Community Corner

Sound Beach Music Store Still Going Strong After 30 Years

Steve Subject has been living his dream of offering quality lessons and instrument rentals to locals for over three decades.

Thirty years ago, Steve Subject started a small music store in Sound Beach designed to help bring music into people’s lives a little bit easier through rentals and lessons. Since 1979 the store has continued to grow and prosper.

Patch spoke to Brian Chabza, violin instructor at the Sound Beach Music Store. Chabza has been working at the store for 15 years and said it has truly become a staple in the community.

Why did you choose to have a store in the Sound Beach/Miller Place area?

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We started in Sound Beach and I think we moved to Miller Place back in 1992. We moved up the street because we needed a bigger location. We started off small, but now we have at least 300 students taking lessons per week with more than 1500 rental instruments out in the community. People from all over come to the store from as far as Shoreham all the way out to Comsewogue.

How has the business changed over the last three decades? 

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I have been here for 15 years. When Steve first started the store he had 60 rental instruments and it’s gone to 1500 rental instruments. We have gone from a store that had a 350 square foot location to a 5000 square foot location. The demand has increased and we have moved to a larger store to meet the demand. We have grown quite a bit. It is all do to the community. The community makes us what we are today.

What's the biggest challenge with competing against national chains and websites?  

We make sure we take care of the customer. There is no job too big and no job too small. We want to make sure we are helping out the customer and developing relationships with people in the community. The most important thing is making sure the customer is happy and is getting everything they need from us when they walk into the door.

What are you most proud of?

Our whole thing here is to bring music to people of all ages to people in the community. We have students as young as 5-years-old to as old as 70. It’s making sure that people have the connection to music. We are most proud that we have been able to connect people for years and still do every day.

STORE: Sound Beach Music Store

LOCATION: 66 Echo Ave., Miller Place

PHONE: (631) 476-3850

WEBSITE: http://www.soundbeachmusicstore.com


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