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A shop owner with good business sense, loyalty to his clientele, and, most importantly, unwavering love of music is what keeps one of the remaining music stores in NYC open — and thriving.
Castellano’s House of Music, initially based in Brooklyn but now in Staten Island, is a family-owned music store that sells guitars, amps, effects pedals—everything the consummate rock star needs to shred on stage or in the basement. It also offers music lessons for budding and professional instrumentalists and vocalists of all ages.
“We are all service. The musical instruments we do are guitar, drums, bass, keyboards,” explained owner John Castellano. “We do lessons for all the instruments. We even put bands together at different levels.”
Customers are welcome to try the guitars available for sale at Castellano’s House of Music and ask any questions they might have about the instruments.Photo credit: Barbara Russo-Lennon
A music store in NYC and a family business
Castellano does it all with his family, whose blood runs music. His daughter Nicole runs the shop with him, and his son Ritchie is the keyboardist/bass player for the classic rock band Blue Oyster Cult.
The Castellanos started their music business journey in Brooklyn in 1965. Philip and Marion Castellano, John’s parents, originally opened Bath Music, which has since morphed into the Castellano’s House of Music that NYC knows today.
“On my 17th birthday, my father got me a guitar. And I was playing, and grew fast on the instrument. I started playing, getting in bands, getting, music jobs,” Castellano said.
It was the late 1960s when Castellano formed one of his first bands, the Missing Links, and started playing on stage for the public at Cropsey Park (now Bensonhurst Park) in Brooklyn. The country was reeling from the Vietnam War at the time, and radios were blaring anti-war songs from artists like Creedence Clearwater Revival and John Lennon.
“But we didn’t do any of that,” Castellano said. “I was not a hippie. I was something different. I was an energetic, aggressive person. But I did flip the peace symbol to everyone.”
As a teenager, Castellano’s business sense was already kicking in when he took to grassroots methods to promote his show.
“What I got to promote the show…I bought seven oak tags and a magic marker and wrote, ‘Rock concert tonight. Cropsey Park.’ The first night we drew 1,000 people. The next week it was almost 3,000,” he said.
And the momentum kept going to the point of 10,000 people coming to one of the final shows the following year.
“Cops were directing traffic. We were in the newspapers, the Home Reporter, the Post, the Daily News. Dizzy Gillespie came down one time to hang out with us.”
Castellano describes the production as seemingly easy to put together. And in a way, it was.
“When there’s a want for something, it’s easy,” he said.
Castellano getting ready to perform a song.Photo credit: Barbara Russo-Lennon
Meanwhile, Castellano’s parents still owned Bath Music in Brooklyn. The young musician toured the country with his band, and eventually came back to NYC, started a family and took some side jobs including owning a candy store and a shop in the Staten Island Mall.
But he never strayed from music, doing gigs and shows to this day. And in 1993 the family music store reopened as Castellano’s House of Music in Staten Island.
A small-town feel in the big city
Castellano’s House of Music is a literal house with music. It is a converted, two-story detached house located on the corner of the borough’s busy Richmond Avenue and, ironically, Vedder Avenue (not named after Pearl Jam frontman Eddie Vedder).
Outside the shop.Photo credit: Barbara Russo-Lennon
“Here we have a house. Basically, my brother and I had to reconfigure everything. Take the walls out where there was a bathroom,” the business-slash-music man explained, adding that he did not have to rezone to open the business based on the layout of the space.
Customer after customer walked into the shop on a busy Saturday recently. And student after student. Each one giving Castellano a warm greeting, calling him by his first name.
One woman, whose daughter takes music lessons there, brought in a box of cookies for staff and fellow customers.
“Here, take one, they’re still warm from my oven!,” the friendly woman offered to everyone inside.
Meanwhile, daughter Nicole, who sings and loves animals including cats and rabbits, was busy at the front desk doing paperwork, making sales and chatting with parents whose children were taking lessons.
Castellano runs a thriving small business. And he does not disparage larger music chains that some Americans feel, in conjunction with online shopping, force smaller shops to shutter. In fact, he spoke highly of the now-closed music megastore, Sam Ash.
“It was sad that they closed. It was family owned. They were friends,” he said.
A saying goes that ‘nothing last forever,” but there is at least one thing that does.
“Music is forever,” Castellano said.
What you need to know about visiting Castellano’s House of Music in NYC
Where is it located?
The store is located at 1013 Richmond Ave. in Staten Island.
What are the hours?
Monday-Friday, 12-7 p.m.; Saturday, 11 a.m.-6 p.m.; Sunday, 11 a.m.-4p.m.
For more information, visit castellanoshouseofmusic.com or call 718-982-8548.
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