With the prevalence of large chains and online retailers, music stores need to stand out now more than ever. Whether it’s the history of Buy & Sell Center, the customer service of Beacock Music or the culture of McKenzie River Music, music shops in Eugene are steadfast in serving their community.
Buy & Sell Center
Nestled neatly in Eugene’s downtown, Buy & Sell carries just about any instrument that a single person can carry, granted it’s not too heavy.
“(We carry) most musical instruments,” proprietor Daniel Kaplan said. “If it takes more than one person to lift it, we usually don’t like it. Rock n’ roll instruments, keyboards, (music) books. Whatever we think we can make a buck on.”
The walls and displays of the center are plastered with guitars, flutes, mandolins, sitars and even a sizable accordion collection. First opened as a general pawn shop by Jim Newell in the 1970s, Kaplan purchased the store in 1993 and transitioned it to purely music. Music always made up the bulk of Buy & Sell’s sales because, as Kaplan put it, “Musicians are always broke and selling gear and then buying it back again.”…