Good Neighbor Podcast: Auburn and Opelika
With her genuinely good heart and a wealth of experience behind her, Susannah works to connect local business and non-profit leaders to their neighbors. In a community like ours in which so many have invested their lives, there are fantastic stories all around us that motivate and inspire, often right next door. She hopes to share some of those here, on the Good Neighbor Podcast. Book an interview today at GNPAuburn.com
Good Neighbor Podcast: Auburn and Opelika
Ep.#76: From Lessons to Legacy: The Spicer's Music Story
Rachel Pair and Jonathan Hendrix share the story of Spicer's Music, a family-owned music store in Auburn celebrating 13 years of bringing musical joy to the community. The business started as a music lesson program before expanding into instrument retail, rentals, repairs, and live sound events, creating a musical haven where people of all ages can connect through their shared passion.
• Spicer's Music began in December 2012 with a focus on music lessons before expanding into retail
• The lesson program currently employs 28 instructors teaching students of all ages, from children to seniors
• Approximately one-third of their students are college-aged or older, dispelling the myth that music education is only for kids
• The business successfully pivoted to virtual lessons during COVID-19 when many similar businesses had to close permanently
• Music connects people who might never otherwise meet, serving as a universal language across generations
• Both Rachel and Jonathan emphasize it's never too late to learn an instrument, with many students starting in their 70s
• The team views their work as bringing joy through music to the Auburn-Opelika community and beyond
Visit Spicer's Music on 2140 East University Drive in Auburn, email lessons@spicersmusic.com, call 334-329-7529, or check out spicersmusic.com for more information.
This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, the place where local businesses and neighbors come together. Here's your host, Susanna Hodges.
Speaker 2:Welcome With me. Today I have Rachel Payer and Jonathan Hendricks with Spicers Music here in Auburn. Welcome, thank you so much, so much. Thank you. Well, I appreciate you guys being with me and tell me a little bit about Spicers Music. I know it's kind of a business that's been in Auburn for a long time. It's got a rich history. So, jonathan, why don't you kick us off here with a little bit about Spicers?
Speaker 3:Yeah, so Spicers Music is a family-owned business and the Spicer family opened the doors to the shop on December 1st of 2012.
Speaker 3:So we've been here for going on 13 years and it really started primarily focused on lessons.
Speaker 3:So the goal was to build a lesson program that focused on kids but really, you know, could bleed over into college students, adults, senior citizens, you name it really just want to create a space where people could come in, share their passion music, learn about music, learn to play an instrument and ultimately, that bring them joy.
Speaker 3:And so that was really the mission and vision from the Spicer family behind the business and it really took off. They were able to hire just some phenomenal instructors that have been in the Arian community for a long time, and so the program really started to take off, and that created a demand for retail, and so that's where the retail portion of our business started to come into play and we started getting, you know, guitars and amps and ukuleles and drums, keyboards, and it just kind of went on from there and has expanded into a really large part of our business. Today I would say that our retail department and our lesson program are kind of the two pillars of our business and through those two have. Really that's where everything else has come from, from PA rentals and live sound events. We do some instrument rentals, we do repairs, so it really has everything has kind of trickled down from the lesson program and from retail and has brought us to where we are today.
Speaker 2:Well, Jonathan, tell me a little bit about what you do at Spicers Music.
Speaker 3:Yeah, so I am kind of the point person on site at this point so I help run the day-to-day. I'm sure that's all going smoothly and our staff has what they need in order to be able to run their department sufficiently and just provide the best experience for our customers, the best customer service that we can, and ensure that the Spicer's Music standards are being met, and that really is kind of my top priority.
Speaker 2:Okay, Well, we also have Rachel Pair with us Now. Rachel, what do you do at Spicers and tell me how you got into the business.
Speaker 4:Yes, so I am our lesson program manager. So, like Jonathan said, we have a great lessons program. We have, I believe, right now, 28 music instructors. So I, along with our lesson coordinator, lucy Ward, we help maintain and run our programs and get them signed up and started in their music lesson journeys and help manage all of the scheduling for all of our instructors and all of our families and parents. So really, like Jonathan said, just the day-to-day of making sure it all happens. It's chaotic in the afternoons when we get all of our students in, you know, after school, but it's a joy and it's such a blast getting to connect with so many people in our community. And, yeah, we just make sure the ship stays afloat each day.
Speaker 2:So I have, you know, a personal experience with you guys. What I really like about you guys is it's not just for children, it's also for adults, and I my adult son took piano lessons with you guys for a little while and I just thought that was really cool, that you don't have to be a kid to take music lessons. You know, I love that about it.
Speaker 4:That's absolutely wonderful. Yeah, that is that's one of our big things. When people ask, a lot of people do just think it's for kids, but I would say, if not more, at least one third of our students are college age and above, and mostly at the above, which is awesome. So we really love that and I had an interesting like coming into it. I started out.
Speaker 4:We have a summer camp program and we do camps from first week of June to the end of July, so I started out just doing camps our rock camp program and then Tim, our owner, who started the business. I got to know him through camps and he always each year was like, if you want a job, let me know, let me know. And then a few years, like right in 2020, I finally gave in and came in for an interview and you know, it was one of those things where you know you have the skills, but there's always a self doubt and I always tell people Tim believed in me before. I believed in myself and really just stepped up and gave me the opportunity and I taught for three and a half years. I still teach a little bit before moving up to the lesson program and managing side of things, but it's been such a joy to grow alongside the business Awesome.
Speaker 2:Well, jonathan, can you tell you know you've been in this business for a while now. I'm certain you have come across some misconceptions that people have about what you guys do or maybe the music industry in general. What are some of those things that you'd like to kind of clear up?
Speaker 3:Yeah, I think we were just hitting on it that there we hear it all the time. We'll have adults come in and you know, particularly in the like 40 and up range, and they will always, you know they'll make some passing comment about like, yeah, I always wanted to learn how to play guitar or something.
Speaker 3:but I know it's too late or, you know, I'm too old now I can't, can't teach a dog new tricks, that kind of thing, and it is just the furthest from the truth.
Speaker 3:We have had, you know, brand new students before close to like 80 years old, students before close to like 80 years old. Pick up, you know, an instrument for the first time and it clicks. You know they're, they're able to, to play these songs that they've always dreamed of being able to play. And so, uh, we're really big on trying to encourage people, especially in that that age range of older adults that you know. If you feel like it's just beyond you at this point, it's absolutely not, and it, in a lot of ways, it's. I think it can be an even more joyful experience, starting something that much later, after you've had all this time to kind of build up to something that you always wish you could do, and then when they finally get to realize they can do it, um, it's, it's really cool to see yes, I think we as adults, we tend to like focus on our work and and leave our you know creative side.
Speaker 2:You know, like I can't, don't have time to do that, but you know you make time for what you want to do, and if you've always wanted to learn how to play an instrument, you can, why not? So let me ask you this, jonathan Part of the reason I do this podcast is to encourage people to go into business for themselves or to be an entrepreneur or or or what you know, and kind of give them an idea of what it's like. Can you tell me a little bit about yourself, or maybe just about the business? Were there any kind of hardships that you encountered, either personal or business-wide, that helped the business be stronger or yourself personally stronger?
Speaker 3:Yeah, that's a great question. I feel like it could go in a multitude of different directions. I would say that I think from my position here and I've been with the business for about eight years now, and so I've seen it through a lot of different seasons- and a lot of growth, but I was also here for when the.
Speaker 3:COVID pandemic came through and things just started shutting down everywhere and for, you know, certainly not just us, you know, but business owners across the world, it's just a lot of question marks at that point of something so unprecedented. And we're not, you know, we're not considered essential. We, you know, aren't a grocery store. We're not a doctor's office, you know we are. We try to provide, you know, just joy through music. And so, you know, we definitely, once things started to shut down, started to have concerns about. You know, what is this going to mean for us? Because people, people can't leave their homes. The biggest thing that we do are lessons, and those are one-on-ones getting right across from a person.
Speaker 1:You know.
Speaker 3:So it just felt like the, the fundamentals of what we did every day were kind of out the window for for an indefinite amount of time.
Speaker 3:But you know, I think that whole experience and seeing you know the Spicer family and their leadership and Tim's leadership, it was definitely a weird. The only thing we can do is just weather this storm and still continue to be the business that we are in whatever capacity we can. And so we made a really quick pivot to utilizing Zoom for virtual lessons and were able to actually retain a large number of our students, which kept the business alive. I mean, there were so many others in our industry in particular that had to close their doors permanently during this time, and so we were just so grateful to our customers and students for sticking with us and we did a curbside pickup and you know it was pretty remarkable. There was actually a big boom within the music retail industry during COVID because so many people were at home.
Speaker 3:They had time and needed something to do, and so the next thing you knew guitars were just the hot thing and we struggled to even like get some in for a while because the manufacturers were struggling to keep up and they were trying to balance their circumstances and keep churning out guitars.
Speaker 3:so you know it was um, it was a scary thing to come face to face with something like that and not know whether or not you're going to be able to keep your doors open. But I think just the perseverance and weathering the storm and pushing through just really strengthened our business and certainly myself, and just the confidence I have in who we are and the foundation that we've set. Confidence I have in who we are and the foundation that we've set, and I think that if you can feel confident in yourself and your business in that way, you can really weather anything that's at you.
Speaker 2:And it's so important that you just think about pivoting and not just shutting down. And that's impressive, yes, Well, Rachel, tell me a little bit about you. Know what you wish people knew about? Spicers music? The one thing you wish people knew about that maybe they don't realize.
Speaker 4:Yeah, absolutely. I think we touched on it a little bit earlier, Susanna. Like you said, you know there's so many things that take up our time and our energy and we don't know that we have one more thing we can invest in. But music is a joyful thing from the bottom to the top and it is worth giving it a shot and worth investing your time. It is never too late.
Speaker 4:Like Jonathan said, we've had several people start in their 70s. I can't tell you how many people retire from their careers and then invest their time and find so much joy in learning something new. So really, it's never, never too late to give it a shot and to jump in and join all of us in the joy of what music can bring. It is the universal language. It connects people that would never be connected before and it's such a powerful thing that we just love to do and we love getting to be part of Auburn, Obelika and beyond. We have people that come into the store or come in for lessons from all around Alabama and it just feels like such a unique privilege to get to connect with them. So it is never too late to start. We want you here, we would love to have you here and I think that is just the biggest thing from all of us at the Spicers team. It's a joy to get to connect with everyone and take care of them.
Speaker 2:Absolutely so. As we kind of wrap up our conversation here, I want to ask both of you and we'll start with Rachel what do you do for fun when you're not at Spicers Music? Great question.
Speaker 4:I'm pretty involved in our community theater, which is a blast, yes, so I go from music here to music there, which is a lot of fun, and then really just try to spend time with friends and family. That is my main focus. I did pottery for a little while. I need to get back into that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, what about you, jonathan?
Speaker 3:Yeah, I am a husband and a dad to a five-year-old and a three-year-old. So, there is tons of fun at my house I am typically, as soon as I leave here, I'm headed home to either coach T-ball, go watch gymnastics or paint at home, jump on the trampoline, something like that. So it is usually some sort of activity with my kids.
Speaker 2:Well, Jonathan, what is the best way for someone to get in touch with Spicers if they want to explore their more creative side?
Speaker 3:Yeah, absolutely we are. We're big on connecting with people face to face. So if you want to just come into the store, please do. Somebody will be here ready to greet you and talk with you. We're on East University Drive. We also we've got a plethora of email addresses, but probably the best one to reach out to specifically for lessons would be lessons at SpicersMusiccom. You can also call us at 334-329-7529. And we've got quite a bit of information on our website as well, at SpicersMusiccom.
Speaker 2:Well, it's been a pleasure talking to you both. Thank you so much for being with me.
Speaker 4:Thank you. Thank you much for being with me, thank you. Thank you, suzanne, it was wonderful.
Speaker 1:Thank you for listening to the Good Neighbor Podcast, auburn. To nominate your favorite local businesses to be featured on the show, go to gnpauburncom. That's gnpauburncom, or call 334-429-7404.