Meridian music shop has mojo

Neighborhood store Mojo Music Discount and its music school, Mojo School of Music, have successfully expanded despite the tough economy.

Among the empty storefronts peppering the area’s commercial core, one business in the Cornwall Park neighborhood has managed to thrive — and expand.
Mojo Music Discount has extended some of its store operations, as well as its Mojo School of Music, into a building a few blocks up Meridian Street from the current store. The final stages of the move finished about a week ago, said Mojo Music founder and owner Doug Suther, and business is slowly starting to pick up.
“I think the profits will start appearing down the road a piece, but we’re starting to get pretty good cash flow out of there,” Suther said. “One step at a time.”
Building the next generation of music lovers
Manager Michael Roe credited the store’s music school for much of its success.
“[Mojo School of Music] is a key part of what we do at Mojo because it helps to train and encourage the next generation of musicians to love and appreciate music,” Roe said.
The school has 10 to 12 instructors who teach everything from guitar to songwriting to hand-drumming. Beyond physically expanding, Mojo School of Music has also acquired a new teacher in the past month, and with him, about 75 new students.
Suther said programs like Mojo’s often help supplement school music programs, which may not provide the individual attention a student needs to master an instrument.
“If you have kids and you realize that they’re in a school band program and they’ve got 40, 45 kids sitting around them, and on instructor trying to teach them all how to play a different instrument, it’s pretty tough for the kid to get all the education he needs to really be good on that instrument,” Suther said. “As a school of music and as a music store, we provide that service.”
Private instruction can also help students if their music time at school has suffered due to the economy, Roe said.
“With all the cutbacks in local school music programs,” Roe said, “we feel that it is important to help music students and provide the tools they need to continue to grow musically.”
Mojo doesn’t exclusively teach youths, though; its programs are for people of any age and any skill level. The school offers summer workshops for community members, culminating in an annual showcase in which students have a chance to show off their newly acquired talents.
A symbiotic relationship
Instructor Bob McDonald will facilitate a classical guitar ensemble this summer at the school. He said the store and the school have a symbiotic relationship, in that each helps the other grow.
“The more you know musically,” McDonald said, “the more you thirst for.”
McDonald has been teaching at Mojo for five and a half years and has 54 students who are between 5 and 85 years old. He teaches styles of guitar-playing ranging from classical to punk to metal.
“It’s all about getting students to unlock their personal expression and passion for music and what they are invigorated by,” McDonald said. “That’s when music becomes alive.”
Adapting to a changing economy
The new space houses all the store’s instrument repairs and rentals and a studio for some of the music school’s lessons. The store is now primarily used for instrument sales.
Suther said another way the store was able to weather the recession is by changing its inventory to remain accessible to customers.
“It got real tight there for a while, so Mike and I sat down and we figured out a strategy that would make up for that lost revenue that wasn’t coming in,” Suther said. “We decided to change the structure of the inventory a little bit: less high-end items, and more items suited for student use. That’s proven to be real good. We’ve kind of adapted our inventory to meet the current needs of store.”
Forty years old and still growing
Suther opened Mojo Music in 1971 in Fairhaven, eventually relocating downtown and farther up Meridian before settling into its current location in the Fountain District 12 years ago. Music lessons have always been a part of the business, and are still helping it thrive today.
“I’m going to be celebrating my 40th year in business in Bellingham with Mojo Music in December of this year. I can’t even believe it when I say it,” Suther said. “I founded it myself. I was 21 years old and came up to Bellingham and opened up on a wing and a prayer.”
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