Name of business: Dale’s Guitar and Music Lessons

Type of business: Music store

Location: 2253 Geer Rd., Turlock

Hours: 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Saturday; noon to 7 p.m. Sunday

Contact information: 209-667-1646

Specialty: Instrument lessons

History of business:

Dale’s Guitar and Music Lessons has called Turlock home for over a decade, but a fresh start for the business in a new location is proving to be a success for owner Dale Falkenberg just one month in.

The music store had previously sat on East Olive Avenue in the same building which formerly housed Jura’s Pizza Parlor, but renovations on the building forced Dale’s Guitar to move. Falkenberg was given 45 days to move his business and ultimately settled on the spacious location that the store is in now, right next to Angelini’s Italian Restaurant on Geer Road.

The move from the small, cramped quarters on East Olive Avenue into the store’s large new 4,500 square-foot space has been beneficial for business, Falkenberg said.

“We probably needed to move, and the nudge that I got was probably the best thing that could’ve happened,” he said. “Over there we were kind of sad and lonely in our little location, but it’s such a happy place over here.”

While Falkenberg was sad to leave his business’ first home – he and his children built it “from the ground up,” he said – the shop’s new location provides not just more space, but better parking and an environment filled with other busy businesses, which Falkenberg has missed since Jura’s moved from North Golden State Boulevard.

Foot traffic from neighboring stores has increased sales for the store since the move – something Falkenberg didn’t expect.

“We expected business to take a huge dive maybe for the first six months until everyone found us again, but that just hasn’t happened,” Falkenberg said. “Sales are great, doing good or maybe even better than when we were at our first location.”

There’s room for every instrument at Dale’s Guitar now, which is a big deal given the circumstances at the store’s old location. Stacks upon stacks of music books, guitars, violins and other musical instruments were created to make up for the lack of space, and customers often were unable to find what they were looking for.

Now, neat rows of inventory on display by type and brand combine to create a small-scale warehouse atmosphere, where customers can spend all day looking at different varieties and styles of their favorite instruments.

“We’re selling more because we have more space and people can actually see what we have to offer,” Falkenberg said.