Carlos Romero from Chuck Levin’s Washington Music Center
Nowadays, you can purchase a musical instrument online at the click of a mouse, and without having to talk with someone face-to-face. But, there was a time when getting a new acoustic guitar required a jaunt to your local music store, where your conversation with the employee about acoustic guitars would inevitably evolve into a critique of the newest Grateful Dead album, an explanation of your favorite amplifier, a celebration of your son’s recent baseball win. There was a time when music stores were more than just places to shop—they were pillars of community.
As far as Chuck Levin’s Washington Music Center is concerned, it’s still that time. Despite a robust website that allows you to buy online and the pandemic, Chuck Levin’s has remained a favorite brick-and-mortar for musicians in the Washington, D.C. area since 1958. It’s not a coincidence—founder Chuck Levin has embodied an ethos of empathy, community and trust from day one.
“One thing that I learned from Mr. Levin is this is not about the instruments. It’s not about the brand. It’s always about the people,” said Carlos Romero, Head of the Guitar Department at Chuck Levin’s. “I could tell you so many stories about how Mr. Levin would just let [musicians in the area] have the instruments so they can do the gig, and say, ‘Just take the instruments you pay me later.’ I don’t think you can find that in just any music store.”
For Romero, a rock guitarist, this approachable vibe—as well as the store’s huge stock and each employee’s depth of knowledge—is what drew him to the store when he first visited in 1985.
“I’d arrived there on a Saturday; that store was packed. It wasn’t just the amount of people. It was everything around the music store. It was one of those New York stores,” he said.
At the time, Romero, who was born in Peru and had recently moved from New York City to Virginia, was hungry to find a store like the ones you’d find on New York City’s iconic 48th Street, a now defunct row that was once famous for its density of musical instrument stores and rich community. Until Chuck Levin’s, Romero was travelling back and forth between New York and Virginia multiple times a month just to visit 48th Street. But after discovering Chuck Levin’s, he didn’t need to look any further.
“I never went back to New York. I always just went to Chuck Levin’s and I got to know everybody at the store,” Romero said.
In 1998, Alan and Robert Levin, Chuck’s sons asked Romero to work for the family business. And we mean family. Robert passed away in 2013, but was followed by his own son, Adam Levin who started working in the store in 2010. Carlos has now worked with 3 generations of Levin family members, and to this day works closely with Alan Levin, Chuck’s eldest son, Abbe Levin, Chuck’s daughter, and even Carlos’ own son works at the shop full time. In all these years, he’s never left because the energy that first drew him to the store remains intact.
“I think it comes from the passion of the people that work there. I think that is, that is key,” said Romero. “Any customer can tell you when they come to the store, they will tell you that it is about the passion of the guys that work there. That’s what drives the music store, basically.”
This passion, or energy, is also the reason Chuck Levin’s carries Breedlove and Bedell in-store—because, as Romero said, he could tell when he met Tom Bedell just how much he cared about his guitars, and by extension, the customer. Breedlove and Chuck Levin’s missions were simpatico.
“We were talking and he was just telling me all these stories about what they were doing and at the end of the day, I say to him, we’re going to make Breedlove work, but also we want to carry Bedell. I had to do it,” said Romero. “He just touch us in a way, when he was explained to us how he’s doing the guitars and how he cares for the environment and what he does, that I was like, I have to be a fool if I don’t get connected with this person within the music industry, you know what I mean?”
Even amidst a pandemic that has drastically reduced the number of on-floor employees they can have in the store, and forces Romero to work from home most days, the Chuck Levin’s team finds a way to keep their very human relationships with customers and manufacturers like Breedlove alive. Romero, for instance, gives out his cell phone number and answers practically 24/7. He says he doesn’t mind, because he understands how important—how human—music is.
“[Music], you know, it’s a different thing that doesn’t go with clicking the button—music has a meaning to customers. Music goes with our lives, you know?,” said Romero. “So I don’t mind talking to people. I don’t mind. We go the extra mile just to talk to people. I want them to know that if you call the store right away, the first thing you’re going to hear is a human being talking to you.”
To learn more about Chuck Levin’s Washington Music Center, call 301-946-8808, or better yet, feel the love for yourself at their flagship store at 11151 Veirs Mill Rd, Wheaton, MD 20902.
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