So what to talk about? Out of the blue it hit us: Sweetwater is twenty years old this month! Don’t ask us how that milestone slipped by, but it did until just before press time. And considering that the average life expectency of a business today is less than three years, twenty seems even more impressive. Many of you already know the story, but we’ll condense it for you here: Way back in 1979, Sweetwater first opened its doors as a recording facility. It wasn’t long before we had just about all our studio time booked. And when we weren’t recording music for local artists, we were writing and producing jingles for a number of area businesses. In what little free time was available, we bought, sold and traded recording equipment. Then, a few years down the road, we discovered an amazing new instrument, the Kurzweil K250. With this machine we could finally produce the sound of almost any real acoustic instrument. That’s no big deal today, but back then it was, well, almost mind boggling. So we bought one — a significant investment for a small business, but as you’ll see it was exactly the right move. The Kurzweil 250 was so hot back then, we were actually able to rent it out for $200 a day! Then we bought a second unit and then, in what may have been one of the most significant decisions of our lives, we decided to become dealers for this amazing piece of technology. And that’s when things really began to snowball.

Within a few years, our product list was already impressive and we had to move to a bigger facility. But even then, we were growing at such a staggering rate, we outgrew that location and began building at our current address, 5335 Bass Road. Almost as soon as we were moved in, it became apparent that there was not enough space for everything, so we added on what essentially amounts to a whole new building. Honestly, new employees still get lost occassionally going from one side of the Sweetwater complex to the other (but it’s a great excercise regimen!).

We have a lot of fond memories of Sweetwater’s early years, but rather than tell you any more about how it was “back then,” we thought we’d show you a few photos. We hope you will find them interesting.

To us, what is really at the heart of the Sweetwater story is this simple fact: Almost all of our earliest customers are still Sweetwater customers today. The things they bought from us back then were actually stored down in a basement that was crammed full of equipment, much of which was in stock at no other retailer other than Sweetwater. Today, our new state-of-the-art warehouse is still jammed with all the latest gear ready to be shipped right to your door. We’ve come a long way since 1979. But we still have the same philosophy that made Sweetwater the nation’s fastest growing music retailer: Take care of the customer and always — always! — deliver the best value, guaranteed. To us, what is really at the heart of the Sweetwater story is this simple fact: Almost all of our earliest customers are still Sweetwater customers today. That’s pretty amazing and says a lot about how they feel they’ve been treated over the years. Of course, the things they bought from us back then were actually stored down in a basement that was crammed full of equipment, much of which was in stock at no other retailer other than Sweetwater.

Today, our huge new state-of-the-art warehouse is still jammed with all the latest gear ready to be shipped right to your door. It’s just that we have infinitely more space now and enough light to see everything that’s in stock. We also have enough people to sort, package and mail all the thousands of orders that pour into the facility each week.

We’ve come a long way since 1979. A lot of things have changed. But we still have the same philosophy that made Sweetwater the nation’s fastest growing music retailer: Take care of the customer and always — always! — deliver the best value, guaranteed.