Enthusiasm, faith keys to expanding Sound Conservatory

The owner of Rock Island’s Sound Conservatory is a man of enthusiasm and faith. Andrzej (pronounced “Andre”) Kozlowski had set up his business in downtown Rock Island last March with fellow teaching professionals and plans to expand his instrument sales space – primarily for pianos.  His landlord at Third Avenue and 23rd Street had retirement […]

The owner of Rock Island’s Sound Conservatory is a man of enthusiasm and faith. Andrzej (pronounced “Andre”) Kozlowski had set up his business in downtown Rock Island last March with fellow teaching professionals and plans to expand his instrument sales space – primarily for pianos.  His landlord at Third Avenue and 23rd Street had retirement plans, but within six weeks of the Sound Conservatory opening its door those retirement plans all of the sudden morphed into the sale of the building. 

Mr. Kozlowski had to move, and relatively soon. But it was a blessing in disguise. He’d been working with 2,000 square feet. That included five teaching rooms and some retail space, where he displayed three pianos.  With the help of Downtown Rock Island Director Jack Cullen, he ended up in the old Hyman Furniture building at Second Avenue and 16th Street – one block east of the Centennial Bridge. The new location is now owned by the YWCA, whose current building backs into Mr. Kozlowski’s.

But with the YWCA building its own new home blocks away, the YWCA negotiated a lease-to-purchase agreement with him and Mr. Kozlowski is working with the city, finding grants and small business loans to help that purchase. He opened the new location Sept. 1 and says “business is good.”  Once he expands into the second and third floors, he’ll eventually own 47,000 square feet. He hopes to use the second floor as a “450-seat concert hall.” He’s already booked Grammy Award-winning jazz pianist Lawrence Hobgood for late May.  As a former contractor, Mr. Kozlowski plans to convert the third floor into condominiums. “In case the economy is bad, I hope to have condo rent to keep my music business going,” he told the QCBJ. “I don’t want to be another music store that closes.” His street-level main floor now has 12,800 square feet. He wanted to offer more piano options – uprights and baby grands – because the piano demand is growing and this new space allows it.  “If we could sell one or two pianos a month I’d be very happy. Last November we sold 13,” he said. With that in mind, he’s establishing a piano moving division for anyone with their own trailer. He wants to be the Quad Cities go-to piano guy. He now has 18 pianos on display with 20 guitars - acoustic and electric, and several violins. The pianos are all old and are refurbished to ensure the new owners don’t have any problems. “In many cases these older pianos are better than new ones for a significantly lower cost,” he said. Why? Because the quality of craftsmanship and the quality of more mature wood was used in older models. “The difference between them is not their capabilities. It’s the materials and engineering designs to make them cheaper to manufacture, lighter and cost-effective,” he explained. “The older models were built to out-compete the competition.” And, he notes, it allows him to create more interest in having music in your life without having to get a mortgage to buy a piano. One of the uprights sells for $1,800. He has one baby grand for $16,000, and several for less, whereas a new one could cost $25,000, he said. Customers receive a warranty on his refurbishing, the delivery, and first tuning. The demand for piano lessons also is increasing so among Mr. Kozlowski’s dozen teachers, he’s added a second keyboard teacher in addition to himself. The 12 instructors also cover guitar, bass guitar, trumpet, euphonium, bassoon, violin, viola, cello, double bass, flute and voice. Together they have 170 students. He knows that music education is considered a “luxury industry;” it’s not viewed as a necessity. Like most, he’s seen arts cutbacks in the schools so he wants to help keep music important in a child’s life. And he hopes to inspire others to follow their own business dream in downtown Rock Island.