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Beat goes on for music stores despite lingering sour economy
The economic climate of the past three years has certainly affected the musical instrument business, but not always in the expected ways. There were rough patches last year. But it wasn’t all doom and gloom. In early 2011, Parkway Music, a fixture in Clifton Park for the past 18 years, moved to a new building at 1777 Route 9, two miles down the road from its old location. Drome Sound in Schenectady also found a new home last year, moving into the building that used to house Latham Paint, 1875 State St. Posted on January 8, 2012.
Parkway Music co-owner Thomas Murphy tries out a customer’s acoustic guitar in the store’s new location in Clifton Park. (photo by Brian McElhiney/Gazette Reporter)
The new Parkway Music store, at 1777 Route 9 in Clifton Park, has roughly 5,000 more square feet of space than the old store two miles down the road. (photo by Brian McElhiney/Gazette Reporter)
Guitars, banjos and mandolines at Parkway Music. (photo by Brian McElhiney/Gazette Reporter)
An employee of Parkway Music test the string and neck tension on a guitar. In the cases below are many different types of guitar pedals. Other instrument accessories, such as strings, electric cables and tuners hang on the back wall. (photo by Brian McElhiney/Gazette Reporter)
Tony Popolizio, owner of Drome Sound music store, helps a customer in the store’s new location at 1875 State St. in Schenectady. (photo by Brian McElhiney/Gazette Reporter)
Acoustic guitars and ukuleles are on display in Drome Sound’s climate-controlled acoustic instrument room. (photo by Brian McElhiney/Gazette Reporter)
Sales clerks help customers at the new Drome Sound in Schenectady. The new location has nearly twice as much space as the old store. (photo by Brian McElhiney/Gazette Reporter)
This is the drum department at the new Drome Sound. “We needed more space and we wanted to do a lot more with expanding our inventory,” said Drome Sound’s owner Tony Popolizio. (photo by Brian McElhiney/Gazette Reporter)
