Gazette Article: 'Traditions' music store plans move to new site

After 27 continuous years at our 7040 Carroll Ave location (plus 2 years in 1972-74, before our stint in Berkeley Springs WV) House of Musical Traditions moved a stone's throw away to 7010 Westmoreland Ave. You can actually see the new building from our old location if you look through the gazebo across the street. Our new home is the gray house-like building (how appropriate!) which formerly housed Purple Mountain Organics and other offices.

Why the move? It's a bigger space and a nicer and newer space. We are occupying the whole building: two floors plus a basement. We are also expanding some aspects of our store -- the second floor of the new building is a "salon" type area where you will find beautiful high-end string instruments such as Goodall, Bourgeois, and Breedlove guitars, Weber and Breedlove mandolins, and Dusty Strings harps and hammered dulcimers. The downstairs is our main level with all our other instruments, books, and CDs. We are expanding our sound equipment offerings and will have a special room devoted to amps, PA systems, microphones, and pickups, as well as the office of Dave Eisner's live sound engineering company Sounds Reasonable. The basement is a large storage area and a wonderful alternative to the mini-closets, lofts, and nooks and crannies we had to manage at our original store.

Those of you who frequented our former location remember that it was crammed floor-to-ceiling with stuff! While that did present a kind of "folksy charm" that we'd all come to know and love, the new space allows us to expand, relax, revitalize, and reformat. We're looking forward to a new beginning and a bright future for HMT in the new location. We're happy to be remaining in the heart of Old Town Takoma Park -- "The Folk Capital of the Nation's Capital!"

Updates, pictures and progress on the move are posted on the HMT Blog.