Longtime local business to close at end of month

More than 20 years ago, the local, family-owned business Beautiful Music began selling instruments and offering classes — it also began expanding its family to its music teachers and customers.

Following growing competition from the Internet amid a struggling economy, the business is scheduled to close July 31.

Jim Pool said he turned a dream into reality in 1986 when he opened Beautiful Music in the Meadowbrook Shopping Center, 6400 Woodward Ave. His sister, Pat Putra, is a co-owner. Both have also lived in Downers Grove their entire lives.

“We are closing because of Internet business has taken over retail. You can download sheet music and print it out. We have been struggling for a couple years and with that you add the economy,” Putra said. “It’s not an ending. It’s a new future for everyone.”

John Connolly of Oak Park has worked as a music teacher at Beautiful Music for 21 years educating students in piano, organ and voice, among others.

“It’s like selling off the family home,” Connolly said. “It has that feeling for me and a lot of us there. I felt this is really my second family.”

Connolly said as both a teacher and a customer at the store, he felt a bond with the owners and his students that was more like family.

“The reason I was a shopper there was because of the way you are treated. It’s an old art that nobody practices anymore — how to deal with the customer,” Connolly said.

Pool said he’s performed musically since the age of 7 as a singer and guitar player. He earned his degrees in business and combined the two aspects of his life into the business.

“It was just an idea I had that I wanted kids to learn how to play music,” Pool said. “It was a dream of mine.”

Putra said throughout the years the business’ music teachers instructed 450 students on average every month.

“It’s been absolutely wonderful, and we’ve had a really good time with it,” Putra said. “There’s been a lot of support from the community.

Pool’s wife, Peggy, conducts the business’ book keeping and accounting. Peggy Pool said the store’s clients are like family members.

“People treat you like family. It’s not your typical store where you go in and you don’t know anybody,” Peggy Pool said. “The whole goal was to make sure people knew it was a family-friendly store.”

Pool said he has enjoyed seeing third-generation clients coming in.

“This business was from our heart,” he said. “Nothing to get rich off of. We went for it.”

Peggy Pool said she and Putra will begin looking for new jobs. Jim Pool said he also works as a contractor and has plans to move on to rehabilitating houses as well as staying involved in music.