Eastside Guitar Repair’s Ryan Lynn, Hank’s Music Exchange’s Hank Failing and Rhythm Traders’ Brad Boynton in the Hank’s Music Exchange showroom.
After a string of rejections from local music businesses, Boynton was nearly ready to lease the extra space to a doggy daycare. Then, Hank Failing, owner of Hank’s Music Exchange, and Ryan Lynn, founder of Eastside Guitar Repair, discov- ered his listing and reached out. Together, the three business owners have transformed the 6,000-square-foot space into the MLK Music Mall, a place where drums, guitars, keyboards, repairs and lessons now coexist under one roof. “It was a magical moment when we real- ized that we all shared the same commitment to our communities,” Boynton said. “With Hank and Ryan we hit a home run — es- pecially since they came as a package deal creating three separate businesses that feed off of each other. We just need a taco cart out back, and we’ll never have to leave.” WHEN THREE PATHS CONVERGE Boynton has been running Rhythm Traders since 1992. What began as importing hand- carved drums from Ghana has evolved into a full-line drum shop, stocking everything from full drum kits to West African djembes. “Believe it or not, I originally began with direct importation because I travel a lot and had met a group of drum carvers in Ghana,
West Africa, that wanted me to market their drums for them,” Boynton said. “In the years since, Rhythm Traders has evolved into a full-line drum shop with every kind of drum you can imagine as well as lessons, repair and still lots of trips abroad.” Boynton, who purchased the building that houses his dealership in 2008, didn’t know Failing and Lynn, when they first reached out to lease space from him. But, the two had been industry friends for some 20 years. Lynn, a touring guitarist, has been running Eastside Guitar Repair since 2008. Failing, a Portland native whose family has deep roots in the local music scene, worked at Portland’s Old Town Music for 23 years, until 2020, when he started Hank’s Music Exchange in the basement of his home. “I was connecting with people through Facebook Marketplace and Craigslist and building up inventory by swapping gear and offering trade-ins,” Failing said. “My base- ment and my shed we’re getting full of gear.” An unlikely run in at a Modest Mouse concert led to a handshake deal for Failing to lease a tiny 350-square-foot retail footprint in Lynn’s guitar repair shop. “So, Hank’s Music Exchange was start- ed inside Eastside Guitar Repair,” Lynn explained. “We had 1,100 square feet total
between the two of us. Hank had about 350 square feet in front, and we shared a kitchen and bathroom. It was really tight and a little distracting for repair work, having constant guitar activity in the front half of the shop, but the relationship and connection to the music community made it worthwhile.” In 2024, Lynn and Failing decided it was time to find bigger space. “We’d been looking and talking about where to go when the Rhythm Traders spot became available,” Lynn said. “It seemed like the perfect opportunity. We met Brad, got a really good vibe from him and felt the gen- eral atmosphere and history he’d built was a perfect fit.” “Up until that point, we didn’t know each other at all,” Boynton added. “But, I knew going in that I wanted to find another complementary retail business. What I love about our setup is that we’re all in completely different lanes but still music-related. I was already seeing signs that retail gets more difficult every year, and I wanted to shore up my business and insulate it from brutal market conditions. I thought about having a nail salon next door, but that wouldn’t drive business to me. So, I held out for something complementary to the music industry. It took about four months until these guys
38 I MUSIC INC. I OCTOBER 2025
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