Few music dealers are as beloved by patrons as Lansing, Michigan’s Elderly Instruments. A mecca for bluegrass, folk music, and “twang,” the store celebrates a major milestone in 2022 and MMR recently touched base with current president and co-owner Lillian Werbin to learn more about the company’s history and present-day operations.
Early Days & Evolution
A half-century ago, Stan Werbin and Sharon McInturff “took the plunge” and opened their MI retail operation. But how did they get to that point? “At the time, in 1971, they had both just finished college and weren’t really sure what would be next,” explains Werbin. “Both were involved with The Ark, Ann Arbor’s legendary folk music coffeehouse. There was much talk amongst musicians that the new fretted instruments coming from the major manufacturers were not as good, for various reasons, as similar instruments made in earlier years. When the question ‘What shall we do now?’ came up, the winning answer was to search for older guitars, banjos, and mandolins and see if they could buy and resell them at a profit. By 1972, they had done well enough at it, moved to East Lansing, and opened a small shop.”
In those early days, the first retail store was a very small room in a downtown East Lansing basement, and it was just the two of them. The building had numerous other startup businesses, and when one would move (or closed its doors) Stan and Sharon would often expand into that space. By 1974, there were around six or seven employees, and by the time Elderly Instruments moved to the current location in 1983 there were 15 or 20 people on staff.
“Currently, our staff hovers just around the 40 mark and 35 are full-time, which is down from the ‘90s heyday of a little over 100 employees,” says Werbin. “The entire building – a ‘Frankenstein’ of three buildings combined over the years – is roughly 36,000 square feet.”
Elderly is particularly known for serving the acoustic/folk/bluegrass/“twang” community, but was that by design or did things just evolve that way?
“That describes our focus when we first started out,” she says. “And I think it translates to how people perceive us. Over the years we’ve intentionally expanded our interests to include other genres and music communities that use fretted instruments.”
That expansion of interests if borne out by Elderly’s inventory: The store typically has about twice as many acoustic guitars in-stock as electric, but they still carry a wide range of accessories and necessary equipment for both categories.
Making Customers Feel ‘At Home’
A defining characteristic of Elderly Instruments is the business’ “hands on” access to all gear. It’s fairly uncommon for a store with such high-end and vintage instruments on the walls to be relatively casual about letting customers try out and play the instruments as they please – and yet that’s the Elderly way of doing things.
“It’s simple for us: we want our customers to feel at home,” Werbin offers. “Our goal is for the shopping experience to be comfortable, so customers can explore our offerings without a sales rep breathing down their necks. Our staff is trained to treat people like family and help them find a good fit, which harkens back to what this company was founded on: the gratification of setting someone up with the perfect instrument for their needs. Many of our higher-end, vintage instruments are kept locked up in the ‘Elderly Vault,’ but are available in the showroom on request.”
As to what lines are the hottest sellers for the store, the answer to that question is not exactly cut-and-dried.
“When we first opened our store, the plan was to find and sell great and interesting vintage instruments, and new instruments were quickly added to our inventory,” she says. “We have long prided ourselves on carrying quality instruments from all over the world, in a range of price points – and we like to think they’re all ‘best-sellers.’ Of course, the names you’d expect to hear remain best-sellers: Martin, Fender, Taylor, Breedlove, Collings, ESP, Gold Tone, Eastman, Ibanez, Kentucky, Recording King, et cetera. Our inventory also includes Northfield, Ohana, Furch, Deering, National, Kamaka, Cordoba, Blueridge, Guild, Farida, and more. There are really so many more good ones.”
There’s one glaring omission to that otherwise comprehensive list that sharp-eyed readers no doubt already noticed. “We have always loved Gibson instruments, and for over 30 years we were one of their most productive dealers,” Werbin continues. “Unfortunately, a misunderstanding in the early 2000s drove us apart, but we currently sell both vintage and recently-made-used Gibson brand instruments. Given the new ownership [at Gibson Brands], we’d be happy to see a new relationship established between us and Gibson.”
Elderly Instruments currently has seven full-time repair people and three full-time appraisers: “We see a wide spectrum of repair needs, but the repair techs work on a few hundred instruments in a month. Many are basic setups and minor repairs, but there are high-end repairs and restorations on vintage and modern vintage-grade instruments, as well.”
Present Day Success & an Eye on the Future
Back in 1979, Stan Werbin took on a record distribution venture, Old Fogey Distributing, which later became Sidestreet Distributing – although the nature of that has evolved. “There’s hardly a need for a dealer/retailer like us to insert ourselves in the record distribution industry these days,” says Lillian Werbin. “But when Sidestreet Distributing was created, it was mostly to distribute LPs (and later CDs) of hard-to-find recordings of our favorite genres, and some accessories to other stores, but that’s not how recordings work anymore. We evolved Sidestreet [pre-pandemic] to have our own line of guitars and ukuleles manufactured and imported, but as of right now we have put most Sidestreet endeavors on hold to reinvest in the core of Elderly Instruments.”
How does such a grass-roots operation so strongly defined by person-to-person interaction embrace internet commerce and the digital age?
“Online sales are something we never even imagined back in the 1970s,” Werbin says. “Luckily for us, when the internet came along we found ourselves well positioned to sell through a website, largely because we had been selling through mail order catalogs beginning in 1975. For us, it also meant that any music store that wanted to could set up a website and ship orders. So it became a whole new world. eBay and Reverb gave us new competitors to watch for, it’s true, and they also provide a way for smaller stores like us to reach a wider audience. But they both have their benefits and drawbacks. We recently elected to temporarily remove our store from Reverb, and have never sold through eBay.”
Fair enough. How about the much-discussed “soaring” sales of fretted instrument during the pandemic? What’s been Elderly’s experience during these times?
“We’ve learned to be more resilient than in previous years and adapt with the times a little quicker. The pandemic has allowed us to take a moment to reinvest in our staff, procedures, inventory, and frankly, the entire business. While we all agree the last two years have been challenging, things have been good for us, and we at Elderly Instruments are looking forward to a bright future. We are grateful to all our customers, old and new.”
So, will there be any special events, sales, or promotions to mark the 50-year milestone in 2022?
“We’re planning a Birthday Block Party, Tuesday July 5, 2022,” Werbin says. “So come visit Lansing (or our website) for specials, other events, and exciting new Elderly Instruments things!”
