'I Felt Like I Was Receiving An Academy Award'

Liz Reisman remembers when she was in the fourth grade and her mother took her to a music store to rent a clarinet.

"The instruments were stacked up to the ceiling with dust," Reisman said. "The owner was old and grumpy. He gave me a crappy clarinet. That doesn't fly anymore," she added of the customer service she experienced as a little girl.

Since taking over the Creative Music Center at 701 Main Street in Monroe nine years ago, Reisman has made customer service a priority. This attitude was instrumental to her store being chosen by the National Association of Music Merchants (NAMM) as a Top 100 Dealer of 2011.

Creative Music Center stood out among music stores from all over the United States and Canada, who were eligible to make the list.

"I looked at the dealers on the website, it was listed alphabetically," Reisman said during an interview in her office. "And I saw Creative Music. 'Oh my God it's me!'"

All of the merchants chosen by the trade association as a Top 100 Dealer of 2011 were recognized in an awards ceremony held in Nashville, Tenn., on July 22.

"It was amazing," Reisman recalled. "It was red carpeted and there was a velvet rope that all of the 100 and their guests were inside of. I felt like I was receiving an Academy Award."

It was the first year that NAMM ever had a top 100 dealer list, according to Reisman. Each dealer received a gold badge at the ceremony and was awarded a plaque.

Reisman and her husband Michael live in Easton with their two children, Samantha, 16, and Charlie, 14.

Reisman believes she relates well with parents coming to the Creative Music Center for instruments and lessons for their children, because she was once in their shoes herself.

When Samantha was 4.5-years-old, Reisman took her to the center for piano lessons when the business was owned by Ellen Ballard.

Reisman said music is a "legacy business" that tends to pass from generation to generation. Some stores are over 100 years old and few are owned by women.

She credits her experience as the parent of a young musician with the Creative Music Center's success.

"It saved me, because the one thing I was when I opened the door was a mom," Reisman said, "and 90 percent of my customers are moms."

A Musical Community

Creative Music Center sells and rents out instruments, makes repairs and contracts with 35 teachers, who are independent contractors giving lessons — some who were there for more than 20 years. The business has eight staff members and serves the needs of over 400 children, according to Reisman.

"When I was in high school, I worked in a chain of department stores on the West Coast and they spent weeks teaching us the art of customer service," she said. "I love retail and my employees maintain a high level of customer service."

In addition to helping customers to make the best choices, Reisman said she and her staff network with music teachers in Monroe's schools, so it is able to answer customers' questions and to help families get the instruments their children need.

Reisman, who had driven an instrument to a customer's house before, said the concept of her industry is to be "mom friendly. She was the speaker on the topic during a past trade show. "It's not just moms anymore," she said. "It's dads too."

One day a father entered the Creative Music Center with a dilemma. His daughter was going to an audition with the Bridgeport Youth Symphony, but didn't have access to her instrument.

"I grabbed a brand new, $1,200 instrument off the shelf and said, 'Just bring it back,'" Reisman recalled. "It was on a handshake. He not only gave it back the next day, he was a caterer and brought a lot of food."

The center also awards scholarships for instrument rentals and lessons to families who can't afford it. Parents have to have their child's music teacher call Creative Music to make it happen.

"We're part of a musical community and once you come into this store, you're part of a musical community," Reisman said. "We're about giving the gift of music. This is something everyone who works here loves."

The Top 100 Dealers Award is for best practices. Reisman said it means "your business reflects your customer."

"I love what I do," she said. "I never thought I would be selected, because there are a lot of stores in the country that do a lot of great things and I learn from all of them. I wouldn't have been inside the velvet ropes without my staff and my customers."