Working at a Music Store During a Global Pandemic

Since the pandemic began, small businesses have been affected in many ways – most notably by having to close for such an extensive period of time. A lot of locally owned music-stores have felt the effects of this as well – and by having the opportunity to work at Chautauqua Music (a locally owned music store/guitar shop in Jamestown, NY), I’ve been able to get a firsthand look at it all.

When covid hit in March of 2020, my boss (the owner of the store) had to completely close down the store due to the New York State order put in place at the time. We lost about three months of business due to that alone. Upon returning to work in June, no one wanted to come into the store – the city was still a ghost town, and there was little to no demand for instruments. Customers laid low, save for the occasional person coming in to buy guitar strings. Being that at my job we only have a few employees that work on various days of the week, hours were very limited, and none of us worked too much during that time – it was a really sad experience.

Around August 2020, there seemed to be a turn for the better as customers started flocking back to the store. This influx in business also tied in with parents and students preparing to return back to school. Although most weren’t sure what school was going to look like for the 2020-2021 year, many wanted to make sure that their students had proper instruments for the year. Guitar sales boosted as well, and since then there’s been a significant increase in business as the pandemic begins to wind down

If there’s one thing I have noticed, though, it’s that a lot of people still aren’t understanding the importance of wearing your mask. Even with the NY State mask mandate, it’s not uncommon to see customers walk into the store ill-prepared; with no mask or face guard in sight. It’s always a bummer when we have to remind stubborn customers to wear their mask, but it becomes easier as we have a supply of them to give out just in case. This is something we’ve all seen in any retail job over the past year, but I think that it’s a behavior that we’ve worked to minimize, and that we’ve adapted well to.

Every day at Chautuqua Music I get to interact with musicians who are trying to get back into the groove of things; people who just want live music to return. There’s not a day that I work in the music store that I don’t hear someone express their feelings about the pandemic’s effect on local, live music. We’re all upset about it, which lets me know that we need things to go back to normal as soon as possible. If we all do our part, hopefully that day will come sooner than later.

Stay safe, get your vaccine, and support small businesses!