Bring out the band! Music store opens in Ferris

A big welcome was rolled out to the community of North Bay at the new Long & McQuade store in West Ferris as the St. Joseph Scollard Hall marching band pulled all stops musically. Hundreds came out to see the brand-new storefront, packed with musical equipment and entertainers all day for their official ribbon cutting on Saturday morning.

Despite the snow, spirits were warm as people explored the massive new space on Lakeshore Drive at the corner of Mulligan. Many took the opportunity to try out the massive stock of instruments, from guitars to ukuleles, pianos, and so, so much more across the massive space.

Jeff Long, VP sales and marketing, said he was excited to finally open this new location in North Bay, one that was being worked on since they first made the deal to come to this community a few months ago.

“The original location wasn’t really the right format for our type of store so when we came up to start talking about the purchase of Music City, we also were scouting locations,” he said. “We also like to own our real estate so as soon as we made the deal for music city we made the deal for this location.”

The new location takes advantage of having a wide-open space; something Long said was to encourage a positive customer experience with all of their stock on display, as well as provide them a greater amount of parking and accessibility for those taking lots of the musical programs offered.

Now that they’ve completed their move, Long & McQuade is looking forward to getting out into the community and fostering musical education with the help of their seven music rooms, group room and programs offered.

At noon the BBQ was rolled out and warmed up and live performers took to the stage to provide some entertainment and encourage the local musical community including:

Rob Wills 12:30
Music City Ukulele Club 1:00
Jason Brock 1:30
Verdon Vaillancourt 2:00
Rosewoodband 2:30
The Angry Pants 3:00
Marie & Joey Everitt 3:30 (Long & McQuade piano and guitar students!)
Michael Denomme 4:00 (Long & McQuade piano & trumpet teacher)
Benjamin Hermann 4:30
Twilight Jazz Group 5:00

Included within the celebrations were giveaways, like a Gibson Les Paul Studio electric guitar in vintage sunburst and chrome worth $1,849; a Roland Go Piano, a Fender American Special Telecaster electric guitar, an Eddy Van Halen 5150 LBX tube guitar amplifier, a Bose L1 Compact portable sound system; and more in store.