Last week marked my 20th anniversary in Musical Instrument Retail. The first 13 years was spent working my way from ‘print music boy’ to retail manager of one of New Zealand’s oldest and most well-regarded music stores. 

In 2015 I made the move to Taupo to start my own shop from scratch – Love Music. At a time that saw the closure of 10 music shops nationwide in 2 years the wisdom was questionable, but music and music gear run in my blood! Hopefully that obsessive passion comes through in the gear we select and the advice we give. We really appreciate all your support over the last 6.5 years!

It’s been incredible seeing how trends have changed over the past 20 years. Here are a handful:
- In 2002 acoustic guitars were starting their surge of popularity and electric guitars were falling away. In the past 5 years this trend started reversing. Last year we sold well over twice as many electric guitars as we did in 2016! 
- In 2002 ukuleles were considered a kid’s toy (and not a popular one at that!). Pretty much only soprano instruments were available. Now you can get ukuleles in every size, shape, colour and level imaginable, for every age and ability. 
- In 2002 home recording was prohibitively expensive, complex, and not particularly good! Lockdown and affordable recording bundles saw this explode so that anyone with $200 and a creative idea could produce something incredible. 
- Digital drums, pianos, amplifiers – everything, have become the new normal and are equipping a new generation of musicians.

I could carry on reminiscing for hours but as a celebration for getting this far I’m offering a 10% discount off anything in our online store until the 9th April, 2022. Use the code 20YEARS at checkout to get this discount. Or feel free to pop into the shop and mention this blog post to get the discount!