for years. Not that we are talking trash.” “We have a very stern rule about talking trash about Sam Ash: You can’t say anything negative unless you worked there,” Austin added. “And if you do, keep it to a minimum. Because really, we owe everything we have to them. For us, we feel that the closing of Sam Ash Music and the opening of Tone Central Station is the epitome of everything happens to a reason.” A ‘MASTERCLASS’ IN MI RETAIL Another aspect Austin and Jackson are grateful for is the primer they received in running a retail operation while working for Sam Ash Music. “Obviously for Jamie, he had a very, very long career, and so we come at it from dif- ferent heads because he spent so long in one environment with that one corporation and the way they did business,” Austin said. “He had an experience that was very different from mine because mine, up to that point, was all mom-and-pop independent stores where you live by every sale. Sam Ash was a completely different experience for me when I joined them in 2023. It was a different dynamic. I’m thankful that I got to see that
looks, the inventory and some of events and plans that we have in place,” Jackson said. “They’re all really excited for us. The local east Nashville community that we’ve moved into has been very supportive. We’ve got a lot of people coming in and just taking a look and seeing what’s going on. They’re reporting back to each other, and we’re kind of hearing it through several channels, like,
‘Man, so and so was talking about your place, and they say it’s really cool.’ We keep hearing that. It’s been very positive. We’re seeing a very interesting mix of our clientele — including a lot of well-known names that have been walking in and checking us out. I hadn’t really had that for years at Sam Ash, because it became very big box — something I had been reporting to upper management
36 I MUSIC INC. I MAY 2025
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