Spicer’s Music had an eventful 2016 after receiving the Alabama Small Business of the Year award in the Emerging Small Business category. The family business has decided to keep moving full speed ahead with an announcement of expansion plans.
The Spicers will be knocking down their neighboring wall at their current location and expanding into that space.
“We’ve been working on it for quite some time, about a year now,” said Tim Spicer, co-owner of Spicer’s Music.
Spicer said one of the biggest problems they have faced as a business has been lack of space over the past few years. They are hoping the expansion helps bring in more business, facilitate more of the community’s needs and allow for more flexibility of services.
The addition will double the business’ size and allow for expansion in many areas of service. Spicer stresses the importance of customer service, and he feels that with more room the business will be able to better suit clients’ needs.
“We will be adding Martin and Gibson guitars, expanding our drums and keyboard selection and adding lighting and DJ equipment,” Spicer said.
The space will allow the business to build a larger stage for an on-going open mic-night event they hold monthly for new artists around the area.
Spicer’s Music is known for its community involvement and passion for the Auburn and Opelika communities.
“All in all, we just needed some leg room, and that’s what we will be getting from knocking down the wall,” Spicer said.
They were rewarded for that passion when they receieved the 2016 Alabama Small Business of the Year award in the Emerging Small Business category.
Spicer was born and raised in Auburn, attended Auburn High School and graduated with a degree in special education from Auburn University.
His experience and love for people has made the business more than beneficial for the entire team. Spicer said working with people and music go hand-in-hand; there’s no fun in playing by yourself. Once people join together, something truly beautiful happens.
Spicer’s Music just celebrated its fourth year in business. The store has grown exponentially in sales and lessons over the past four years. The team started with four main instructors and the family. The team currently consists of 12 employees, 18 instructors and a full store. Spicer’s is now teaching over 350 students a week.
“We started with a strong emphasis on lessons, summer camps and music programs in the school systems, which we still do heavily, but our retail was very slim because we started family-owned and operated on the money we could scrounge out of our pockets,” Spicer said. “It really just exploded with us.”
The Spicer family has been involved and interested in music for a long while, but a separate passion held by the parents was in helping families and those in their community. Combining the two passions, community and music, was a no-brainer for the bunch.
“Community, to me, is what makes the world go ‘round,” Spicer said. “Auburn is such an amazing community, so we started from day one trying to get as involved in the community and trying to reach as many lives as possible. I’ve really been blown away with how open and loving our community has been.”
Spicer said every decision made in the store is based upon two criteria: “How are we putting our customers first, and how are we positively affecting the world through music?”
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