I have been blessed enough that I have never lived more than 30 minutes from a "mom & pop" shop. I actually worked for one of them for 2 years while I was in college. Geektar Center, like a bunch of vultures, moved in literally 1/4 mile down the road. I heard recently that the local shop filed some form of bankruptcy. It's a shame, because they were the biggest music store in the state (3 floors including the basement, which was full of old stuff). Last time I was there I wanted to cry at how much they've had to downsize. I still know a handful of the guys that still work there and they're all scared that the owners will get tired of scratching for a foothold and shut it down.

I currently live within 20 minutes of 3 local shops (2 under the same owner) and they're all good places to go. The guys in there know me and give me a hard time for always asking for odd stuff. The problem is, they can't carry a big selection anymore because buy-in for a lot of manufacturers has gotten ridiculous. They wind up not having what kids want - and you know they have to have it right now - so they order from some internet garbage dump. There's my :2Cents:.

God save the small shops...and all small businesses, for that matter!

Oh Man, this is making me a little sad. Love these stories. Well, we must perservere and perhaps try to re-create those long gone times by our own work and attitudes now. ( I know, I am not sure what that means either.)

Maybe one of us will open a shop someday.

I miss Valley Drum Shop in Van Nuys, CA. Ron and son Rick.

First Blaemires to show up in a store. Natural finish, and you could play them.

Other from Valley: Asba Caroline Pedal, Pro Mark/Orange Hi Hat.

They had better stuff.

Hey, I actually feel happier now thinking back on that great shop.

If only for a moment.

Good Times, Thanks SA green glass

Hey MIKEY,

I had been going to WCD since 1990. It really is a shame they had to close, I used to go there during my lunch break, they were 5 minutes away from where I work. They used to let me go in the back and scrounge through their parts, I really miss that. They have no affiliation with Jim' Music, but I heard Joe was teaching over there. The Sam Ash in Cerritos isn't too bad, but it's still not the same as WCD.

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I bet that we know each other and have even talked drums in the pass at W.C.D....Yes joe is a cool guy Bob was to..I to got to look in the back and put boxes of parts together..That is bass drum size boxes..About 2 times a week for years.The shop to me started to go down hill after Bob was killed in the mid 90's. Bobs family started taking over but then they sold the shop to that young guy Darin them they moved it fairview st. in santa ana.Then to harbor Blv.I miss that shop still to this day..Another shop i miss is Drum City in Hollywood-{Roy Hearte was the owner}-from day one 1950. So you recall Hollywood Records they were recorded at Drum City mosty Jazz/blues type of music...Mikey

I've only been in Orange County since 2007. I took some lessons from Joe for a few months until they closed. Great guy. He and a few of the others were able to find work at Jim's Music in Tustin, which is a general purpose store that caters to the scholastic crowd.

Glad to see Columbus Percussion getting some love. That was my hometown hang. I remember taking a Slingerland Dynamo HH stand into the original location for some maintenance and Jim Rupp was very enthusiastic: "I haven't seen one of those in years," he said. "I'm going to hip your hihat." I don't know what he did, but it was a marked improvement.

They, and the other stores I mentioned previously, don't treat dorky teenagers like dorky teenagers, but "customer" is not quite the right word either. "Family" is more like it.

Drum City! That was the first real drum store I ever went to. Went with my Dad on the bus together....... like a bus adventure for Dad and son.

The guy who was running the store was called "Pop". That is Roy? right?

He wore a white Dentists like shirt/jacket. Real nice guy.

I think I was 11 years old.

Thanks Mikey, SA green man

No "Pop's" was his side kick he was the taller.He was a real cool guy that worked on the drums."Pops" always had the white Dentists shirt on."Pop's" show me alot on fixing vintage drum's he's the one that showed me how to remove the end cap's on the Ludwig Speed King pedal's...Roy was the older short guy's alway's talking and running around the shop like a Bee you know busy,busy....Mikey

I miss 3 old shops, Nuncies (home of the "Drum Evangelist" he-he Gary Asher), Birmingham Percussion Center (my buddy Hugh Carpenter's shop) & MMI Music in Mobile.

Nuncies is where I got my first "big boy" set...Ludy Avacado Strata Standards when I was 10.

BPC, owned by my buddy Hugh, was where you could go & get hard to find stuff & Hugh could fix or fabricate most anything.

MMI was like Cheer's...I was friends with everyone there & played in a Jazz/Fusion band with several members of the staff...really miss those guys!

I miss MMI too!crying2-07 I moved to the MS coast in '06 & would go there almost every time I was in Mobile. Good guys there. Jim Roebuck was always a big help to me. Another casualty of Geektar Center moving in across town.