You could say that music is in Rob Seal’s DNA. His granddad was a bluegrass musician from Russell County who took him to picking parties every summer, and his brother is a professional guitar player in Nashville. Seal took up the instrument at an early age and possesses the most important skills for opening a music store … passion for playing and talking to people. 

“My wife and I always liked the idea of opening a music store, and it was part of our plan for later in life,” said Seal. “We noticed that every music store in the area closed during the pandemic, but national data showed that sales went up for guitars, and we thought it was a good time to give it a shot.”

Seal had a successful career in higher education communications and marketing but thought he might be able to offer those services as a contractor and simultaneously open the store. He and his wife Brandi considered ways to tap into the rich musical tradition and cultural heritage of the Shenandoah Valley region as well as the nuts and bolts of running a successful business. 

“Patsy Cline was from the Valley, the Statler Brothers are from over here in Staunton and Virginia is doing a good job promoting the Crooked Road* in Southwest Virginia,” said Seal. “Those are the soft metrics that I care about. My wife was the one who understood how many units we needed to acquire and sell and how many students must be signed up for this to work.”

Brandi used her planning skills as a certified public accountant to help refine their approach. In the end, Seal decided to stick to what he knew by focusing on teaching as well as selling high-end acoustic guitars and instruments in the bluegrass family.

Seal equates the process of starting the business to jumping out of a plane, allotting a five- to six-month planning runway before taking off on August 5, 2023. The pair opened limited liability companies for Waynesboro Music and his freelance communications marketing work and reached out to the Waynesboro EDA to help them with financing to get the new venture off the ground.

“I didn’t want to overburden my family with debt to launch what might or might not be a viable business,” explained Seal. “So, we ended up taking advantage of this loan program to help with construction expenses and acquire some of the inventory I wanted to have when we opened our doors.

“The terms for the $15,000 loan were better than we would have gotten on the open market rate, and we had a line to some liquidity that made the difference between us being anemic and providing a healthy offering for the community. The paperwork is really easy too and the city was really clear about the terms.”

With the finances in place, the Seals then turned their attention to fine tuning the operation. They found they had more questions than answers at times as they determined which product lines to carry and how much stock to acquire but never had to worry about having a support network.

“I feel like Waynesboro has had the best run downtown for the last couple of years, thanks in no small part to these guys,” said Seal. “Greg’s office put together some good meetings to build a strong network and there are some great places to shop downtown.

“People are interested in Waynesboro because of the burgeoning real estate market in Charlottesville. Either by design or accident, the city has done a good job of not developing too fast.”

That recipe for success includes Waynesboro EDA’s strong partnership with USDA Rural Development to provide financing at the right time to help businesses take off, fly high, and clear obstacles for smooth landings.

*The Crooked Road is a 333-mile-long driving trail connecting 10 major venues and over 50 affiliate venues that preserve and promote traditional Appalachian old time and bluegrass music.