Dick Hoppe and son don’t miss a beat at Cadence Music in Gates
Drum sets from China. Congas made in Thailand. Irish bodhrans.
Cadence Music in Gates carries percussion instruments and accessories from around the globe. But its customers mostly live, work and play in the Rochester area.
And that’s pretty much how owner Dick Hoppe wants it.
“Small works for us,” says Hoppe, 68. “We are just here as a store to take care of local people.”
Justin Hoppe, 31, who also runs the business with his dad, categorizes Cadence customers into four groups: kids just learning to play drums; high school and college students and faculty; area schools; and semi-professional drummers who play in bands.
Hoppe’s love of percussion and musical pageantry groups began in college, when he played in the college marching and concert bands and participated in drum and bugle corps. Judging and teaching musical pageantry came naturally as a parallel career as he earned his main livelihood in the heating, ventilating and air conditioning industry.
When he bought Cadence Music from a previous owner in the mid-1980s, the business focused primarily on selling marching band and drum and bugle corps equipment and uniforms. Hoppe soon added drums to his sales.
When a West Side drum shop closed, Hoppe saw a chance to transition into a retail operation and took over a smaller storefront in Westmar Plaza. A few years later, he moved across the plaza to his current location.
The business is spread over two long, narrow and cramped adjoining storefronts. One side is crammed with a variety of percussion-related items, from hardware (such as stands and pedals), drumsticks (more than 200 models) and lesson books to tambourines, electric drum sets and cowbells.
The other side acts as showroom, with drum sets lined up from front to back, including a Twisted White Satin set from Drum Workshop that Peruvian-born Afro-Cuban drummer Alex Acuna used when he performed at the Rochester International Jazz Festival last year. (The set will be leaving the showroom as it has been sold.)
The Hoppes admit that Internet sellers and chain stores make competition tough. But by focusing on the local community’s percussion needs, they say they can service a niche market that is appreciative of their technical expertise, fair prices and one-on-one service.
“Our policy is to get every customer out of the door spending as little as possible,” says Hoppe. “We pick what we think is good. We stand behind all of our stuff.”
Customers such as Tom Barnard agree. “Dick has always treated me really good. The pricing is as good as I can get off the Internet. I believe in buying local,” says the drummer for hard rock trio 3 Peace.
Joe Passamonte of the local pop/rock group Small Town recalls first setting his eye on aPremier drum set soon after Cadence opened in a smaller space in the plaza. But he did not have the cash to buy it. Hoppe told him to take the set and pay him later, which he did.
“It was the beginning of what has become a long-time business relationship,” says Passamonte, who estimates that he has probably bought 125 drum sets from Cadence. He gives the Hoppes feedback on the instruments and shares information about Cadence with other local drummers.
“I have built up a good rapport with those guys,” says Passamonte, whose weekly routine includes stopping in the store once or twice to say hello and chat about the industry.
If running a drum store weren’t demanding enough, Dick Hoppe also manages the Gates-Chili color guards and is the chief executive officer of the Patriots Drum Corps Inc., which operates Gates Center Bingo. Justin is the Patriots’ chief financial officer.
“I will never retire. I will die doing this,” says Hoppe.
KMILTNER@DemocratandChronicle.com
If you go
What: Cadence Music.
Where: 2109 Buffalo Road, Gates.
Hours: 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday.
Phone: (585) 247-8690.
Web: cadencedrums.com.