Tim Downard, owner of Port City Pro Shop. Image: Cherise Letson/Huddle Today
A new shop in uptown Saint John wants to provide musicians in the city everything they need to do what they love.
Port City Pro Shop had its grand opening on Wednesday. The shop, located on the second level of Market Square, sells professional audio and lighting equipment, musical instruments, accessories and more.
The business is owned by Tim Downard, the owner of Port City Production Company, which provides equipment and technical services for music and arts events in the Greater Saint John area.
Downard says there were always plans to open a retail store, but with COVID-19 putting a damper on the events side of the of his business, it was decided now was the time to do it.
“In 2018 we started as a production company because we saw a need in Saint John to standardize some events services. 2020 was said to be our year to see a return on investment, then COVID happened,” says Downard.
“The store was something that was going to happen closer to August after we had a good concert season, we already had some of the infrastructures for it and we had some groundwork done. So we said, ‘Ok, there’s nothing else for us to do, so let’s pursue this now.’”
Port City Pro Shop carries guitars, drums, audio and lighting equipment, strings, sticks and other instrument accessories. It also offers installations for venues that need audio and lighting equipment and has a rental department for the smaller events that can now take place with physical distancing. The shop also sells some music and merchandise from local bands and artists.
“We’ve got some merch from all the local bands in here too that we’re selling,” says Downard. “They can’t do shows right now so we’re trying to give them some kind of an outlet to sell their stuff. It’s a little bit of everything and things that we maybe don’t have on the shelf we can get in.”
Though there are a few other stores in the city that sell musical instruments and accessories, there are none in the uptown, where a lot of the city’s music and entertainment take place. Downard hopes the store will become a central place for artists to get what they need.
“A lot of musicians that would have to get a bus or a cab out there can now just take a walk uptown where they’re probably going to their favourite establishment anyway and they can pick up a pack of strings or drop their guitar off to get set up,” he says. “We’re trying to be convenient and helpful.”
Besides helping local musicians, he hopes Port City Pro will be an example to others of making the most of the unfortunate situation COVID-19 has caused.
“Hopefully inspires other people to maybe try to make lemonade out of the lemons we’ve all been given,” he says. “I think it’s going to be exciting. Scary, but exciting.”
This story was originally published in Huddle, an Acadia Broadcasting content partner.
