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One Colorado Springs family’s calling to share the magic of music with as many people as possible is still playing on half a century later.
On Saturday, Meeker Music will celebrate 50 years in business and highlight the enduring legacy of Charles Meeker Jr., the eponymous family patriarch who founded the company in 1975.
Meeker Music sells, rents and rents-to-own musical instruments, performs instrument repairs and maintenance, offers accessories and sheet music for sale, and provides music lessons.
Meeker launched the business after retiring as the vocal music supervisor at Colorado Springs School District 11. He’d previously worked as the choir director for both Palmer (formerly Colorado Springs) and Wasson high schools in the district.
“He decided then to open the store to continue to promote music in the community, but mostly in the schools, and get instruments into the hands of kids. We’ve been blessed,” said Kelly Hamman, Meeker’s granddaughter. She began working at the store in 1997 as a senior at Wasson High School; today, she co-owns the business with her mother, Connie Hamman, Meeker’s daughter who has worked at the shop since Day 1.
The business’s main location operated for 38 years in three storefronts on Bijou Street downtown, moving in 2013 to its current space at 624 N. Tejon St. The family operated other locations across El Paso County as well as in Woodland Park west of Colorado Springs, but today Meeker Music has just two locations: the one on Tejon and another on the north side of the city in the Woodmen Plaza shopping center on Woodmen Road between Lexington and Rangewood drives.
After its founding, Meeker Music became, and remains, a community staple. It’s been run by several family members over the years, including Kelly Hamman’s uncle and both of her parents.
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Five decades after its founding, store visitors still share their stories about Charles Meeker and how he and his family touched their lives.
“Some of my favorite stories … are the people who have come in for the last 50 years. For a long time, we’ve had people continue to visit us who had my grandpa as their choir director,” Hamman said. “Our FedEx driver said one time he remembered when my uncle taught him how to play guitar. It’s great fun to hear these stories and very cool to be able to hear them. That’s probably my favorite thing about working here and the legacy we have.”
Hamman said business is strong at Meeker Music and she’s grateful the company is doing well — in recent weeks, several other businesses across the Pikes Peak region have announced their closures. The Colorado Springs community’s strong support for music has helped Meeker Music thrive amid economic headwinds and school budget cuts throughout the decades, she said.
The community’s patronage of locally owned small businesses also helps stores like Meeker Music compete against big-box department stores and online retail giants like Amazon, she said.
“Overall, people really get behind music here. It’s never been cut much. You still see kids joining band, orchestra and choir, so music has been a strong program for a long time and every year that continues,” she said. “… Music is just consistent and will always be there in some form, so I think that’s kept us going.”
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