This is a bit relevant to the discussion in the LR regarding opening a music store.
I lived in Santa Rosa, CA from '78 to '97. I have since moved 1,000 miles away, but still have ties there and keep up with the news via their online newspaper. I ran across this today:
http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20 ... c=pg&tc=arWhen I first moved to Santa Rosa the only music store I remember was a 30 year old established strait-laced store called Stanroy's. I referred to it as your "parents" store. It was a full service store, that did sell some guitars and amps, but much of the display area was taken up with pianos and orchestral/band instruments for sale or rent. You could take lessons or rent school band instruments.
Shortly after this, Don Andress, who would become a close friend until he passed away last year, opened Andress Sound. He was one of the earliest G&L dealers. He moved his small store 3 times before he was forced to go out of business sometime in the '90s.
There was another hole-in-wall store 30 miles north in Healdsburg that eventually folded along with another one in Petaluma and one in Santa Rosa called Stars. I never liked the feel of these stores and may have only perhaps bought a few sets of strings over the years.
About the same time as Andress sound came on the scene, Zone Music (the one in the article) started out in Cotati--about 15-20 miles south of Santa Rosa.
This was a cool store owned and staffed by hip young musicians. Zone kept growing over the years to include a separate store for used gear, a repair shop, and a recording studio.
After the closure of Andress Sound, Zone was the only "cool" music store around other than a great little store with a surprisingly large inventory in Petaluma called Tall Toad (which I believe is still open--it would be interesting to know how healthy their businees still is).
The original Stanroy's after 60 years in business was also recently forced to downsize and move into a considerably smaller location.
The news about Zone music is discouraging -- I hope I am wrong, but it may be just delaying the inevitable complete closure of the store. I don't remember Zone selling G&L while I was living there, but according to the G&L website they are an authorized dealer. I'm not sure if this will be the case after their restructuring.
The closest Guitar Center stores are at least 50 miles away in a couple of different directions from Santa Rosa.
GDub is probably familiar with Zone Music as he does not live very far from them.
Frank, the owner is a great guy and as it says in the article, there were many benefits that he arranged for local musicians and their families with serious health problems who had no insurance. I wish him all the best.
And to anyone who wants to open their own store-----Good Luck!