Owner Talks Guitars, Vinyl & More

Round Hill Music, the name of the Josh Gruss-led, private-equity backed company with more than $1.1 billion in music assets under management, now adorns a physical music store in Greenwich, Conn.

The 1,100-square-foot outlet, which opened last month, hawks high-end guitars and amps as well as a healthy offering of vinyl and other merchandise in a store designed to appeal to the entire family, says Gruss, who is the store’s sole owner. In his day job, Gruss is the CEO of Round Hill Music, the music asset company that’s also a full-service music company which owns or represents rights in music written or performed by the likes of Bobby Darin, Brittany Howard, Gil Scott-Heron, Rob Thomas, Ashley Gorley, Bruce Cockburn, Massive Attack, Collective Soul, Skid Row, Craig Wiseman and Randy Bachman, according to the company’s website.

While the impetus may have been to open a guitar store, Gruss says he wanted it to have broad appeal for the whole family: “If parents come in with a son for a guitar, maybe mom will pick up a shirt or a candle. Another family had a 4-year-old daughter, and we had a kid guitar for her. While the main focus is the high-end guitars and amps, we have something for everybody.” Beyond the above items, the store’s inventory includes sunglasses, rock ’n’ roll t-shirts, hand-made jean jackets, art for sale and even an ashtray. 

But in the first few weeks of operation, the big eye-opener has been the strength of the record store component, says Gruss. The shop carries some 1,500 vinyl albums, all new — and that has turned out to be the surprise selling category. “Everyone loves music, and we all know vinyl has resurged in popularity,” says Gruss. While he says he was hoping that vinyl would be the secondary reason customers visited the store, “it turns out it’s the primary reason,” he reports. “So far, about 20% of our vinyl inventory is getting sold per week. So far, our No. 1 seller is a local jam band called Goose. Everyone comes in asking for them.”

In assembling the retail outlet, Gruss, who plays guitar in an original rock band called Rubikon and a cover band called Kaintuck, says he was inspired by memories from when he was younger. “My favorite thing to do as a kid was look at guitars in guitar stores, especially those on 48th Street,” he recalls, referencing the Manhattan block between 6^th and 7^th Avenues that, in the 1960s through the 1990s, was known as Music Row for the many musical instrument stores lining the street (the most famous being Manny’s Music).

“Even today, when I travel to places like Stockholm and Paris, I check out guitar stores,” says Gruss. Over the years, he adds, “I built up an idea of what I like in a guitar store.”

It wasn’t until the COVID pandemic that Gruss decided to act on his vision. “It was during the height of COVID when I was going through town [and] I see the ‘for sale’ sign on this building,” he remembers. “With my contrarian hat on, I thought, maybe I can get a good price.” After buying the building, he set about planning for the guitar store, a category that Greenwich — although rich in various types of retail — lacked.

In conceptualizing the Round Hill Music store, Gruss explains he didn’t want it to focus on things you can find at Guitar Center, which he acknowledges as the dominant merchant of musical instruments and equipment in the U.S. As a result, he gave the store a high-end boutique slant, which, considering its location, makes sense: Greenwich is consistently ranked as one of the wealthiest communities in the U.S., with a median household income of $180,000 in 2021, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

While there are many affordable and recognized guitar brands in the store, it also has more unique items. Case in point: a $20,000 replica of “Greeny,” a 1959 Les Paul Standard guitar named after its owner, Fleetwood Mac’s Peter Green, who sold it to Thin Lizzy’s Gary Moore and which eventually wound up with Metallica guitarist Kirk Hammett. Gruss says the store ordered the replica from the Gibson Custom shop, noting the company only made 50 as part of a limited-edition run.

With guitars by Gibson, Fender, Paul Reed Smith, Taylor LsL Instruments, Ernie Ball, Rock N Roll Relics and Suhr, Gruss says he wants the store to be a haven for musicians and collectors as well as younger consumers, which is why it also carries guitars attractive to beginners. Beyond guitars, the store carries premium speakers from Devialet and Transparent and apparel by Madeworn, Daydreamer and Rowdy Sprout.

Beyond inventory, Gruss says he wanted Round Hill Music to have a different feel than Guitar Center. “We want our store to be as welcoming as possible and we want people to sit and play as much as possible,” he says. In contrast, he says Guitar Center can be intimidating for customers, with a sales staff that he believes measures whether people have money to buy a guitar and may require some kind of collateral if a customer wants to play one of the nicer models on the floor.

Consequently, he says he wants the Round Hill Music store to be welcoming to all ages and hopes it will give young customers the opportunity to enjoy the same experience he had as a teenager at similar shops. He also expresses the hope that the store can be a place where music fans interact with one another.

To make sure the Round Hill store is correctly merchandised and boasts a welcoming atmosphere, Gruss says having the right staff is key, citing the “super knowledgeable” John Mahoney, who works as the store’s operations manager. He adds that his vision was carried out “by a great group of people” who previously worked in retail at other music instrument stores, including Sam Ash. In total, the store is currently staffed with six employees.

At the store’s opening event, what Gruss sees as intrinsic to the store’s future success — an in-store stage — was put to good use by the Mike Stern Band, which played a high-energy set that left the crowd wanting more. “We will program the store with plenty of in-store artist events, including up-and-coming songwriters and local singer-songwriters,” Gruss says. 

Gruss points out that he’s also using the store to promote the Round Hill Music catalog business, noting that artists and songwriters in the music-asset company’s catalog have their own section in the shop; the inventory there includes albums by Soul Coughing, System Of A Down and Neon Trees. “The store is a great way to spread the Round Hill network,” he says. “It will really help out the rest of the business.”