Three brothers who just wanted to teach guitar lessons accidentally built one of the most successful acoustic instrument shops in the country.
They didn’t have a business plan. They didn’t have startup capital. They didn’t even mean to open a store in the first place.
What they did have was deep knowledge of their instruments and a willingness to try new things.
Years later, Jeremy, John, and Jason Chapman are a NAMM Top 100 dealer, shipping high-end acoustic instruments nationwide. Here’s their story.
Before they owned a store, the Chapman brothers were musicians. They played gigs and taught guitar lessons to make money. Running a retail shop wasn’t even on their minds.
“Everything that we do seems to be an accident that works out,” John said.
The shop they were teaching out of had to close its doors, so they took on the rent payment for the building and eventually switched the lease to their name.
Instead of reinventing themselves as store owners overnight, they kept doing what they already knew. They kept teaching. They kept playing. And little by little, they started selling the acoustic instruments they already loved and understood.
That approach still shapes The Acoustic Shoppe today — a store run by musicians who care deeply about both the instruments they sell and the people they sell them to.
Related Read: How To Schedule Music Lessons at Your Retail Store: 10 Tips
Most music stores try to sell everything — drums, keyboards, guitars, PA systems, band instruments — whatever might walk out the door.
The Chapmans went the opposite direction. They focused exclusively on acoustic instruments and the accessories that go with them.
“We were actually getting to do our own version of a music store,” John explained. “It was specialized, it was all acoustic, it was only about what we knew and not the stuff that we didn’t know.”
That choice shaped the entire business.
When customers came in, they weren’t dealing with generalists. They were talking to people who could explain tone differences, wood selection, setup nuances, and why one instrument might feel right while another didn’t.
That focus also simplified everything behind the scenes — building the website was easier, creating content was simpler, and inventory decisions were clearer. Instead of trying to be everything to everyone, the store had one distinct identity.
The Chapmans knew they didn’t want to sell only to musicians in Springfield, Missouri. They wanted to reach players everywhere.
So they started creating content.
They filmed demos, compared instruments, and shared honest opinions — not sales pitches, but real explanations from musicians who genuinely cared about what they were holding.
“The goal is not necessarily to sell that one instrument,” Jeremy said, “but just to make people feel familiar enough with us that they trust purchasing something from a thousand miles away that they don’t get to play.”
That trust compounded over time.
People started buying guitars without ever playing them first, simply because they’d watched enough videos to feel like they knew the brothers and could trust them.
That’s how a small local shop became a destination for musicians across the country.
When growth brought more complexity, the Chapmans switched to Music Shop 360, an all-in-one point of sale (POS) system, to manage online orders, inventory, and flexible fulfillment. The timing couldn’t have been better.
“When the pandemic hit, we were able to do curbside pickup. We’d never done that before. It was already built in. It was already there,” John remembered.
Because Music Shop 360 already handled online orders, inventory syncing, and fulfillment, they didn’t have to panic when the pandemic disrupted everything.
They didn’t scramble to patch together systems. The tools were already in place, and they simply used them.
One of the Chapmans’ greatest strengths is that they’ve never been married to “the way we’ve always done it.”
“We had moved forward and done ideas that most stores hadn’t touched before, and it’s just because we’re so open, we weren’t stuck in any one way,” John said.
That openness made it easier to adapt — whether it meant adjusting fulfillment methods, improving the website, or responding quickly to changing customer expectations.
Music Shop 360 supports that flexibility by giving them a single platform to manage inventory, customers, and sales, without forcing them into rigid workflows that don’t fit how real music stores operate.
The last few years have been tough for inventory: limited supply, long waits, and constant uncertainty. Many retailers struggled just to keep shelves stocked.
The Chapmans leaned heavily on relationships.
“Relationships were the key throughout this,” John said. “Everybody knows that inventory was impossible.”
Instead of just waiting for shipments, they stayed on the phone with suppliers, kept customers in the loop, and adjusted on the fly. Music Shop 360 helped by showing them exactly what was in stock, what was on order, and what customers were asking for.
Related Read: Inventory Management System for Music Stores: 5 Features [+ 5 Top Providers]
The Acoustic Shoppe works because they’re clear on what matters.
They sell what they know. They talk to customers like musicians, not transactions. And they use tools that make the day-to-day easier. That’s how they compete.
“Autonomous retail places aren’t what people want to buy anymore,” Jason said. “They don’t care about the generic store that has no person that they actually connect with. They already have that. There’s Amazon, there’s all these big companies, Walmarts, all these things that you can buy anything from.”
What people want instead is someone they trust.
“They want to trust you,” Jason added, “because otherwise they can get a cheaper price somewhere else.”
Music Shop 360 is a cloud-based POS system designed specifically for music stores.
It helps stores like The Acoustic Shoppe:
Want to build a POS system that fits your music store? Visit our Build and Price page to customize your setup and see your options.