Blues Angel Music's Jim DeStafney still has a passion for music
- June 12, 2015
- / Michael Spooneybarger
- / community-dashboard
Miss Angel is sleeping comfortably on the couch in owner Jim DeStafney’s upstairs office at Blues Angel Music. Miss Angel first came to the store five years ago in the most unorthodox way possible.
“It was freezing outside and I got a call from the alarm company at 4 a.m.,” DeStafney remembers. “They said someone was inside the store.”
DeStafney rushed to the store, but found no signs of forced entry. Once inside, he did notice that a broken ceiling tile had fallen and there was some debris from the roof on the floor.
“I went over and moved the tile and there was a tiny kitten underneath,” DeStafney said. “The cat wasn’t hurt, so I took her back and got some bologna from the refrigerator and some water and fed her.”
When the cat was finished, Destafney put her outside on the steps to rejoin the group of feral cats that were hanging around the parking lot.
“I figured she belonged with them,” he said. “I went home, but when I came back later to open the store, there she was still sitting on the steps.”
When he opened the door, the kitten ran into the store and straight back to the kitchen area where she had been fed.
“She came back in and never left,” DeStafney said.
[sidebar]
String Change for Pets
Bring pet supply donations for the Junior Humane Society and receive string changes on up to two instruments.
Saturday, June 13
10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Blues Angel Music
657 Pace Blvd., Pensacola
(850) 457-7557
www.bluesangelmusic.com
[/sidebar]
DeStafney is a man of many passions, but in 1997, after 24 years in the military, the retired Navy Captain and fighter pilot followed his heart and started a small guitar shop – a shop that has grown into a Pensacola institution and a nationally recognized business.
“On my last tour of duty, I just assumed I would do what most of the guys in my position did – become a commercial airline pilot,” he said. “I didn’t relish the idea. After flying fighters, the idea was pretty boring.”
But something started to percolate as his last two years of duty began to wind down.
“There was this voice in the back of my head that kept telling me to do something with music,” he said.
Another of DeStafney’s passions was guitars.
“At that point, I had been a guitar nut for 20 years,” he said. “I owned twenty-something guitars and amps.”
When he first shared his idea of leaving aviation and opening a “cool, little guitar shop,” the response from family and friends was not encouraging.
“Most everyone thought it was a stupid idea,” he laughs.
While he was serving out his last days in the Navy, DeStafney began devoting his free time to the serious study of what it would take to become a small music business owner.
“I started studying guitar maintenance and accounting,” he said. “Everything I could read about it, I did.”
[caption id="attachment_24411" align="aligncenter" width="850"]
Lisa Johnson practices before her lesson at Blues Angel Music in Pensacola, Wednesday, June 3.(Michael Spooneybarger/ Pensacola Today)[/caption]
When he retired, DeStafney found a home for his shop in a small 1,200 foot retail section of the larger Zoellner’s Music on Navy Boulevard.
“I started out as a one person (himself) operation and then I brought in a guitar teacher,” he said.
As Blues Angel’s reputation for customer service grew, so did the staff.
“After a while, I was able to add a part-time person, then a full-time,” DeStafney said. “When Zoellner’s decided to close, I took over the building.”
More years and more employees followed and in 2011, DeStafney knew the time had come to relocate to an even bigger location – the store’s current digs on Pace Boulevard.
“We started looking around to buy a building and we knew this place was here,” DeStafney said. “It was perfect.”
The building was the former home of Harris Music and Sound and it suited Blues Angels needs perfectly.
“This building was built from the ground up to be a music store,” DeStafney said. “We have twice the space and places to display the guitars. We have three independent guitar repair shops operating here, as well as teaching studios.”
As the internet has become more prominent in people’s lives, it has changed the retail landscape and Blues Angel hasn’t been immune.
“You can’t really compete anymore if you aren’t online,” he said. “Online sales now make up about 25 percent of our business.”
But DeStafney says that the online experience can’t compare to the in-person experience, especially when it comes to picking your own instrument.
“We have moved into a whole line of band instruments for students,” he said. “People want to bring their kids in and hold the instruments and they want to get them repaired in town. That has been wonderful for us.”
The music retail business has taken notice of the store’s success. The National Association of Music once again named Blues Angel Music a Top 100 dealer for 2015. Only four stores in Alabama, Florida and Mississippi have won the award and Blues Angel is the only store in that area to have achieved it five years in a row.
“It’s very satisfying,” DeStafney said. “While we may be in a big building now, this is still an independent mom and pop store. Our 20 employees work hard and we really try to hire personable people and treat our customers right.”
Blues Angel’s customers definitely appreciate it. DeStafney says that many have been with him since the beginning and that others have become good friends.
“We have one customer who works at the Navy base – he comes by everyday,” DeStafney said. “He just likes coming to the store. He says as a musician, it feels like there is a sense of community here – a meeting place.”
[caption id="attachment_24414" align="alignleft" width="850"]
Instruments at Blues Angel Music in Pensacola, Wednesday, June 3.(Michael Spooneybarger/ Pensacola Today)[/caption]
Other regulars have been much more demonstrative in their feelings for the store.
“We have one older gentleman that comes in every morning for coffee,” he said. “After three and a half years of coming in, he said to me, ‘Jim, I have drank so much of your coffee.’”
DeStafney told the customer that it wasn’t a big deal, but the man asked if he could repay the perceived debt.
“He asked if he could come in every week and clean our front windows and I said sure,” he said. “And now he does. It wasn’t necessary for him to do that, but it was a pretty cool gesture.”
Being a part of the community through music is also a big part of what DeStafney sees as his role.
In 2014, he was approached the City of Pensacola Parks and Recreation Department to be a sponsor of the “Blues on the Bay” concert series that was being held every Sunday at the Community Maritime Park in downtown.
“We came on board because we wanted to support the series, but also make sure that the artists and sound people were paid well,” he said. “But frankly, attendance was kid of lame.”
DeStafney says that while the blues artists were great, the fan base just wasn’t there. For the 2015 series, Blues Angel came on as the series’ main sponsor and convinced the city to expand to different musical genres.
The first concert of the year was local rockabilly favorites The Modern Eldorados and the change was immediately noticeable.
“We had over 1,000 attendees,” he said. “The shows have never exceeded 500 before that.”
And as the series has progressed, the crowds have also continued to grow.
“For Ben Frey, who did the Elton John tribute, we had 2,000 people,” DeStafney said. “It has been comfortably crowded all season.”
For the finale of the series on Aug. 16, DeStafney’s own band, The Beatles Tribute group Not Quite Fab, will perform the band’s famous Shea Stadium concert set to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the historic event.
“We’ll do that set first,” he said. “And then after a break, we’ll come back and have an all-star jam session with some other tribute artists. It’s going to be a blast.”
Sponsoring the series has a two-fold purpose for Blues Angel, according to DeStafney.
“It’s a great way to get our name out there, but mainly, it’s a lot of fun,” he said.
Blues Angel also has done music programs for schools and works with local musical entities such as the Belmont Youth Band. Another of their more recent projects included creating a whole new orchestra at Pensacola High School – composed completely of ukuleles.
“The ukulele is a great starter instrument and it is very popular right now,” DeStafney said. “We provided 30 ukuleles to students there and to hear them perform with vocals and percussion is just a great experience.”
The store will be giving back this Saturday, June 13, as they help pets and musicians, as well as celebrate the 17th birthday of the store’s other animal resident, JoJo the macaw.
“We’re having a ‘String Change for Pets’ event,” DeStafney said. “If people bring in pet supplies for the Junior Humane Society, we will re-string up to two instruments for them for free.”
DeStafney’s passion for music is still evident and important to him at age 64 as it has ever been.
“I still look forward to playing with my band every Thursday,” he said. “If I have aches and pains, I can sit down with my guitar and they will just disappear.”
Lisa Johnson practices before her lesson at Blues Angel Music in Pensacola, Wednesday, June 3.(Michael Spooneybarger/ Pensacola Today)[/caption]
When he retired, DeStafney found a home for his shop in a small 1,200 foot retail section of the larger Zoellner’s Music on Navy Boulevard.
“I started out as a one person (himself) operation and then I brought in a guitar teacher,” he said.
As Blues Angel’s reputation for customer service grew, so did the staff.
“After a while, I was able to add a part-time person, then a full-time,” DeStafney said. “When Zoellner’s decided to close, I took over the building.”
More years and more employees followed and in 2011, DeStafney knew the time had come to relocate to an even bigger location – the store’s current digs on Pace Boulevard.
“We started looking around to buy a building and we knew this place was here,” DeStafney said. “It was perfect.”
The building was the former home of Harris Music and Sound and it suited Blues Angels needs perfectly.
“This building was built from the ground up to be a music store,” DeStafney said. “We have twice the space and places to display the guitars. We have three independent guitar repair shops operating here, as well as teaching studios.”
As the internet has become more prominent in people’s lives, it has changed the retail landscape and Blues Angel hasn’t been immune.
“You can’t really compete anymore if you aren’t online,” he said. “Online sales now make up about 25 percent of our business.”
But DeStafney says that the online experience can’t compare to the in-person experience, especially when it comes to picking your own instrument.
“We have moved into a whole line of band instruments for students,” he said. “People want to bring their kids in and hold the instruments and they want to get them repaired in town. That has been wonderful for us.”
The music retail business has taken notice of the store’s success. The National Association of Music once again named Blues Angel Music a Top 100 dealer for 2015. Only four stores in Alabama, Florida and Mississippi have won the award and Blues Angel is the only store in that area to have achieved it five years in a row.
“It’s very satisfying,” DeStafney said. “While we may be in a big building now, this is still an independent mom and pop store. Our 20 employees work hard and we really try to hire personable people and treat our customers right.”
Blues Angel’s customers definitely appreciate it. DeStafney says that many have been with him since the beginning and that others have become good friends.
“We have one customer who works at the Navy base – he comes by everyday,” DeStafney said. “He just likes coming to the store. He says as a musician, it feels like there is a sense of community here – a meeting place.”
[caption id="attachment_24414" align="alignleft" width="850"]
Instruments at Blues Angel Music in Pensacola, Wednesday, June 3.(Michael Spooneybarger/ Pensacola Today)[/caption]
Other regulars have been much more demonstrative in their feelings for the store.
“We have one older gentleman that comes in every morning for coffee,” he said. “After three and a half years of coming in, he said to me, ‘Jim, I have drank so much of your coffee.’”
DeStafney told the customer that it wasn’t a big deal, but the man asked if he could repay the perceived debt.
“He asked if he could come in every week and clean our front windows and I said sure,” he said. “And now he does. It wasn’t necessary for him to do that, but it was a pretty cool gesture.”
Being a part of the community through music is also a big part of what DeStafney sees as his role.
In 2014, he was approached the City of Pensacola Parks and Recreation Department to be a sponsor of the “Blues on the Bay” concert series that was being held every Sunday at the Community Maritime Park in downtown.
“We came on board because we wanted to support the series, but also make sure that the artists and sound people were paid well,” he said. “But frankly, attendance was kid of lame.”
DeStafney says that while the blues artists were great, the fan base just wasn’t there. For the 2015 series, Blues Angel came on as the series’ main sponsor and convinced the city to expand to different musical genres.
The first concert of the year was local rockabilly favorites The Modern Eldorados and the change was immediately noticeable.
“We had over 1,000 attendees,” he said. “The shows have never exceeded 500 before that.”
And as the series has progressed, the crowds have also continued to grow.
“For Ben Frey, who did the Elton John tribute, we had 2,000 people,” DeStafney said. “It has been comfortably crowded all season.”
For the finale of the series on Aug. 16, DeStafney’s own band, The Beatles Tribute group Not Quite Fab, will perform the band’s famous Shea Stadium concert set to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the historic event.
“We’ll do that set first,” he said. “And then after a break, we’ll come back and have an all-star jam session with some other tribute artists. It’s going to be a blast.”
Sponsoring the series has a two-fold purpose for Blues Angel, according to DeStafney.
“It’s a great way to get our name out there, but mainly, it’s a lot of fun,” he said.
Blues Angel also has done music programs for schools and works with local musical entities such as the Belmont Youth Band. Another of their more recent projects included creating a whole new orchestra at Pensacola High School – composed completely of ukuleles.
“The ukulele is a great starter instrument and it is very popular right now,” DeStafney said. “We provided 30 ukuleles to students there and to hear them perform with vocals and percussion is just a great experience.”
The store will be giving back this Saturday, June 13, as they help pets and musicians, as well as celebrate the 17th birthday of the store’s other animal resident, JoJo the macaw.
“We’re having a ‘String Change for Pets’ event,” DeStafney said. “If people bring in pet supplies for the Junior Humane Society, we will re-string up to two instruments for them for free.”
DeStafney’s passion for music is still evident and important to him at age 64 as it has ever been.
“I still look forward to playing with my band every Thursday,” he said. “If I have aches and pains, I can sit down with my guitar and they will just disappear.”
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