ROCHESTER, N.Y. (WROC) — Bernunzio Uptown Music, a new, used, and vintage guitar and stringed instrument shop in Rochester’s East End, is back open to foot traffic.
It’s the first time the store has been open to the public since the pandemic. They will be open for walk-in customers Thursday through Saturday 11 a.m. – 5 p.m.
They are also looking to book regular weekend classes, jams, performances, and more.
The store started in a basement —
first doing business as a catalog and shipper before a physical space. They opened up in the East End space in 2006.
And to this day, owner of the store John Bernunzio, says that a lot of their business, especially after the pandemic, is still online.
“Business was still good, because frankly, during the pandemic, people were buying things like crazy,” Bernunzio said. “(People) were home, they had money, and they had nothing else to do.”
But even with that business, Bernunzio and his staff needed something more:
“There was still something missing, we missed our friends, we missed the people, and one of the reasons we opened the store was to be part of the musical community,” he said. “I’m a people person, I have been all my life, I taught school for 20 years… (teaching) special education, and I always say that helped me deal with musicians, because they have special needs “
Bernunzio and his wife Julie moved to Penn Yann in the pandemic. So they make the trip up when the store is open, staying with one of their daughters. Fittingly, in a basement.
And now, the hallowed hall musical hall of Bernunzio Uptown Music is ready to be filled with local musicians, accomplished teachers, students, and people of all sorts, here to jam out, and take in the sights and the sounds.