What I’m Actually Doing Now —
and Why Royal Music Isn’t Coming Back

There’s been some confusion about my former company, Royal Music Centers in New Jersey, and whether it’s still operating. After nearly three decades in the business, I understand why — when a store becomes part of the community, people assume it will always be there. So I want to share the real story, and what I’m trying to do now.

The Moment Everything Shifted

As Royal Music approached its 20‑year anniversary back in 2012, I started asking myself a question I had avoided for years: What do I want to be when I grow up? I’d been a general manager since 1988, signing checks and running the day‑to‑day. By the early 2000s, it felt like I was living the same week on repeat.

I wanted to grow. I wanted to give back. And I wanted to use my experience in a way that wasn’t tied to the cash register.

So I made a list of a dozen or so people — inside and outside the industry — and asked for their counsel. Those conversations cracked something open. They showed me possibilities I hadn’t allowed myself to consider.

Seeing the Industry from the Outside In

In 2016 around the time Roland exited the home organ business, I joined an entrepreneurial group made up of business owners from completely different industries. That group changed my perspective. It showed me how other sectors approached strategy, marketing, leadership, and succession. It made me realize how small my world had become.

By the fall of 2018, when Lowrey exited the industry, I knew it was time. I wanted to be paid for what I knew, not just what I could sell. I wanted to help other retailers avoid the traps I had spent years climbing out of.

Closing the Store — and Choosing a New Path

I closed Royal Music on October 1, 2019 — four months before COVID. If I hadn’t closed it, COVID would have. It ended up being a blessing and the push I needed. I moved the remaining inventory into a warehouse and continued selling to my 3,000‑plus customer base. For decades I had bought out closing dealers for pennies on the dollar. This time, I was the one closing — and since I didn’t own the real estate, I wanted to maximize every dollar on the way out.

In January 2020, I launched Winding Brook Productions LLC, a consultancy focused on strategic retail guidance and creative marketing.. I’ve worked with dealers inside and outside the music industry. I’m a niche retail strategy geek at heart — especially in the home organ world, where we sell high‑end instruments to customers who are often older, arthritic, hard of hearing, and brand‑new to music. I always joked:
“Our customers are old, deaf, and don’t play music when we meet them — and by the time we’re done with them, they’ve earned a PhD in music: they Play Half Decent.”

When COVID hit and many stores struggled, I bought instruments from dealers who needed the help. That extended my timeline for selling off the Royal Music inventory, but it was the right thing to do.

What I Want to Do Now

Today, I want to spend my time helping dealers:

• build healthier businesses
• understand their numbers
• improve their marketing
• think strategically instead of reactively
• and most importantly, plan their exit

A friend once told me while selling her business: “If you’re not selling it, you’re buying it.” That line has stayed with me. Most store owners don’t realize they’re “buying” their business every day — with their time, their stress, and their future.

And even though I stepped away from retail operations, my passion for helping people make music hasn’t gone anywhere. I still moderate online organ forums and Facebook groups. A former student recently started a new organ club to give members of the old L.I.F.E. chapter (Lowrey Is Fun and Easy) a place to keep learning, laughing, and enjoying the camaraderie that only happens when people gather around a shared love of music. That kind of community still matters deeply to me.

Where This Leaves Royal Music Today

Royal Music Centers, as a retail store, is closed. Most of the remaining inventory has already been sold off through my new company, and I’m stepping fully into the work I believe I’m meant to do now: helping independent music retailers build better businesses, better exits, and better lives — while staying connected to the musical communities that shaped me.

This is the truth. This is the transition. And this is the next chapter.

— Jeff