As for so many in the Music Retail Industry, the past many months have been a severe challenge and game-changer for Flute Pro Shop. Buoyed by PPP and EIDL, Flute Pro Shop was holding its own for many months, the government loans allowing us to continue to pay salaries, purchase some inventory, and keep our online presence going strong. We advertised in all the virtual flute events and sponsored others, and our newsletter kept our customers informed and enthused while also offering affordable and fun promotions such as the “Mystery Bag.” Flute Pro Shop was going along at a fairly good clip.
Then the PPP ran out in early July 2020.
Still, we had the EIDL funds to continue operations.
Then EIDL ran out.
And then the sales slowed down.
Was it time to admit that COVID had beaten us?
No. And here’s why: Back in 2015 we’d purchased an RV known as the Minnie Winnie, which, at 31 feet long, hadn’t seemed so mini to us! But my business partner, Kristen, and I learned how to drive her, mastered all the systems, and used her to travel to underserved, mostly rural, populations in states like West Virginia, Ohio, Kentucky, and Pennsylvania. It did not take long to realize that these people did not have the funds for good flutes. They depended on “Aunt Sally’s Flute,” or the one which had been in the attic for a few decades, often decimated by pad bugs. They were guaranteed to smell bad and play even worse. All these customers could afford were band-aid type repairs, reducing our profit margin to the point that the trips became unsupportable. We lost confidence in the Minnie Winnie concept, and she was put in mothballs for a few years.
Then came COVID.
Suddenly the Minnie Winnie had a purpose! We put her back on the road. Here is why.
Because Flute Pro Shop, recognizing music’s enduring ability to create beauty and enhance inner peace, has made a bold decision to take on these chaotic COVID-19 times in proactive and creative ways. We are working within the box of the virus by thinking outside the box of our usual business practices. We’re adapting by organizing safe outdoor events: creating venues – both at our own office and on the road – in which isolated flutists can safely meet, purchase much-needed supplies and music, play, and safely socialize. And we’re selling our own flutes.
Here is how.
To meet the needs of flutists everywhere, we have created traveling, socially-distanced outdoor events. Our specially adapted RV offers a base from which the events take place, and is our own office-away-from-office. We have all we need in terms of inventory and sales tracking, while our customers get a rare and most welcome opportunity for gathering with other flutists. In a beautiful park or campground with plenty of open space, customers can audition flutes, browse music, look over accessories, and even play in ensembles together. In addition, we can offer masterclasses, solo concerts, and competitions that are otherwise too risky to hold indoors. On safely-distanced tables stocked with hand sanitizer, we display music, accessories and trial flutes, all the while monitoring safe distancing and mask-wearing. We’ve written, and we follow, a strict protocol for the sanitization of trial flutes between each use. Our customers often bring an entourage of people with them to assist in the purchase, and their audience sits at a safe distance in lawn chairs, ready with critique and help. The result is that, while other music businesses are forced to limit customers or even close their doors, Flute Pro Shop has been able to safely gather groups of flutists whose overwhelming sense of gratitude convinces us that we are, indeed, bringing a music event that creates beauty and enhances inner peace.
We run Flute Pro Shop from a home office, where a large, screened porch provides amply distanced space for flute trials. For the colder months, we roll down canvas “walls” to cover the screens. We light the firepit, and turn on space heaters so that all are comfortable for most of the usually mild Delaware winter.
In addition to students, one of our most important demographics is amateur flutists who have retired and for whom music is food for their soul. We sold a flute yesterday to a woman who, immediately upon playing her first note , said, with wonder in her eyes, “Oh. I can’t believe this!” She cradled the flute in her arms, her blue eyes bright with tears. These are the moments Kristen and I live for. They are also the moments that will sustain us through this surreal time.
Moving On
These recent Minnie Winnie tours have been so successful, we’ve been emboldened to do something daring and innovative. We’ve upgraded to a Class A motor home, 32 feet long, 14 feet high, with plenty of space for inventory storage, as well as onboard systems, office-away-from-office capability, and driving comfort to make long trips to far-flung customers feasible. Inspired by the lessons we learned from the Minnie Winnie, and the fact that this Class A motorhome can be used year-round, we’re now planning tours for early- to mid- 2021.
Earlier in the COVID-19 crisis, the newsletter of a small business owner here in Delaware told of a saying that one of his key employees, a retired Marine, used to keep spirits up during tough times. It is: Adapt. Improvise. Overcome. Both Kristen and I wrote that down. Kristen placed it on her computer. Just now I realized that this is what we have done. We’ve adapted to this pandemic by taking our business on the road. We’ve improvised by developing our own affordable yet high-quality flutes. We’ve overcome the limitations of the COVID-19 box through creative thinking and plain, old-fashioned determination.
Adapt. Improvise. Overcome. May it work for us all in the Music Retail Industry. May we all at the end of this crises have learned lessons that will allow the music to play on.
