South San Francisco Tutors Come To You

What do musicians Jethro Tull, Wynton Marsalis, John Fogerty, and Janis Joplin have in common? All of the above looked to Bronstein Music in South San Francisco, California, to supply their music needs. The store celebrated its seventieth anniversary in 2016.

The store was founded on February 9, 1946, by Milton and Celia Bronstein. At the time, it sold mainly records and record players. There were even little listening rooms where customers could listen before buying a record. The store also had a machine that created wax records on demand.

Milton was a music lover to the core. He had served as band leader in the U.S. Army and was director of the 6th Army Band at the San Francisco Presidio. While in the Army, he saved his cigarette and liquor allotment and used those savings in part as the down payment for the music store. When he was younger (and before the Golden Gate Bridge was built), he traveled—by ferry—to San Francisco from his hometown of Petaluma for trumpet lessons. That’s the same type of determination South San Francisco tutors and teachers like to see!

The Bronsteins employed high school or college band and music students to run the store. In 1968, the Bronsteins hired two students, Don Edwards and Rich Welker. Edwards attended South San Francisco High School, and Welker attended El Camino High School. Like the other part-time help, Edwards and Welker were asked to learn many tasks that kept the business running: sales, repairs, cleaning, delivery, and collections.

In 1981, the owners retired, and Edwards and Welker purchased the store. Back then, the store sold acoustic pianos, band instruments, and sheet music, and it rented out gear, such as public address systems and amplifiers. The new owners, both highly regarded musicians who still perform in various groups and on a variety of instruments, weathered changes in customer appetite through the decades by remaining flexible and communicating with customers about their needs and wants. This approach has worked for not only the store’s Bay Area and California customers, but also its numerous online customers from countries around the world, including Poland, Australia, Sweden, South Africa, Great Britain, and more.

Today, the still-very-popular music store has five main revenue sources: instrument rentals, private and group music lessons, instrument-repair services, instrument sales to local school districts, and sales of instruments, supplies, and sheet music to individuals. As in the old days, only musicians are hired to work at the store. Customers who sign up for music lessons can choose from many different instructors, the same way that local students who seek tutoring in South San Francisco can be paired up with just the right South San Francisco tutor.