By Amanda Kuhnert
Business owners Emily and Justin Rose have given new life to a former IGA country store in North Ferrisburgh. In 2019 they converted the building into The Piano Gallery, a boutique piano service shop and showroom. The sales floor–once the grocery department, showcases over a dozen new and refurbished pianos, while the old stockroom has been transformed into a workshop for in-house repairs.
Emily and Justin first met through the Vermont chapter of the Piano Technicians Guild. After getting married, they launched a family business that combined their expertise as piano technicians with their shared love for pianos—Emily, a lifelong pianist with extensive experience in teaching and performing, and Justin, a musician and concert tuner.
In addition to piano sales, the Roses provide a variety of services, bringing them into living rooms and concert venues across Vermont. “One of the great things about this trade is that there is always more to learn,” Emily said. “There’s the musical and sound side of working on pianos, but there are also the mathematical elements, like the ratios of the action parts and precision tunings. You can take it wherever you want.”
With so many pathways for piano care, the Roses needed help creating a strategy to guide business growth. Last year they reached out to Sarah Kearns, an advisor at the Vermont Small Business Development Center (VtSBDC), to rework their business model and increase efficiency.
“Since working with VtSBDC we have been able to identify and implement a series of major operational changes,” Emily said. “It has allowed us to grow our business and achieve benchmarks that we had previously found out of reach.”
From classic to brand new pianos
“They’re like old books,” Justin said, explaining that every piano has a unique story.
Several years ago the Roses purchased and refurbished a 1942 Steinway Model A3, a sought-after grand piano. “We had been tuning the piano, but it still needed a lot of work and the owners weren’t going to invest any more into it,” Justin said. After a full restoration–including new key tops, restringing, refinishing, and rebuilding the internal components, the Roses found a buyer who appreciated the piano’s distinctive sound and rich history.
Bringing in new pianos is less time-consuming. After arriving from the factory, the piano receives final adjustments and tuning before making its way to the showroom floor.
It’s an interesting time to work on pianos, Justin said. “You have new pianos and then you also have old pianos from a classic age that are becoming less and less common, but you do still have an opportunity to work on these instruments.”
For more information: vermontpianogallery.com.
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