Tim Pratt served as president of Dietze Music for 13 years before purchasing the company to become the sole owner and CEO in 2020.
“I always tell my staff: we sell cool stuff, so it’s not hard to sell it, you just have to find out what people are looking for,” said Tim Pratt, CEO and owner of Dietze Music, when reflecting on the company’s history. Pratt said it wasn’t major technological advancements or online strategies that led the company to reach the 100-year milestone — it was simply good, old-fashioned customer-centric retailing. “At Dietze Music, there’s a special pas- sion for creating music makers,” Pratt said. “That’s always been first and foremost. You can help someone yourself, and you can teach someone to help someone else, but you can’t teach someone to want to help someone else. A lot of our staff is made up of players and hobbyists who actually want to see the next- generation continue playing music. We aren’t in this business to get rich but to be a part of people’s musical journey. I just want everyone to have a good time and enjoy what they are doing, and I think that love of helping mu- sicians has helped keep this place around.” EXPANDING THE FOOTPRINT From the Great Depression, to WWII, to recessions and the COVID-19 pandemic,
Dietze Music has seen it all — as well as its fair share of partners over the years. With no family interested in continuing August Dietze’s business, several partners have come in to run the store. Pratt himself joined Dietze Music in 1991. As a local musician with experience working at a chain music store, Pratt was hired to open Dietze Music’s first satellite store in Omaha. Now the company’s flagship location, the Omaha store began with just 1,700 square feet and has grown over the last 30-plus years to reach 17,500 square feet. “We built that location into the size that it is today much like Dietze Music has been built over the years — one customer at a time,” Pratt said. “A lot of times, I was just drinking coffee in the showroom and trying to be funny. And, it worked. Customers would bring their friends back and say, ‘You have to come hear this guy because he’s going to say something off the wall to try to get our attention.’ I made a lot of great friends that way and met a lot of great educators and developed a close relationship with the community right away. I really believe that’s the foundation of sales. If you do the front
part of your job right, the rest of it’s easy.” Pratt was brought on as a partner in 1997 and, 10 years later, was named company president. In 2020, he purchased Dietze Music to become the sole owner and CEO. A FOCUS ON TEACHING One key feature that makes Dietze Music stand out is its dedication to its music lessons program. With 16 lessons studios at its Omaha flagship location alone, Dietze Music sees some 650 lessons students a week across all locations. It contracts with all of its teachers. “We’re very particular about who comes to teach for us,” Pratt said. “Our teachers are set on a fee-per-lesson basis. So, I have it set up like if they don’t make money, I don’t make money. As a result, I have some of the top Omaha music educators teaching for us. And they don’t just teach lessons, they teach the foundation of music.” Pratt said in all four of his stores, sales feed lessons and lessons feed sales. “I learned early on to have students and parents walk all the way past every single guitar I have to get to the back of the store where the lesson rooms are,” Pratt said. “In
34 I MUSIC INC. I JUNE 2025
Powered by FlippingBook