clueless drummer) get a package together including the hardware that I could afford. Mike had a cool shop with lots of stories to tell as well.

I lived in Evanston 1993-1998 and remember that shop. Got a great deal on a used 6-piece Pearl birch kit there, full hardware, minty, for $1,000.

 

[No.15]

SamAsh Hempstead and a little store I can't remember the name of in Baldwin NY.

 

[jb78]

Back in the day it was Biasco Music in Chicago, Drum Pad in Palatine. They’re no longer around but they had everything you could imagine but could never afford as a kid. Mitch Greenberg had a shop in Wheeling (Drum Center) lots of great vintage kits and also started the Bison Drum Co. Man, those were the days.

I loved Mitch’s shop in Wheeling. I bought some hi-hats there as a teenager and in my twenties, an amazing 7X14 Bison snare.

 

[ludwigmod72]

I loved Mitch’s shop in Wheeling. I bought some hi-hats there as a teenager and in my twenties, an amazing 7X14 Bison snare.

I bought my first (Used) Rogers set from Mike Gassman the owner of the Percussion Shop in Evanston. He had a cool place and lots of stories to tell.

 

[Cpb282]

The Mandolin Brothers. Staten Island.

 

[richardh253]

SamAsh Hempstead and a little store I can't remember the name of in Baldwin NY.

Bought my first Ludwig kit at Sam Ash Hempstead. Halloween 1966.

 

[EssKayKay]

You did it again?

You got that right.

 

[EssKayKay]

I hate when that happens!

How true.

 

[swarfrat]

In college it was The Music Connection in Raleigh, NC on W Hodges St. I can't remember if they went under before or shortly after GC opened but ... GC is itself a pitiful shell. TMC was awesome.

 

[Muns]

Leithold Music
116 4th St S
La Crosse, WI 54601
130 years and still hanging on.

 

[Rivot]

Mine was Billy Hyde here in Aussie land and stii is today my only problem now is they hardly ever have my choice of drum heads its always a waiting game and I don't like to shop on line I like to see what I'm buying first.

 

[drumgadget]

One of the most interesting things about this thread is the history of stores that grew into larger affiliated chains ..... for better or worse! In my case, Jack's was ...... Jack's - right up to the end, at least in Boston. But Boston in those days was also the home of two other businesses that started out as single locations: Dunkin' Donuts (this was the place on 2-lane Route 3 in Quincy that my dad and I used to stop at early in the morning on the way to the Cape ....... ); and, Radio Shack - one store on Washington Street in Boston that was literally the place you went to buy electronic components - you know, things like resistors, capacitors, and ...... vacuum tubes ........ if you were a "pre-nerd" sort back in the '50s. A Ham Radio guy, like my dad and I were?

Of course, we all know what happened to those two brands ........


M.

 

[Frank Godiva]

Honey Voshell established The Drum Pad in 1967, which he still runs today, offering instruments and music lessons in Felton DE. I took lessons from him in that very room this picture was taken in but at that time he had a big Slingerland kit. His shop still has no website; old school.

Honey Voshell | Delaware Rock and Roll Society

delawarerockandrollsociety.com

The beat goes on for Felton's Voshell

Honey Voshell, of Felton, was inducted into the Delaware Rock & Roll Hall of Fame during a ceremony held Sept. 22 at Wilmington’s Baby Grand theater. (Delaware State News/Marc Clery) FELTON — …

baytobaynews.com

 

[drummer5359]

I remember Hollowood’s and used to rehearse with my band on the top floor until the fire in the early 1990s. I also remember a kid in high school who bought me a pair of sticks from there and insisted that it was called Hollywood music. He didn’t give up even after I explained that Hollowood not Hollywood was the name of the family that owned it and that Fred and Donny Hollywood were well known local musicians. That was a fun argument. Good that the store is still there.

Chris Hawthorne Vintage Drums (which is a regular vendor at the Chicago Drum Show) has it's brick and mortar location on the second floor of Hollowood music these days.

 

[VintageUSA]

Without any doubt.....
Arnold & Morgan Music, Dallas, Texas
The best ever.

 

[drummer5359]

Bought my first Ludwig kit at Sam Ash Hempstead. Halloween 1966.

I was wearing an ESSO tiger Halloween costume like this on Halloween 1966, I was seven years old.

 

[dharma bum]

Percussion Specialties, Denver, CO, mid-70s. We lived in Boulder and we bought my Pearl drum set from the local Boulder shop. But when I started taking lessons my drum teacher sent or took us to clinics at Percussion Specialties - I remember seeing Butch Miles and Louie Bellson. Always picked up catalogs and promo materials when I went to Percussion Specialties, and would stare at those for hours when I got home. Also got a t-shirt, and a bumper sticker I later put on my van in high school that said "Drummers Have Fast Hands."

 

[Pre ‘72]

It was mind blowing as a kid to head into the city every once in a while to Frank’s and later Drums Unlimited in Chicago.

I was just lucky enough to hit the original location a couple times before they moved.

Still THE definitive drum shop to me.

 

[varatrodder]

I still remember going to Fork’s in the early 90’s before they even had their own building. They were still located inside Corner Music.

 

[komodobob]

Hamlins Music in Elmira NY. I remember way back in the fall of 1972, going in with every penny I'd saved delivering papers and working for Youth Employment Service (YES). With all of that hard earned cash, I purchased my first Ludwig kit. I was $40 short and my dear Mother, God Bless her, kicked in the rest. I'm sure she didn't tell my Dad, because in 1972, $40 was a lot of jingle. I'll never forget walking in the store and there must have been 2 dozen kits on the floor. I was numb with excitement. I finally settled on a Ludwig Standard kit , in what I think was called silver mist, mainly because it was priced on the low end of the Ludwig line. So with that kit in tow, along with a full set of Ludwig Standard cymbals, I was in business, much to my Fathers dismay.