real world RETAIL
READY FOR THE NEW Even though Car-Tunes Inc. has become a premier destination for all things music, owner Kimberly Trainer makes innovation and strategy a part of her daily routine to keep up with a continually evolving marketplace. WORDS BY ROSA SOPHIA
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ar-Tunes Inc. in Greenville, Miss. endeavors to give the people what they want. When a nearby music store closed down several years ago, locals came into Car-Tunes and asked if they sold guitar strings, said owner Kimberly Trainer. “It just fits in so well with what we do.” She added that the business now sells musical instruments and related equipment to churches, schools, hobbyists and more. Space for these items was factored into the recent remodel, which is still ongoing. “Eighteen years ago, we were a car stereo shop,” Trainer said, “but now we also have equal amounts of marine equipment, motorcycle equipment and safety
26 Mobile Electronics November 2018
items. We also sell guitars, keyboards and drums. Everything we do has to do with music.” Even Trainer’s youngest daughter is a musician and first learned to play the piano using a keyboard in the store. Thanks to the remodel, everything is very interactive, she added. Customers can plug their phones into the units on the soundboard and listen to their own music to experience available products. Relatively new to home theater, the shop also offers an area for sampling theater-grade surround sound, Trainer said, along with popcorn for the ultimate experience. Car-Tunes has been open since 1984, and Trainer has owned the business since
2001. In January of 2019, the shop will have been open for 35 years. According to Trainer, it began as an investment and became a passion.
From Banking and Finance to Business Ownership Eighteen years ago, Trainer was looking for an investment. She went into Car-Tunes one day and asked the owner whether he’d be interested in selling. “He said no. He had started the business,” Trainer said. “But he thought about it, and a few weeks later he called me back and asked if I was still interested. We went from there.”
