Today we’d like to introduce you to Henry Aponte.
Henry, before we jump into specific questions, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
My name is Henry Aponte and live in San Ysidro, California. I have a Music Store which specializes in Mariachi, Tex Mex and Regional US /Mexico genres. We also, do repairs on all instruments and do music lessons.
I have been inclined to music since I was young. One day I asked my parents that I wanted to play the piano and like to take lessons. However, money was scarce, and I was lucky my mom bought me a soprano recorder. I listened to Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Chopin, and followed rock like ELP, King Crimson, Genesis, Focus. Later, I added jazz contemporary jazz to my list: Chic Corea, Herbie Hancock, Jean Luc Ponty.
I started “The Music Studio” at Cobyes swap meet in 2004; only on weekends which allowed to have enough time to finish graduate school. By 2007, TMS had many customers and a new location in San Ysidro Blvd. Today, we are still in business and helping the South bay community as well as musicians of Baja California with their music needs. Our students and my Jazz band had also performed in events for our city like 4th of July.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
I chose to have a business location in San Ysidro because there were not any music stores in the area and literally face no competition. However, years later, corporate music chains saw the opportunity, settled few blocks away from our location which drastically affected our income.
We rented our commercial space at 181 San Ysidro Blvd. for approximately 15 years, until the landlord, Elva Terrazas, passed away. Mrs. Terrazas’ property, ended up in legal disputes between her family, banks and lawyers. We had to look for a new location where to continue our business and it was not easy with all the logistics in inventory, high rental fees, deposits and commitment to long leases.
Covid 19 also had affected greatly our income flow: CBP had restricted the border crossing to Mexican customers and increased the times of waiting before coming to across the US from Tijuana/Otay which has led away 75% our customers. In addition. San Ysidro School district, South Bay School District and Sweetwater School District have shut down their music programs. At this time, local musicians are not allowed to play in town either so the demand for music instruments in that area have been greatly diminished.
The Music Studio – what should we know? What do you guys do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
We sell music Instruments, teach lessons, and do repairs on all instruments. We specialize in Mariachi, Norteno, and orchestra instruments. Were known for quality customer service, our selection on latin instruments and violins. We strive for excellence in customer service. Honesty, experience and and positive customer engagement make us different from our competitors.
Contact Info:
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/themusicstudiosy/
- Phone: 619-662-1378
- Email: themusicstudiosy@gmail.com
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