Back in 1963, Bob Gand was working as vice president of sales at a corporation in Chicago. He’d studied the trumpet growing up and had recently taken up the guitar as a wave of folk musicians like Pete Seeger had begun to emerge into the public eye. As he got better and noticed an increased interest in the art form throughout his community, Bob began giving lessons out of his own rec room.
The hobby grew into a full-fledged business. Gand quit his job in sales. What began as a small operation for acoustic guitar lessons grew into a sprawling program that touched on almost every instrument imaginable, and Gand expanded into the retail business to keep his student body well-supplied. The resulting community has lovingly called Village Music home for nearly 50 years.
When asked if he’s ever regretted leaving his corporate job, his response is cheerful and simple: “No way.”
The Village Music Store is somewhat of an icon in the community of Deerfield, Illinois. The business lives in a huge white farmhouse near the heart of the town’s
commercial district – the retail space on the first floor, warehouse space in the basement, and eight private lesson rooms upstairs. The store’s motto goes, “We sell, rent, teach, repair instruments from A to Z!” and an army of well-trained instructors ensures that’s the case.
Gand, who’s 86, remains an energetic presence in the community. On top of his teaching duties at the store, he organizes and performs in several local groups, including the Bob Gand Orchestra and Big Band Sound. He stays energized with running – Gand has completed the Chicago marathon several times, on top of 5k and 10k races throughout the country. The store is run by a former student, Lana Rae, who Gand says invaluable. “She’s been our secret weapon throughout the years,” he says. “Miss Personality!”
Another key to the store’s success is likely Gand’s business background. He holds a college degree in advertising, sales, and publicity, and counts those skills among the most important to have in the shop’s 49 years and counting.
In the early days, when the store was known as the Village School of Music, Gand says he never had any trouble finding students. “This was the ‘60s,” he says. “It was the height of Peter, Paul and Mary. There was Woody Guthrie and Pete Seeger and they were on TV, radio, newspapers, and magazines all day every day, so people wanted to learn the guitar and folk music. I didn’t have to do much.”
Nowadays, students are a bit tougher to come by. The store’s program topped off at around 300 students before the recession hit, but has been as low as 145 since then (the program still makes up 75 percent of the business’s income). “The neighborhood has been cutting back on things like music lessons,” he says, also pointing to excellent music and arts programs in the local public schools as a reason. “There are a lot of things for these kids to be doing here, which is a good thing in its own way.” The numbers have been steadily rising again, though.
Gand realized early on that he’d have to get into retail to support the lessons. From day one there was a need for rentals, and he decided to add one from there on. He rediscovered the trumpet after awhile and began offering lessons through the shop for band instruments. Now that he can enjoy a full compliment of highly educated staffers teaching instruments across the board – “everything from an autoharp to a zither,” he says – he’s got a diversified customer base to rely on. Despite the long career in the business, though, Gand still looks back to that first night of lessons as his favorite memory of the shop. “I still remember my wife, Myrna, greeting them at the door and writing them all receipts. Then we were off! It really felt like the start of something big.”
