(page 46) JULY 2015
THE REAL DEAL BY KINSEY GUSTAFSON
Names: Dan Haggerty // Hometown: Rapid City //Ages: 57 // Specialty: Retail Sales and Visual Merchandising my four children and eight grandchildren. My son adopted three international children and one grandchild is deaf, so we take sign language classes each week! I see a lot of kids walking in with instruments. What do you offer for lessons? Dan: In the small rooms up above the retail space are lesson rooms. We have about 350 students a week that come through to various private teachers. Those private teachers information is online. If there was no school music program, there’d be no need for them to come here and play. The orchestra program has been recognized nationally multiple times. If you compared Stevens or Central [High School] to a basketball team, we would have won 'State A' for the last 30+ years. We have one heck of a string and band program in Rapid City. So the school programs are pretty important to Haggerty’s?
DAN HAGGERTY Haggerty’s Musicworks has been a fixture in the Rapid City community for decades, selling reeds for clarinets and bass guitars for bands. The business was started in 1963 as a department store by Dan Haggerty’s father, which sold instruments in the back. In 1979, Haggerty’s became an official music instrument retailer and Dan took over the retail business. Their large electric guitar sign has become a Rapid City icon, but now Haggerty’s has branched out. How did you get started with Haggerty’s Music store? Dan: My background is in visual merchandising and doing displays. That was my love that started from the department store we had over in Baken Park. Then we bought this space and it went to an instrument retailer. We also have other sides to Haggerty’s now. As far as the retail side of the store, I’m in charge of the retail side, my brother Tom is in charge of the contracting side, and we have an e-commerce violin store that my nephew Pat runs out of Bozeman, Mont. What instruments can you play,
and what is your favorite music to listen to? Dan: I play guitar. My favorite musicians to listen to are my coworkers! I’m treated to some diverse music, from bands Funk Nasty and Pumpin’ Ethel to the Black Hills Symphony. What are your favorite music events to attend in the Black Hills? Dan: My favorite event is the Habitat for Humanity Christmas fundraiser. Doyle Dykes, one of the world’s top finger-style guitarists, comes from Nashville every year. I love watching the videos produced by Walk Off the Earth. I also love the music at my church, Rimrock, where my brother is the worship leader. What do you like to do in your spare time? Dan: I have been volunteering for 15 years with International Student Inc. I enjoy woodworking and riding my motorcycle with my wife of 35 years, Lornell. I also spend time with
Dan: Elementary music is crucial to having a band and orchestra program. There’s no question that getting rid of elementary music would cripple the [high school] programs. In September, we not only rent band and orchestra instruments in Rapid City but we travel all across North West Nebraska, all of Western South Dakota, and Eastern Wyoming. We travel to the schools and rent band instruments to starting fifth graders. You can start orchestra in fourth grade in Rapid City, and you can start band in fifth grade. So kids get a chance to try both and see which one they want to hone in on. What types of retail items do you carry at Haggerty’s? Dan: We are one of the top few independent Epiphone guitar dealers in the nation. There are chain stores and then there’s us. We sell a ton of Epiphone, Taylor, Fender and Gretsch guitars. Those are our primary brands that we carry. We have guitars from $100-4,000. We have amplifiers from $80 to several thousand dollars. The retail store is referred to as a musical combo store. That’s primarily guitars, and keyboards, amplifiers, those kind of things. That’s the emphasis of the store throughout the year. We have over 150 string instruments on the wall at any one time. We also sell a lot of PA gear and lighting. That’s where the crossover between the two businesses kind of starts. My brother is full time in the contracting side of the business and we do digital design for sound systems. Our systems are pretty much at every larger venue around Rapid City - The Rushmore Plaza Civic Center, Main Street Square, and more. You have such a great showroom! Dan: Thank you. Our visual impact is very unusual for a music store. We’ve had multiple music store owners come in and say it’s one of the coolest music stores they’ve ever seen. Everyone works really hard at it. That’s part of being in the lighting business, too. It goes back to my days in the department store Haggerty’s Musicworks is located at 2520 W. Main St, Rapid City. More info: haggertysmusic.com or (605) 348-6737.