Heifetz Music Shop sees itself as a 'grocery store' for musicians, no matter their favorite genre

STAUNTON – The Heifetz Music Shop is not just a gift shop. It's more like a grocery store for musicians.

Choosing your first instrument? They can help you with that.

Playing a gig tonight and one of your strings broke? They got you covered.

Can't find your reed? That, too.

It also has a really cool listening room in the back of the shop with an impressive collection of vinyl. Sure, they have a lot of classical, with more than 1500 records from the family of a nationally known conductor. But they have just about every type of music genre you can think of and the room is yours to enjoy for as long as you like. Just sit back, put the headphones on, close your eyes, and change the tenor of your day.

"People can come in here and they can listen for hours to anything they want," said June Collmer, the shop's manager. "We have a lot of classical, obviously, because a lot of our people are classical fans. But we also have everything from Bach to Soundgarden."

Operas, soundtracks, jazz, guitar, woodwinds, bands, religious, pop, jazz ... pretty much all over all the board. Generally they're in excellent condition because they were owned by music lovers who took really good care of them, she said.

"I have a group of some high school kids, and they'll come in here and listen," Collmer said. "Some of them will stay out in the main room playing some of our guitars. One of them composes. They'll tell me about some of the music they like. I just love having them. Anyone can come in here and play our guitars."

Speaking of students, Heifetz is an affiliate of music and arts, a national program that offers musicians options to purchase, rent, rent to buy instruments.

"We work closely with the local band music teachers," said Collmer. "We make sure that we have reeds, mouthpieces, the equipment, accessories that are needed for all the instruments. We get a materials list at the beginning of each year to make sure that we have the materials that band students, orchestra students need. It's like a grocery store."

Anyone can stop by the shop who wants to learn how to play an instrument. Collmer will help you through the process on the Heifetz website or app , and before you know it, you are picking up your instrument at the music shop.

"They want to buy it, fine. If not, they can just rent it month-to-month, which is what most kids do," said Collmer. "When a child is starting out, you don't want to spend $1,500 on a trumpet. I generally say to people, rent it for a while. If you decide you want to buy it, the rental money goes towards the purchase price. I have someone who's my age who's renting a cello from us. She's been renting the cello for about two years now, never played before, and is loving it. It's a good way for anyone of any age to try an instrument."

Collmer thinks it's a misnomer to call Heifetz a gift shop.

"You're not going to get a gift card. You're going to get a string because you're doing a gig that evening and your string broke," she said. "Obviously, we have all the things we need for strings — violin, viola cello — but we also have all the things needed for guitars. We have ukulele strings, banjo strings, and then all the band orchestra instruments."

Because Heifetz Institute is a nonprofit, the revenue made in the music shop supports the institute, which includes offering scholarships to music students from all over the world so they can participate in the Institute's six-week international festival of concerts that happens every summer in downtown Staunton.

Heifetz Music Shop is located at 11 S. New St. in Staunton. Reach the shop at (540) 907-4446. To learn more about the instrument sales and rentals, click here .

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This article originally appeared on Staunton News Leader: Heifetz Music Shop sees itself as a 'grocery store' for musicians, no matter their favorite genre