Moe's Guitars in North Jersey is more than a store — it's a gathering spot for guitarists

Peter Siekierski has one basic approach for instruments that end up in his shop.

“Anything with strings we have the talent and ability to repair,” he says. Banjos. Guitars. Bass guitars. Just make sure it’s in your budget.

Peter, also known as Moe — call him Peter out in public and he might not even respond — owns Moe's Guitars in Hawthorne with his wife, Mary Ellen.

The duo met at a rhythm and blues music festival in Teaneck 15 years ago, and have run the business together ever since.

Moe has worked on guitars for 36 years ago, and his store is open to the general public; anyone who needs work on a stringed instrument or is looking to make a purchase. He started in corporate finance, but did guitar work on the side before it eventually became a full-time endeavor.

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In 2021, the couple bought the storefront at 726 Lafayette Ave. in Hawthorne, at the corner of Van Winkle Avenue. The spot was practically move-in ready.

At the shop, Moe works out front — the showroom and guitar sales — while Mary Ellen does most of the guitar repairs.

The first thing that jumps out about the store is a pillar with a massive blue guitar on it.

When you walk in, a bell on the door chimes, and you’re greeted by a blast of climate-controlled air — vital for the guitars — and the sound of guitars playing, as well as an array of acoustic and electric guitars hanging on the walls.

Dotted around the showroom are bowls of guitar picks, as well as such equipment as cables and amps.

You’ll see an assortment of guitars with steep price tags - $7,500 for one guitar, $5,700 for another. A conspicuously placed sign asks patrons to sterilize their hands before touching the instruments.

These aren’t your starter guitars, Moe explains. But he welcomes beginners, who he says can learn from the wealth of musical knowledge that walks through the store’s front door.

“We can pass on to these younger people a world of information,” Moe said.

How the guitar shop makes ends meet

Moe said revenue comes from a handful of sources — the sale of new guitars and high-end collectibles, as well as repairs and custom builds.

“If you’re going to survive in a modern day economy, you can’t just sell guitars, you have to either teach guitar or service instruments,” he said.

Moe said he buys from collectors and dealers, and has a vast network of buyers, sellers and other merchants with whom he does business. Some buyers come from as far away as the Baltic states in Eastern Europe.

“We don’t sell online, but we advertise online. So we’ll put the guitars on all the major sites — eBay, Craigslist, Facebook,” Moe said. “I post the name of the shop and I let them know we ship, then they call the store.”

The average guitar in the shop starts at $3,500, though some can be appraised for tens of thousands of dollars.

“What makes us different from the big online stores is we physically touch and look at everything," Moe said. "When you go online, you have no idea ... if it’s new, because it doesn’t say ‘brand new 2024,'” Moe said.

Some buyers purchase guitars as an investment rather than to play, so Moe will ship them to climate-controlled vaults in safe havens like in Switzerland.

What are some of the wildest guitars to walk through the front door?

The store boasts a Gibson Les Paul from American singer Kenny Chesney. It’s worth $40,000 and hangs on the wall in a glass case.

Moe says he was also involved in the authentication of a 1959 Gibson Les Paul Standard after being contacted by American guitarist Al Di Meola and Cesar Guekian, president of Gibson Guitars, in September 2022. The 1959 Les Paul Standard has sold for as much as $960,000 in some cases.

Keith Romanski, a guitar teacher from Wayne who’s played for 25 years and amassed a collection of 20 guitars, said he’s bought three guitars at Moe’s.

“I’m kind of losing count now,” he said of his collection.

And of course the vibe at the store is always great, Romanski said.

“I can take any guitar off the wall here and I know they’re all in tune — they’re all set up," Romanski said. "I can’t really say that about most other places. Sometimes it’s like, ‘Oh this guitar is being sold but it might need a little work, or it’s just not in tune.’”

His most recent purchase? An $800 Fender Mustang

“It’s a lot of fun,” he said.

Daniel Munoz covers business, consumer affairs, labor and the economy for NorthJersey.com and The Record.

Email: munozd@northjersey.com ; Twitter: @danielmunoz100 and Facebook

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Moe's Guitars in North Jersey is more than a store — it's a gathering spot for guitarists