Walk into Canyon Guitars and you’ll immediately get the sense that this place wasn’t built for collectors who keep instruments in glass cases. This is a shop for people who play. “We try to stock a little bit for everyone,” says owner Daniel Adams, “but far and away our main focus is on guitars and equipment for the working musician. The sturdy meat-and-potatoes stuff you’d be proud to have on stage or in the studio.” Or at home, playing for friends, family, or just yourself. That philosophy has guided Adams through more than a decade of growth, relocation, frustration, and finally, a return home.
Adams opened his first brick-and-mortar shop, Hot Rod Music, in Graham in 2012 after years of selling instruments online. The store was small, about 60 guitars and 30 amps, but it didn’t take long to outgrow the space. In 2016, Adams moved to Canyon Road in Puyallup and rebranded as Canyon Guitars, a name chosen to avoid confusion. At Hot Rod Music, “People would come in looking for Beach Boys CDs or Jan and Dean CDs,” Adams laughs. “When we came here, I wanted it to be real clear: we’re on Canyon Road, and we sell guitars.”
The new location allowed for roughly 100 guitars and 60 amps, and Adams expected to stay there for the long haul. But Pierce County had other plans. A road-widening project claimed the shop’s parking lot through eminent domain. “Am I still bitter?” Adams says. “You bet. That sting will never go away.” So, after a long, frustrating, and expensive legal process, Canyon Guitars relocated to Lakewood in 2022. The new store was bigger and beautifully built, but the location lacked the traffic that Canyon Road provided. “Down there they get about 500 cars a day,” Adams says. “Here on Canyon Road, it’s 40,000.” When the road project wrapped up in 2024, and a neighboring business owner agreed to lease parking space, Canyon Guitars made the move back to 8120 Canyon Road E., reopening in a newly remodeled space. “Hooooray!!!” Adams says. “We moved back home.”…