An established New Canaan business has opened a second location in Rhode Island.
New Canaan Music, which sells and rents out instruments and offers music lessons, opened its Newport, R.I. store on Saturday, according to owner and town resident Phil Williams.
“Newport New Canaan Music” is Williams’s first location outside of New Canaan.
“I think we’ve got a pretty good formula and I wanted to broaden [the company] a little bit,” Williams told NewCanaanite.com.
“I’m feeling really good about it,” he added.
Asked why he chose to open a shop there, Williams said, “It’s a great little town.”
“There’s a big music community there and no music store,” he said.
New Canaan Music is a membership business of the New Canaan Chamber of Commerce. Williams, a Planning & Zoning Commission member, is a former member of the Chamber’s Board of Directors.
The Chamber executive director, Laura Budd, said when asked about the expansion of New Canaan Music, “Savvy business owners will see opportunities.”
When opportunity and vision come together, “great things happen,” Budd said.
The new store will sell a range of instruments such as guitars, mandolins, ukuleles, banjos, and electronic pianos, according to Williams.
“We’re going to try to do what we’re doing in New Canaan and really expand,” he said.
Budd said the Chamber is “thrilled for Phil and his team at New Canaan Music.”
“We’re not surprised at all that Phil was able to expand up to Newport and we know he will be very successful there,” she said.
So great to see that music is thriving among young people as well as the whole music community! (My son spent many an hour at Merit Music when he was growing up, learning there, shopping there, and eventually working there—from the 80’s to 2001.). It has been great to see New Canaan Music open here in 2013 and watch it thrive and grow. I wish Phil Williams all the best in his new venture!