New store making music in Aiken Mall 11/17/2009 8:32 PM
By RACHEL JOHNSON Staff writer
A sweet new sound fills the Aiken Mall as Turner Keyboards of Aiken opens.
On Friday at 1 p.m., a new business will open its doors in the Aiken Mall, and the store's employees invite the community to join in their grand opening celebration.
"We have been at the mall during the holidays for the last three years with a display in the middle of the mall. We decided this year to do a store and so far have been well received," said General Manager Tim Arbisi. "Piano sales are different than anything else. It is not an impulse buy; most people think about it for a couple of years before they buy. Pianos last 80 to 100 years and become family heirlooms. What else are you going to have to pass down for generations to come?"
A family business established in Augusta in 1955 by Papa Turner, the business holds the distinction of being one of only 62 piano stores in the world to carry the prestigious Steinway & Sons pianos. A store must be in business 30 years before they can become a dealer. The Aiken location is home to a 106-year-old hand-rubbed walnut finish Steinway & Sons Model "O" (5'10) Parlor Grand.
Turner Keyboards carries both new and pre-owned upright, digital and grand pianos. In addition, they can install a player system on any piano which enables you to listen to piano music in your own home even if you don't know how to play.
"The player system is a big seller. Today, only 3 percent of the population plays the piano whereas in 1950, 60 percent of the population played," said Arbisi. "We are the only piano store within an 80-mile radius. This town needs a piano store, and we'd like to be it. Many people from Aiken are already coming to Augusta to see us. We encourage all piano students and teachers to come and see us."
The new location hopes to expand to include a teaching studio and offer piano lessons in the future.
"No one has ever come into the store, sat down at a piano and played and said, 'I wish I didn't know how to play that,'" said Arbisi. "Every song ever written can be played on the piano, unlike other instruments."
Turner Keyboards of Aiken is accessible from the Aiken Mall food court entrance. Make a left and the store is about eight stores down on the left.
The store will be open Fridays from 1 until 6 p.m., Saturdays from 10 a.m. until 6 p.m. and Sundays from 1 until 5 p.m. They plan to be open from 10 a.m. until 6 p.m. on Black Friday.
For more information, call (706) 736-4479.
Contact Rachel Johnson at rjohnson@aikenstandard.com.
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Posted by: On: Wednesday, November 18, 2009 3:42 PM
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glad to see something is going in there. the aiken mall is a ghost town now. it's really sad to go in there now. with gap gone, kirklands gone, the old belk home store gone, and well...the whole place is deserted and depressing. hope this is part of a trend (new stores coming in, I mean).
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