Dublin is a city with so many different businesses and each cater for a different customers, and for Goodwins Music the customer is of a musical nature!
Goodwin’s Music on Capel Street has been providing music lovers in the city with quality musical instruments, accessories and servicing instruments for over 50 years. Whether you are a novice musician or part of an established crowd forming band, the team at Goodwins Music are there to help.
DublinTown recently met with Managing Director of Goodwins Music, Liam Carroll, to find out more about the Capel Street Store.
Tell us about Goodwins Music
We are in one of the oldest shops on the street, but for the past 50 years it’s been a music shop. We have a big selection of musical instruments, mainly guitars and electric keyboards, and of course music accessories.
When it comes to customers, do you find you have a very loyal following?
We have a very good, loyal clientele. It’s great to see people coming back. You see them starting off on a relatively inexpensive instrument and then after a while, when they become fairly proficient, we can take back their initial instrument as a trade-in for a more expensive and better quality instrument as they progress. That’s one of the ways we tend to keep regular clientele.
Music is a big social thing. People go out to listen to music or they get together at home and listen to music, it’s great to be part of that.
What is your favourite thing about Capel Street?
There’s great tradition in Capel Street. It is an eclectic type of street. There’s a lot of nice pubs, restaurants that have brought in a lot of new people and then the traditional businesses. There’s a great spread of things here, from Louis Copeland suits to McQuillan DIY, then the Boar’s Head to Brother Hubbard, my favourite place to eat is Romano’s restaurant. That’s what I like about Capel Street.
What’s is the best thing about your job?
Dealing with customers. It’s always a pleasure when people come in and they want something you have. It’s great that you can give it to them and give them advice so they get the right equipment. Particularly for people who are starting off and they don’t really know what they want. It’s nice to make sure they are welcome and they don’t feel that, because they don’t know anything about what they are buying, that it’s a problem for us, it’s not a problem for us. It’s a pleasure for us to get them in and help them on to get to get started.
Do you let people come in and play?
Of course. We like people to come in and try out the instruments but we also want customers to respect the instruments because they can be damaged easily, so they need to be respected. A customer might not necessarily be here to buy on that day but they want to try it out. They can come in and then a week or 6 months time they may come back and get it then, but that’s all the same to us.
The next time you are in need of a music instrument be it a guitar or flute, pop down to see the team in Goodwins Music on 134 Capel Street.
