This past July, it was announced that Sweetwater’s founder and longtime CEO Chuck Surack would be stepping down from his position. As Surack pivoted to the role of chairman of the Sweetwater board, the organization’s former vice president and COO, John Hopkins, assumed the role of CEO. These moves followed Providence Equity Partners, an investment firm based in Providence, Rhode Island, having become majority owner of Sweetwater earlier in the summer.
MMR recently had the opportunity to chat with Mr. Hopkins about the recent developments at the Fort Wayne, Indiana-based MI retail giant., how the changes have (or, more accurately, haven’t) impacted those doing business with the company, and his expectations for the coming months.
Can you talk a little about your own background prior to Sweetwater? What was your background in MI retail?
I was in the heating and air conditioning business in the state of Delaware for about 15 years. In the late ‘80s I started buying gear from Chuck for my wife who is a pianist and teacher with a Masters in Piano Pedagogy. I sold the HVAC business in 1992 and my family and I moved to Fort Wayne in order to join Sweetwater as a sales engineer. A few years later I became COO and worked alongside Chuck until he became chairman of the board this past summer. It has been an amazing 30 years here in the MI retail world!
Both you and Chuck were – and remain – senior officers in Sweetwater management. In practical terms, how has the shift in leadership and the change in ownership impacted things over at Sweetwater? Is this a seismic shift or more of a barely noticeable wrinkle?
I really doubt anyone – customers, vendors, or employees – has noticed any change at all. The “shift” in leadership has been so minor because of my, and the entire leadership team’s, long tenure here. There have been no changes in leadership at all, other than Chuck stepping up to chairman and my title changing. Our commitment to customers has always been foundational to Sweetwater’s business model and that certainly isn’t changing.
During pandemic-related lockdowns and for other reasons, certain market segments within MI – fretted instruments, home recording and live-streaming equipment, et cetera – have seen soaring sales, particularly via online commerce. As the nation’s largest MI retailer, how has Sweetwater been faring in the past 20 or so months?
The last 18 to 20 months have been tumultuous, for sure. Fortunately, we were uniquely positioned to handle some of the challenges that the pandemic introduced. For one, our new 500,000 square foot distribution center opened in mid-February of 2020, and we had been building inventory to fill the facility. When sales skyrocketed, we were able to keep up with the increased demand. Since then, we have experienced year-over-year growth every month. During these challenging and uncertain times, we are thrilled that we’ve been able to be a stabilizing force for our employees, our vendors, and our customers.
Sweetwater hosted a job fair on October 21 with the goal of filling nearly 100 positions. Was this a byproduct of the company’s ongoing growth, the widely reported difficulty many organizations are currently having with respect to attracting and retaining employees, or both?
The most recent job fair was a byproduct of continued growth. We have experienced little turnover and good employee retention rates, so the new jobs are just an effort to keep up with growing demand, especially as we headed into Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and the holiday shopping season.
Are there any other developments on the horizon at Sweetwater that you’d like to draw MMR readers’ attention to?
We are very excited about our new relationship with Providence Equity Partners and how it will allow us to accelerate some growth initiatives that we have been working on for quite some time. It’s been great to see so many people explore or reconnect with music during the pandemic, and we want to do everything we can to continue to help those people realize their musical dreams, whatever they are.
One of the ways we’re doing that was with the November 1 launch of band & orchestra instrument sales nationwide. Our customers can already purchase guitars, drums, audio interfaces, microphones, and much more by going to our website or working with our highly trained sales engineers. Now, they’re also able to get their band & orchestra needs met by a company they already know and trust.
Expectations for 2022 – for both the MI industry, at large, and Sweetwater?
Six months ago, I would have said that I think the current supply chain disruptions will be resolved by the end of the first quarter of 2022, but now my belief is that we’ll continue to see constraints through the end of next year. That will be one of the big challenges for all of us in the retail industry. We’ll do everything we can to mitigate those issues, but I expect there to be a strain for the foreseeable future. That said, I think the future for our industry – and Sweetwater – is very bright. I’m so thrilled that such a huge number of people have turned to music during this time and I’ve have had so many conversations with people for whom making music has truly helped though difficult situations in deep, emotional ways. It is a blessing to be in an industry that can have such a profound impact on people’s lives.
