By Angela Brown

Music shop closes as owners retire

Aug 1, 2017 | 1:44 PM

It was a sad day for North Battleford music lovers on July 31 when long-time owners of Classic Trading Music Supply decided to hang up their hats.

Kelly Kopp and his wife Lillian ran their business for 30 years, and said it was time to retire.

Kelly said it wasn’t a matter of having enough business, and described sales at the store on 20th Avenue as “lucrative.”

“I’ve enjoyed the business,” he said.

The store which sells new and used musical instruments and other items first started as a pawn shop on 106 St. where it was originally located. About 20 years ago the owners began selling new and used musical instruments and offering repairs.

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Kopp said he had a database of customers reaching as many as 12,400, with clients coming from all over the area, including Lloydminster, Prince Albert and Saskatoon, even stretching as far as Cold Lake, Alberta.

He said it was a tough decision when he and his wife decided to close the business.

“The time has come when we feel that we wanted to do some of the things in our life that we didn’t have time for while running the business,” Kopp said. “That was pretty much the reason that we shut it down.”

Now that the store is closed, he plans to liquidate the remainder of the stock and sell it online.

He and his wife initially looked to see if someone wanted to purchase the business, where they leased space on 20th Avenue in the North end of town, but didn’t find a buyer.

While there will now be one more vacant store off 100 Street, with the closure of Classic Trading Music Supply, the City of North Battleford and Battlefords Chamber of Commerce are optimistic North Battleford will see a growth in business soon.

Mayor Ryan Bater said since the city recently unveiled its new incentive policy it should help create more interest in revitalizing the downtown business core. He said he has already received a number of phone calls from downtown property owners interested in the program. 

“The greatest incentive for any business is that we have a market here,” he said. 

“We are regularly promoting the city,” the mayor added. “The city’s planning and development department attends shows on a regular basis to try to attract new enterprise.”

Battlefords Chamber of Commerce vice-president Terry Caldwell also remains positive about the future. He commented the province anticipates the economy is expected to grow by over two per cent over the next two years. Caldwell added the local Chamber actively works to support the North Battleford Downtown Business Improvement District (BID) in the community as part of its efforts to help business.   

“I think we’re on the upswing,” Caldwell, who is also a local business owner, said.

“We’ve noticed a definite upswing in business in the last six to eight months for sure,” he said of his own business. 

angela.brown@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @battlefordsNOW