There may be longer-established businesses in White Rock – but few that have shown such consistent growth, or earned such a respected position in the community.
And – whichever way you look at it – marking 20 years in an arts-related business in the Semiahmoo Peninsula is a major accomplishment.
Tapestry Music, brainchild of Ocean Park resident David Sabourin, has done that (and he'll be rounding out a month-long celebration of the 20th anniversary with a 20 per cent discount on everything in the store this Saturday, April 30).
But he's celebrating more than simply reaching a milestone of business longevity.
What started as a sheet-music and CD store in April 1996 has grown to become a major musical instrument and equipment retail and rental outlet for school bands and individual students, as well as a supplier for professional players and those who simply choose to enrich their lives by learning and playing an instrument.
The business has flourished to the point that it now occupies three store spaces on Johnston Road – one for the retail side and two to keep pace with the demand for music lessons.
"When we first started, we didn't have the space and we didn't want to compete with existing music teachers who were our good customers – but the demand for lessons has been such that I don't think we're taking any business away from them," Sabourin said, noting that after he took on one store to provide six teaching rooms, booking was so heavy he had to add another store to provide six more.
Online business is something else Tapestry has embraced, Sabourin said, and they have clients in the U.S. and across Canada.
And Tapestry is also well regarded for helping the local music scene by selling tickets for dances and concerts.
In January, Tapestry took another leap – expanding into the Vancouver market with a new store on West Broadway, former site of Prussin Music.
It wasn't an arbitrary decision, Sabourin noted.
"I've known Jerry Prussin for years," he said. "Jerry came to me and said he wanted to retire and pursue other interests – but he still owns the building. He wanted a new lease tenant and at the same time he wanted to make sure that he was taking care of existing staff."
Adding to the appeal was Prussin's loyal client base and positioning for the school market on the west side of the city.
And Sabourin was no stranger to the world of retailing musical instruments and supplies, even when he started Tapestry.
A highly regarded professional tuba player (he's still a member of the popular quintet A Touch of Brass as well as the Vancouver Opera orchestra – although he's cut back on the number of gigs he accepts in recent years) Sabourin found working at Ward's Music helped him make ends meet through his studies at UBC and a stint with the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra.
When he decided to cut back on touring with the quintet in 1988, he returned to Ward's, ending up as a full-time school sales rep – and later manager of Ward's Langley branch, before starting Tapestry.
He still counts his early experience working at Ward's as an education in all aspects of the business.
"I remember the lady who managed the sheet-music department getting me to carry out boxes of music for her music teacher clients, while they had tea and showed her pictures of their grandchildren," he said.
It impressed him, he said, with the possibilities of a business that could be helpful and friendly – while serving a broader purpose of enabling people to discover and benefit from music.
"It's definitely not an easy business – you have to build relationships," he said.
"I work hard at that to this day, and I'm proud of the fact that people who started out as clients, whether students, or professionals or parents, end up as friends."
Providing instruments, support, advice and clinics for the schools is still a very important part of his mission.
"You don't have to be creating professional musicians – that's not the end-game," Sabourin.
"It's about working with other people to achieve something in a non-competitive environment, about surrounding yourself with people you will remain friends with for life."
For young people often faced with a choice of paths between positive and negative influences, discovering music can be "life-changing" Sabourin said.
Music is very much part of his own family, he said. Spouse Heather is music director at Mount Olive Lutheran Church while son Michael – he was only six when the store opened – "is now my right-hand guy."
Trained as a chef at Delta's La Belle Auberge, and later in Switzerland and England, Michael found the pull of music too hard to resist, Sabourin explained.
"He's been fantastic since he joined us," he said. "He does a lot of our website stuff and I wouldn't have been able to take on the Vancouver store without him."