found me. When we started talking about our collective experience, our ties to the community, all the people we know, and our organizational reputations, it couldn’t have been better.” CREATING THE MLK MUSIC MALL While the MLK Music Mall officially turns a year old this month, the plans were hatched during the COVID pandemic. Boynton said he saw it as a good time to retrofit and received a 75% matching grant from the City of Portland. “I put in the first $25,000 and they matched me with another $75,000,” he said. “I did a renovation that included cutting the showroom in half and creating a brand new separate retail space. I knew I wanted to make this the ‘MLK Music Mall’ — that’s the term we ended up with. Now, I have three complementary businesses, we’re all working together. We’ve become a destination, and I’m able to do the same amount of business, actually slightly more, in half the footprint.” Failing and Lynn both agreed it’s a strategic advantage that Boynton owns the building. “We all have the same motivation, versus working with a management company where the goal is profit year-over-year from the prop-
erty rather than the business,” Failing said. Lynn added that dealing with manage- ment companies and commercial real estate firms can oftentimes be a nightmare for small businesses. “They want profit, and your rights as a commercial tenant aren’t as thorough as residential tenants,” Lynn said. “Knowing that Brad owns the building, and knowing that he has skin in the game with his own business and wanting to see our businesses thrive, allows us to all raise our ships together. That’s huge.” THE POWER OF COLLABORATION & COMMUNITY The symbiotic relationship between the three business owners has yielded positive results for all involved. The one-stop-shopping aspect for bands coming through town, as well as sharing a handyman, are just a few. “There’s also the ability to do vendor in- troductions,” Boynton said. “My Yamaha rep comes here and meets with these guys to sell parts and guitars to them. That builds trust in the industry because my reps know that if I partner with these guys, they must be good people. Another example is, out of the kindness of his heart, Hank came over and
trained my staff on Instagram and showed them what kind of microphones to use, what aspect ratio and a bunch of other stuff we didn’t know.” With an Instagram following of nearly 12K, Failing and the Hank’s Music Exchange team have quite a few social tricks up their sleeve. “Social media is a big thing for Hank’s Music Exchange — that’s how we really got going,” Failing said. “We sell a ton of inven- tory that way. Really, Instagram has been the great multiplier for us. We have procedures that everyone in my shop follows that net us more engagement. For example, we have a schedule that’s two weeks out all the time where we schedule every post with all the details of what we’re going to feature.” Failing’s No. 1 Instagram tip? Hire some- one under 30. “They understand it, and they will do what you don’t want to do,” Failing said. “You really need one employee who will want to put their heart and soul into it so people connect with your platform.” PORTLAND: A UNIQUE MI ECOSYSTEM Another facet that sets the MLK Music Mall apart is its deep roots in the local Portland
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