Next month’s opening of Tom Lindl Guitar & Entertainment will be the culmination of a lifelong dream for the local musician.
“This has been a dream of mine since I was 16 years old,” Lindl said last week, standing in the midst of what will soon be his new store and studio. Many of his teenage years were spent frequenting a music shop called Mainly Music in his hometown of Red Deer, he added. “That’s where I bought my first guitar with my own money. This has pretty much been a lifelong dream.”
Lindl, who has offered guitar lessons in Innisfail for about seven years, has pegged mid-November as the opening date for his new business. The store, located downtown at 5023 50 St. – the former location of Innisfail Flowers & Gifts - will carry a selection of new and used musical instruments, including guitars, basses, keyboards and drums; accessories including reeds, strings, straps, amplifiers, music books, manuscripts and blank tablature; as well as CDs featuring local and independent artists. Guitar repair and setup services will be offered at the back end of the shop and Lindl is considering using the shop’s old cooler for a sound studio for lessons.
Lindl is planning on carrying a number of lines, including G&L Guitars, Trabane Bass Company, Michael Kelly, Schecter, Martin, Tanglewood, and Yamaha, as well as Mapex drums.
Before moving to Innisfail, Lindl had offered guitar lessons in Red Deer. After a few years off he began offering lessons to a family friend’s two sons who had received guitars for Christmas.
“At that point we thought if I could teach a couple of students, why couldn’t I teach another six or seven?” Lindl recalled. “As soon as I put an ad in the paper I basically had a dozen students within a couple of weeks. It was pretty obvious there was a demand.”
As that demand increased, Lindl realized he was no longer able to offer lessons at his home and the Ol’ Moose Hall, so he moved to a new location with Jeannette Mancer of Jeannette’s Music Studio, whom he had collaborated with in the past. Fellow guitarist Ryan Smith soon joined them.
“It was a good solution at the time – it got me into a bigger space, a more professional-commercial style space,” Lindl said of the location above Royal LePage’s offices.
Initially marketed to his students, Lindl started the retail side of his business a few years ago.
“I had lots of inquiries prior to that and that’s primarily why I started bringing strings and accessories and instruments in,” he said. “People were phoning and saying, ‘Your name is Tom Lindl Guitar. Do you sell guitars? Do you sell strings?’”
With his stock continually selling out, Lindl started looking for a better spot to operate his retail business. Many of his suppliers require that a business be storefront and street-level before they will grant access to their lines. When the former flower shop became available, Lindl said he jumped at the opportunity.
“The day after I started thinking about that, this place came up for rent,” he said. After discussions with his wife, Mancer and Smith, Lindl made the decision to move. “A lot of the stuff that was in here, other renters who had been here wanted this stuff ripped out. I looked at it and said, ‘Wow! This is perfect.’”
