New national music store opens doors in former Ninow’s location downtown

A new music store has taken up shop in the former Ninow’s location at 30 West Main.

Music & Arts, a national music store with three other locations on Long Island, opened yesterday in the newly renovated ground floor storefront where Ninow’s Music closed its doors in April. It is the first national retail tenant to open on Main Street.

The store’s inventory should be fully stocked by the end of next week with instruments, accessories and sheet music, according to manager Joseph Albanese.

Music & Arts will also provide instrument rentals and repairs. Music lessons will be offered later this year for all instruments except percussion.

“Our lessons are for all skill levels,” Albanese said. “We’ll have some very basic lessons for the three- and four-year-olds, all the way up to someone who’s been playing for their entire life.”

Music & Arts has more than 130 retail locations nationwide, including in Mount Sinai, Stony Brook and Lindenhurst. It is the nation’s largest provider of private music lessons.

The store is currently opening as a temporary trial location with a six-month lease. If the business is doing well after six months, Albanese said, the store will make plans to stay.

That includes plans for expansion within the 30 West Main storefront or, alternatively, moving next-door to 20 West Main, which will provide the music store with a much larger space after building owner Georgia Malone’s planned renovations are completed.

Malone owns 30 West Main and is in the process of buying 20 West Main. She carried out major renovations last year on the 30 West Main building, which opened in January with affordable shared offices and suites in addition to its retail space on the ground floor.

“I really wanted to have another music store in this space,” Malone said this afternoon. “A music store would serve the community wonderfully.”

Ninow’s Music closed after 60 years of business this April. After moving shop to 30 West Main from Railroad Avenue in 2013, former Ninow’s owner Ralph Vail said the store simply couldn’t recover from years of poor business and the increasing dominance of the internet retail sector.

“I feel responsible to make sure something good opens here,” Malone said. “I want people to do things in Riverhead, to come downtown and do some of their shopping here. Keeping businesses downtown is so important for that reason.”