The year 2008 was profitable for music stores, with 50% increase in turnover and varied orders, from regular to customer-tailored instruments, at prices up to 20,000 euros. However, the market segment is limited, as the effects of the financial crisis have gripped this field as well.
Andrei Zavoranu, ProGuitar: “Unfortunately, the market remains limited’
The musical instrument market in Romania recorded a permanent growth of demand, thus various music stores across the country had a roughly 50% increase in turnover compared to 2007. Nevertheless, the segment remains at an extremely low level compared to western countries.
“If in other countries in the West you would rarely find a household without a musical instrument, Romania, as in many other fields, lags behind”, said Valentin Istrate, managing director at Music Store (Magazinul de Muzica).
As insiders say, some of the factors that fuel this situation, are the weakly developed music industry, the low purchase power of Romanians, absence of specialized retailers in many cities across the country and the relatively narrow offer of musical instruments in Romania, or even musicians’ habit of buying musical instruments from abroad.
“Unfortunately, the market is very limited. This is not America, where every child studies a musical instrument in school. In Romania, music will probably no longer be subject matter in school”, added Andrei Zarnoveanu, director at ProGuitar.
Most expensive guitar from ProGuitar: 20,000 euros
ProGuitar started its activity in 2004 with a retail unit, GuitarShop. This was actually a stall inside Music Store, following to open an independent store, two years, and in July 2008, another GuitarShop unit was opened in Brasov.
The musical instruments are distributed to several stores in the country, such as Muzikia at Timisoara, Barock and Play at Cluj
