Playback - Spring 2008 - (Page 20)

RETAIL Industry Innovator Community Values Liane RockLey • RockLey Music • Lakewood, coLo. Like many people in music retailing, Liane Rockley never thought she’d run a music store—she married into it. Liane, who’s been in the industry for 11 years, began working at Rockley Music in Lakewood, Colo., as a store teacher and a sales associate in the band department. That’s where she caught the eye of the owner’s son, Tobin. They married, and her career in music sales became permanent. “My degree is in flute performance, which somehow qualifies me to run a music store and to do accounting!” Liane jokes. “I didn’t think I would ever enjoy retail sales but music retail is different,” Liane jokes. Rockley Music began in 1946 when Melvin and Mildred Rockley started selling instruments along with washers and dryers. Today, it’s a full-line music store and a family affair; the second and third generations of Rockleys (who include Melvin’s son Bob, wife Nina and their sons Tobin and Robin) run the business. “I didn’t think I would ever enjoy retail sales but music retail is different,” Liane says. “I discovered a hidden passion when I started work at the store that I never knew I had.” The 26,000-square-foot store has 15 employees and was remodeled in 2002 with a big emphasis on cross-merchandising. Piano music is near the piano department. Guitar music is split into two places: the electric guitar department, which offers rock and beginning methods, and the acoustical guitar department, which carries classical guitars, flamenco, banjos and dulcimers. Musical gifts are interspersed throughout the store. The store’s lesson rooms are located next door in a renovated 1950s-era roadside motel, where students can jam to their heart’s content. “The benefit is the teachers each have their own key to their room and can teach until midnight if they want to and the store doesn’t have to be open,” Liane says. Over the last 62 years, Rockley Music changed and adapted to fit the market demands and customer needs. These changes have allowed the company to hold its own through rocky economic conditions. “January started out well for us, which was encouraging after such a short Christmas season,” Liane says. “We are seeing a trend of the consumer being satisfied with less— very conservative buying. We don’t have a 20 PLAYback

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Playback - Spring 2008

Playback - Spring 2008 Contents From the President NAMM Events Music in the News Bringing Recreational Music Making to Iraq Commercial Retail Reps in the Field New Domestic Members International Washington Watch NAMM Foundation Music Notes Resources Viewpoint

Playback - Spring 2008

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