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Bananas At Large: Community First
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For 35 years, Bananas At Large (affectionately called “Bananas” by everyone around here) in San Rafael has been providing bay area musicians with instruments, amplifiers, gear of all varieties, and pedals… lots and lots of pedals.
Local musician Leeland Edwards offered, "The first thing that comes to mind about Bananas? Oh, the pedals, definitely. They have every pedal ever made it seems.” I can’t argue with that statement. The first thing I noticed when I walked in front door was the Fulltone Tube Tape Echo. It is a recreation of the old Echoplex unit, and is a staple of attaining “vintage” tone. I had previously only seen this unit on videos and pictures of Keith Richards’ guitar rig, or on the Fulltone website. That is the difference when you walk into Bananas, you have access to everything professional musicians use because, well, professional musicians shop there. But everyone who walks in the store is treated the same way, whether your name is Ted Ramey or Neal Schon.
Current owner and President Alan Rosen has been at Bananas since 1991. I want to provide a little transcript of my interview with Rosen, so you can all appreciate his business sense, passion, and practicality:
Rosen: First and foremost, we don’t consider ourselves just another music retail store. We don’t just try to sell people one thing and not worry about them. We consider ourselves a solution store. And our job is, in a sense, to keep the spirit of music alive. What we try to do is help people find the solution to what they’re looking for, as opposed to just pushing a product in their hands. When you’re doing that, you become their partner, and when you become their partner, you become invaluable, and you become a team. Therefore, people rely on you for a long period of time as they grow through their music life. They look to us to support them because they know they have a history with us. Also, when they see the same faces here for many, many years, as we have very low turnover, they become comfortable and confident they are getting quality assistance because that person has a history with them. Being part of the community, we try to make sure that everything we do ties back into somehow supporting the music community, be it through the donation of equipment, money or service, or supporting or highlighting open mics, or certain concerts-anything that empowers making music. We feel that if we’re doing that, we’re creating new musicians, or at least, keeping them from going to the play station or the internet. If we do that, we’ll have a clientele for a long time.
I’ll be honest, I never expected to hear such a straightforward, and accurate business ideology come out of anyone’s mouth when it comes to the music industry. Rosen conveyed to me that he isn’t worried about the chain music super stores (you know who I’m talking about), or the recession, or making the most profit; he is chiefly concerned with the music community and helping the people involved. That is such a far cry from what we’re normally exposed to, and is a main reason that Bananas has been around for 35 years in the face of chain music super stores, the ups and downs of the economy, a culture of distraction, and everything else that seeks to keep musicians from sitting down and playing just for the sake of playing. In keeping with the community theme, Bananas also supports Little Kids Rock which is an organization that brings funding and support to the public school music system. The importance of this organization cannot be expressed by this mere writer and music lover, and I plead that you follow the provided link and check out this wonderful group. Kudos to Bananas and everyone else who supports this organization.
At Bananas, you find steady and consistent low pricing, and no “fire sale,” panic mode mark downs. They guarantee low price matching even 30 days after the sale, and a hassle free return policy to ensure people feel comfortable with their purchase. This again highlights the fact that they are looking to build relationships with the customers, and not just make another sale. If you purchase an instrument at Bananas, you’re taken care for when it comes instrument setups and future maintenance. Rosen wants people to view Bananas as a place to go to have a good time, escape the stresses of life, and just have fun and play music. In the face of the current global economic downturn (or whatever term you want use) they are doing a great deal ofremodeling, which is a statement that they are here to stay.
Bananas is often referred to as the “boutique” store because in addition to carrying the staple brands (Fender, Korg, Yamaha), they carry lesser known brands like Hamer, Heritage, Indie (out of Canada), and Trussart. They feel that by offering a greater variety, they set themselves apart from the industry. Right now, they currently offer more brands of accessories, guitars, pedals, amps, etc, than the chain music super store I have referenced in this article a few times. Bananas offers boutique pedals from local builders like Ryan Dunn of Toadworks (based out of SF). They also offer Sweet Tone pedals (based out of Santa Rosa), MXR pedals (based out of Benicia), and Voodoo Labs pedals, which is based out of Petaluma (and hundreds of other brands). Rosen says, “We look for ways to keep business local, because when you keep business here, and local, it is good for everyone.”
I’m a gear head. For me, walking around a place like Bananas is an exercise in self restraint (must… not… use… credit… card). The amount of quality amps (they had the Fender Custom Shop ’57 Low Powered Tweed Twin, my current holy grail of tone. Again, Bananas is the only place I have seen carrying this amp), guitars, basses, keyboards, pedals and everything else is almost overwhelming because it’s not just the same stuff over and over, I saw guitars and amps I had never seen before! For me, that’s saying something. The entire staff is friendly, knowledgeable, and most importantly, seems to really enjoy their work. That, to me, will sell more gear than any brand or marketing ploy. You don’t feel like a walking commission check, or a sale waiting to be made. You just feel like you’re in the company of music lovers, and you are. Support the bay area music scene. Peace.
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