veteran leadership brings the company into its 90th year - Music Inc ...

RETAILER EXCELLENCE
R
Inventory reaches the ceilings throughout the store.
talking about the company to other people know the company
backwards and forwards.
JERRY Howie was hired as a manager. Barry was hired as a
salesman.
RICHARD We pride ourselves on keeping people as long as we
can. Talented people will drive a company, and we constantly
try to look for that. Guys with ideas who know how to execute
an idea — that’s what will propel a business. You gotta
be willing to listen and cheer ‘em on and not say, ‘That’s a
stupid idea because it wasn’t my idea.’
JERRY In the stores, the wrong manager can mean 10 percent.
Personnel is very, very important. The key thing.
PAUL The regionals know everybody, the guys who are up and
coming and deserve a promotion someday when something
opens up. They know who is flexible to move, and they make
changes. They’re not afraid to make changes.
COMPANY PHILOSOPHIES
RICHARD There’s no grand plan. We grow if we see an opportunity.
You get to 48 stores by taking advantage of opportunities
when they arise. We built the business on the back of that. If
something comes our way that looks interesting we’ll invest.
PAUL We’ve been aggressively growing — but not too fast.
We’re cautious, but we take chances. We don’t have the backing
of a huge corporation. We have finance from within.
SAMMY There are ways we have always dealt with things, and
most of it goes back to Grandpa Sam. He wasn’t the world’s
greatest businessman, but he had a great understanding of
people. He understood how to treat people.
PAUL In my father’s day, he was friends with the suppliers.
Friends with the customers. That was his personality. We try
our best to do the same.
JERRY We have three of the fourth generation full time and one
part time at this point — that’s what makes it worthwhile. I’m
here 11 hours every day. Haven’t taken a day off in 20 years.
It’s life. This is all we know. We’re not suited for anything else.
DAVID My life is very much interwoven with the business. I
don’t know that I have had a golf club in my hand since I was
a kid on the mini-golf course.
JERRY Nobody owns a boat.
SAMMY Outside of this business I have nothing else to talk
about. This is what we do. We’re not landowners, building
owners. No one has a slew of cars.
PAUL I have always felt that the goal is to keep the reputation
we inherited from our father. Enhance it and protect it. It’s
not like we had a generic name like Musicland or something.
This is our family. Our father’s name. It’s the most important
thing that we own. MI
30 I MUSIC INC. I DECEMBER 2013