MANAYUNK

Blog post by Manayunk Development Corporation Summer Intern, Ben Chapman

Main Street Music has been a staple of the Manayunk community for almost two and a half decades, after its founding in the fall of 1991. Pat, the owner and founder of Main Street Music, has always had a love and obsession for music. He says this love started in his youth when he first heard The Beatles and his music interests have only diversified since then. Pat sill has a variety of musical tastes but he says his favorite genres are twangy pop or Americana. Some of  Pat’s other favorite artists besides The Beatles includes Steve Earle and Jackson Browne. During his 24 years of business, he said that his favorite part has been recommending music to customers and then having them return with a great love for the band. Even before Pat decided to open Main Street Music, he had numerous years of experience working at another record store in Northeast Philadelphia. However, he believed that he learned enough to be able to run his own business and thus Main Street Music was born.

When he was looking for a home for his record store, Pat believes he had a little bit of dumb luck in finding Manayunk as a home for Main Street Music. The main reason he chose Manayunk was because a friend had recommended it as an up and coming area even though it was mostly restaurants at the time. Pat also had a good feeling about the area and had remembered Manayunk from when he had done furniture shopping here in the 70s and 80s. Even though Pat’s business is centered here, his customers come from all over the Philadelphia area. In recent years, Pat has seen more and more customers coming into his store from the Manayunk area, along with his regular customers.

Besides Pat, Main Street Music also has three other employees. Jamie is the manager of Main Street Music, who deals with running the day to day operations of the store. Mark, who is Jamie’s husband, helps Pat to make surethe shelves of the store are stocked with the more obscure indie music and helps to man the service counter in the store. Last but not least is Edwin, who also helps behind the service counter and helps customers to find exactly what they are searching for. Although, these four people have different jobs they all have the similar qualities of being service oriented and being longtime music lovers. All of the staff are knowledgeable about music in general, as well as the music they have in the store. This common love of music amongst the staff has helped to foster a 20 year relationship with local alternative radio station, WXPN. For the past four years, WXPN has trusted Main Street Music to run and operate the merchandise tent at their annual, three day XPoNential Music Festival. Main Street Music also sets up a small store with their own products for sale, as well.

Back in Manayunk, Main Street Music hosts in-store events periodically throughout the year. This usually involves having a band or artist come into the store, play a set, and then have a small meet and greet. So far this year, Main Street Music has brought in the bands Good Old War, Tall Tales and the Silver Lining, and Dawes. In the near future, Pat and his crew will be bringing the Silversun Pickups, as well as hopefully a few other artists before the years end. Besides offering these in-store performances, Main Street Music offers other great promotions to its customers. The first of these promotions is a Frequent Buyer Card, which just rewards their frequent customers. They also have a Customer of the Month featured on their website and have ticket giveaways on a regular basis, which they promote on Facebook. Their store hours are Monday - Thursday: 11am - 7pm, Friday - Saturday: 11am - 9pm, and Sunday: 12 noon - 6pm, so make sure to stop by next time you’re on Main Street to meet Pat and the crew!