Temple of Music - New Pianos, Used Pianos, Steinway, Boston, Roland, Pianos Virginia.

ABOUT TEMPLE OF MUSIC

The Year was 1912...

It was a year that saw many amazing things both at home and abroad. Japan gave a gift of cherry trees to the United States. The RMS Titanic set sail on its maiden and final voyage. The South Pole was discovered. Teddy Roosevelt was nominated for President. It was also the year that Temple of Music was founded, which eventually become Southern Virginia's largest retailer of fine pianos and home keyboards.

The company continued to prosper, and throughout the twenties, saw the player piano become the choice of most consumers. In this time before common forms of modern entertainment like television and computers were invented, there were few radios and even fewer "talking machines", now known as phonographs, in the average American home. But the bell tolled for the player piano in 1929 with the onset of the Great Depression.

By 1932, no piano retailer could live by pianos alone. The economy forced retailers to offer a variety of products, and Temple of Music was no exception. A prospect entry sheet from January 22, 1932 reveals customers interested in two pianos, one radio and two refrigerators.

Sales and prosperity continued unhindered under December 7, 1941 when Pearl Harbor was attacked, and America once again found itself at war.

Piano retailing took on a new shape during war time. Many bright and talented salesmen were now in the business of making war overseas and merchandise was hard if not impossible to come by. A telegram from the Rudolph Wurlitzer company in 1942 marked the end of an era for piano companies, saying simply: sorry, we are all out of grands. Also spinets. Manufacturers were now fully engaged in the war effort, and piano business would be at a standstill for the next few years.

In the early 1980s, Temple of Music was acquired by Jordan Kitt's Music headquartered in Washington, D.C., making it part of what would become the nation's largest piano retailer, and opening up a variety of new products, including Steinway pianos, and more competitive pricing to the piano buyers of Hampton Roads

Today, the company remains part of the nation's largest piano retailer and continues to grow, thanks to the tens of thousands of customers who have trusted Temple of Music with their most important musical investment.