Who: Marcia Sterns
What: Bookmark Music
Where: Pacific Grove, Calif.
When: 1994
Category: Print Music
Top Publishers: Hal Leonard, Alfred Publishing, and Carl Fischer
But also… Gifts not found in standard mail order catalogs; Suzuki and Hohner harmonicas; and Luna and Lulu ukuleles.
Who walks in the door: Teachers and students, for mostly piano, string, and vocal music, in that order.
Business
Transition: I started out as a performance arts bookstore, but knew to focus on print music retail business when the customer demand for print music exceeded the customer demand for theater and media materials.
Career low point: When two long-term outstanding employees moved on to higher goals. It took a few hiring missteps to get back on track to the service and atmosphere we want to provide at Bookmark Music.
Winning: A career high point was when I received RPMDA’s Sandy Feldstein Service Award in 2010 for a good deed done in 2009. Also at the 2010 NAMM show, I also received Alfred Music Publishing’s Premier Dealer 2009 Award and the 2009 Music Retail Excellence Award for Overall Excellence. So I guess 2009 is the year of note!
The music’s the thing: The best part about my job is music. Kids making music. Adults making music. Professionals making music. Music.
But of course: The most unpleasant part of my job is the bookkeeping.
Too tough a call? My biggest mistake? I only make big ones. And I can’t choose just one.
The most important thing about managing a print music store is: Maintaining your sense of humor.
The important thing about doing business with a publisher is: Maintaining a personal connection.
How to hire: For us, the most important qualities of an employee is that they read music and can interact with people.
Avast ye scurvy dogs: My biggest peeve is the pirating/public uploading of copyrighted material.
Personal
At home: Winter and Rollo, my two rescue American Eskimo dog children.
Who knows where that piano had been: When I was eight years old, there was a piano at a relatives’ houses, and I always asked if I could play them. The answer was always, “Only if you wash your hands first.” I would always reply, “I did already! See?”
And on vocals… So I used to play piano and guitar, but now I sing in Cantus Monterey, a chamber chorus, and the Camerata Singers of Monterey County, a community chorus.
Beyond the music arts: I also sell my own photographs at a local gallery.
Not sure what it all means but sounds cool: People might be surprised to know that I am an American Power Boat Association National Cha
mpion (3.5cc hydro class, R/C Division).
We could see that: If I were a cartoon character, I’d be the Yoyo Flamingo from “Carnival of the Animals” in Fantasia 2000.
Most admired: Jim Strouse [retired from Stanton’s Music, Columbus, Ohio] and Joe Keith [Music Mart, Albuquerque]. Both have built/maintained large-scale family-owned print music stores that are still thriving.
Favorite musician joke: How many conductors does it take to screw in a light bulb? Nobody knows, no one’s watching.
Motto: “Integrity is the essence of everything successful.” I got that from a fortune cookie.
Looking Back on 2025: A Year of Controlled Chaos (Emphasis on “Controlled”)