stand it. People are using Claude and Gemini as the base LLM, but what seems to be more important these days is the agent’s runtime environment. You hear a lot about tools like OpenClaw or Hermes Agent.” For MI retailers balancing inventory management, accounting, online purchasing, lesson scheduling and customer engagement, the technology represents a major operational shift. “Strictly speaking, none of the tools we use in the business are agentic — it’s the way I make them that takes advantage of agents,” said Jeremie Murfin, owner of Five Star Guitars in Beaverton, Oregon. “I look for tasks that nobody likes doing but are repetitive, frequent and necessary or for problems I can’t solve. I try to build a script or app that does it, usually using a program called Cursor.” Murfin said he’s developed custom internal tools that automate tasks like invoice processing and bill entry into QuickBooks. Time-consuming tasks are now simplified and the work becomes paperless. “I used to spend two full days a week on data entry, repeatedly downloading PDF attachments from email, printing them out, entering each payment one at a time into QuickBooks and then filing them away,” Murfin said. “Now, it’s a couple of mouse clicks, paperless and the process takes less than five minutes. I wouldn’t have had the time to write that much code and safely check it without the agent writing, organizing and testing a lot of it for me. It’s not making decisions on my behalf, but it is getting work done. Time saved has been roughly two days a week for several years.” Empowering the Retail Experience W ith every new wave of AI advancement comes an equally familiar wave of uncertainty and fear. For many music retailers, the conversation surround- ing agentic AI isn’t about replacing employee roles. Instead, it’s about creating smarter systems that remove operational friction and allow staff to focus on more meaningful work. “Before AI, I was overwhelmed by all the things I couldn’t do. With AI, I’m overwhelmed by all the things I can do,” Dods said. “There’s also AI FOMO, which is a problem all in itself. You start using one technology, the next week something better comes out, now you’re learning a new technology.” Dods said that the AI-driven workflows are already saving his staff time across multiple tasks. “What do our employees do with that extra time? We hope they feel less stressed out,” Dods said. “We hope it creates a more livable working situation, so, when we need help, they have the extra capacity. We also hope they have more time for creative projects, helping customers and organizing the store.” Another retailer taking a measured approach to agentic AI adoption is Coralville, Iowa-based West Music, where its leadership is exploring how autonomous workflows
PETER DODS Owner Easy Music Center in Honolulu
JEREMIE MURFIN Owner Five Star Guitars in Beaverton, Oregon
RYAN WEST Owner West Music in Coralville, Iowa
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