Freehold music store ending its 73-year-long song, shutting doors for good

FREEHOLD TOWNSHIP – Freehold Music Center−Musical Instruments & Lesson Studio, whose customers during the past 73 years have included school kids, amateur guitar players, up-and-coming musicians and legends, will close at the end of the month, its owner said.

Bill Marinella, the owner who himself has been working at the shop for more than 40 years, said the store had been operating on a month-to-month lease. Its landlord has lined up a new tenant that is ready to sign a longer-term lease for the space.

“I’m 68 years old,” he said on Friday. “I’m not ready to commit to another long-term lease.”

Freehold Music Center in the Freehold Mall on Route 9 sells instruments such as guitars and drums, provides repairs and offers lessons. And it’s a branch of an iconic store founded by Michael Diehl, whose music students included Bruce Springsteen.

(Freehold Music Center−Pianos, a sister business on Route 9 whose owners include Diehl’s grandson, Chris, remains open).

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The instrument and studio business was hurt in recent years by online shopping and COVID-19, when, Marinella said, the store closed for three months and missed out on a wave of consumers who were stuck in isolation and decided to learn to play the guitar.

Since announcing its closing in a Facebook post on Feb. 5, long-time customers have been drawn to the store, buying discounted instruments and remembering the time they took their children there for lessons or found just the right guitar.

More than a hobby

Gab Cinque, 22, of Freehold Township, stopped in one day last week to buy a 12-string guitar.

Cinque said she bought her first guitar and took music lessons at the store. She didn’t grow up in a musical family, but she struck a friendship with employees there, who launched her on the road to her current profession as the lead singer for the Gab Cinque Band, a rock band that started in 2022.

“My dad used to take me there, and before I could even play anything I would kind of look at the instruments and wish I could,” Cinque said. “It’s sad to see a place where I started doing music go.”

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A wall of guitars at the Freehold Music Center as the going out of business sale continues Wednesday, February 7, 2024. The store, which dates to 1951, will close at the end of February.

Marinella grew up in Union Beach and Aberdeen and was taught by his grandmother how to play the accordion. He hated it. But he learned the basics of how to read music. And he transferred his skills to the organ and the piano, taking lessons from musicians he described as heavy hitters and becoming skilled enough to become a touring musician.

He joined a rock band called The Box Tops and traveled around North America for three years before returning to Monmouth County to search for a steady job. He was one of 50 people who applied for three positions at Freehold Music’s store at the Monmouth Mall, and he was hired, first selling pianos, then overseeing a new part of the business: non-piano instruments.

In 1992, Michael Diehl decided to split the business between pianos and other instruments, and he sold the non-piano business to Marinella. The two continued to operate together in Freehold Township under one roof.

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Marinella worked nearly every day, while still playing in a local band on weekends. While the store faced increasing competition from chains, “I could deal with that because the customer still had to get in their car and go to the store,” Marinella said. “We had a lot of knowledge because we were all musicians. This is what we do and what we’ve always done.”

The business model didn’t last. The internet began to siphon away customers. And the Freehold Music Center made way for an Aldi supermarket and moved into two separate locations: Musical Instruments & Lesson Studios found a new space in Freehold Mall and Pianos opened two miles away on Route 9.

Music books, including Trombone for Taylor Swift, are 50% off at the Freehold Music Center as the going out of business sale continues Wednesday, February 7, 2024. The store, which dates to 1951, will close at the end of February.

‘It was kind of bittersweet’

The pandemic was another blow. Consumers were stuck in isolation with plenty of time on their hands. But they turned online to buy instruments. The online retailer Sweetwater said its customers grew from just under 1 million in 2019 to 1.5 million in 2020, and sales topped $1 billion for the first time in the company’s 42-year history.

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Freehold Music reopened, but Marinella said he struggled to be profitable. When his landlord told him it had a new tenant for the space, he decided to close rather than move, noting it would be expensive to replace the store’s existing studios.

“When they told me I had 30 days to get out, it was kind of bittersweet,” Marinella said. “I was up at night with my eyes open, (thinking), I’m going to miss this really bad. I’m going to miss my customers and getting up every day having to go somewhere and do something. It’s going to be a big change.”

“But as time goes on, I’m getting to be at peace with it,” he said. “Because at 68, it’s probably enough. It’s a tough business, right? It’s really tough.”

Michael L. Diamond is a business reporter who has been writing about the New Jersey economy and health care industry for more than 20 years. He can be reached at [email protected].

This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: Freehold music store ending its 73-year-long song, shutting doors for good