Grandson keeps music shop humming

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This article was published 15/02/2022 (1179 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

From accordions to zithers, Hildebrand Music has long been the place to go if you need a musical instrument in Steinbach.

The 62-year-old shop, a Main Street fixture, is under new ownership, but the sign out front won’t be changing. That’s because the store has stayed in the family.

Eric Hildebrand took over store from his grandfather, Dick Hildebrand, who died last May at the age of 83, leaving behind a sizable contribution to Steinbach’s musical culture but no firm succession plan for his beloved store.

“I think he never really saw an end to the place,” Eric said.

Hildebrand’s Bargain Store was founded in 1960. A decade later, the store moved into a larger space and rebranded to focus on music and jewelry.

Eric, born in 1996, grew up visiting the store in Portage la Prairie, where it had relocated two years earlier.

He knew from a young age that he wanted to become involved in the store

“I just always enjoyed it,” he said. “It’s nice to see people enjoying instruments.”

In 2016, the store returned to Steinbach, where Eric said it has always done best.

Dick’s last day at the store was Nov. 7, 2020, when the pandemic forced a two-month shutdown of non-essential businesses. Eric and his father, Jerry, saw the store through the temporary closure as Dick’s health declined.

They reopened the store in January 2021 and Eric took over six months later, selling his house in Winnipeg and moving to the RM of La Broquerie so he could commit to the store full-time.

A graduate of Red River College, Eric left a lucrative career as a journeyman carpenter to run a small business that, some years, generated less than minimum wage for his grandfather. But Eric said he doesn’t regret his career change.

“The transition has not been bad. I’m enjoying it. I get to play instruments all day.”

At times, the learning curve was steep. Some knowledge of the store’s operations died with Dick.

“There wasn’t really must time to learn anything,” Eric said.

But he already knew the inventory, and he possessed the most important qualification—a lifelong love of music—in spades.

Eric started piano lessons in kindergarten. A drum set followed a few years later, then a guitar, which has been his primary instrument for the past decade. In high school, he competed in the annual talent show.

Being around so many different instruments each day has inspired Eric. He recently took up the bass guitar, banjo, ukulele, mandolin, piano, and organ.

“I’m just trying to learn everything, pretty much, in the store,” he said.

Eric said his Opa, as Dick was affectionately known to his eight grandchildren, would be proud of the store today, in part because of the amount of stock on hand, something Dick always believed was essential to the store’s success. Even from the hospital, Dick encouraged Eric and Jerry to order more amplifiers.

“My Opa prided himself that he stocked a little bit of everything,” Eric said.

Eric has gradually modernized the store’s inventory to cater to a younger generation without alienating older customers. First up was more equipment for electric guitarists. Eric said his grandfather stocked a half-dozen first-generation effects pedals that didn’t really sell.

“Now we’ve got probably 25 different pedals,” Eric said.

He also reconfigured the sales floor, removing some glass display cases to make room for an extended guitar wall and a keyboard island.

Ukuleles were also given more prominence. Eric explained they have become a hot seller as school music programs trade woodwinds and brass for instruments that don’t spread airborne particles.

The store also boasts a better harmonica selection than industry giant Long & McQuade.

Eric also began stocking brands he knew were popular, like Ernie Ball electric guitar strings, which are now a bestseller.

Old-school specialty items, like a trumpet maintenance kit, cork grease, and a clarinet chamois, can still be found under glass at the front counter.

Eric also still stocks a couple of accordions, a favourite of his grandfather’s. (An Italian manufacturer put his name on a line in the 1960s. When a new model arrived, Dick would dial down a list of local players.)

While the pandemic has hurt many small businesses, Hildebrand Music has had two silver linings: the burgeoning ‘shop local’ movement, and a renewed interest in homebound creative pursuits that has seen many lapsed players to dust off their instrument or learn a new one.

Last Thursday, as sunlight streamed in through the storefront’s large windows, a customer strode in carrying his son’s guitar, which was missing a string. Eric quickly strung a new one, saving the man a trip to Winnipeg.

“There’s always something going on, between shipments and stringing and fixing instruments,” Eric said.

Minor repairs are done in-house while larger jobs are sent away.

Eric said almost every day a customer asks what happened to the older fellow behind the counter. He keeps a framed portrait of his grandfather behind the till and a collage of black and white photographs and newspaper clippings near the front entrance.

Eric said his grandfather avoided cell phones and computers. His wife, Elsie, did the bookkeeping by hand after taking an accounting class.

“They did really well together,” said Eric, who has added a computer but kept the 40-year-old cash register.

“The 9-button doesn’t work on it,” he said with a grin.

Eric created a store website but said he doesn’t care for social media and plans to give the Facebook page to his family to run.

He tries to stay up to date on industry trends and a perk of the job is trying out the latest wares.

Eric said his favourite part of running the store is seeing a customer’s face light up when he strums an instrument and they realize what it can do with a little practice.