Photo by Sariah Cheadle Pictured is Music Street owner Zach Haltvick inside the new retail space on Saturday during grand opening festivities.

MARSHALL — Long-time Main Street staple, Music Street, held a grand reopening Friday and Saturday after moving just a block over into the old Note Gallery location, almost doubling its square footage.

Music Street, which was started by Lon Wright in 1985, moved into the old 212 West Main location in 1986 after about two years in the Market Street Mall. Now, after 38 years, it’s relocated to 356 West Main.

In celebration of its new location, and as part of Black Friday and Small Business Saturday, Music Street hosted a grand reopening, serving hot chocolate and cookies and offering a giveaway drawing, which included a guitar and a ukulele.

The idea for a new space for the store had been floating around for awhile. When the Note Gallery decided to close and the space opened up, owner Zach Haltvick felt he had to jump at the chance.

“I knew that if I didn’t jump on this, I might not get the opportunity again for a while,” he said.

The Note Gallery not only had a larger space, but also came ready with an acoustic room, a space that allows customers to try out instruments in an environment away from the noise of other customers, the road nearby, and without the irregular sound reflections and reverberations that can come from a large room.

The size of the new space also means that Haltvik has the opportunity to host live music at the store and he’s hoping to do so regularly.

He would like to see “whoever wants to play and whoever can” at the store, not limited to any kind of style of musician.

Haltvick, who became the owner of Music Street just this past year, never really imagined himself working at a music store, let alone owning one.

“I just kind of fell into it,” he said.

Haltvick shares that he was working at a car dealership in town, but had met Lon Wright while involved in various music events in town, including playing in local band Route 68. When one of Music Street’s employees left, Wright called him up and basically just offered him the job in fall of 2016.

But the desire to own the store seemed to then come naturally to Haltvick.

Born and raised near Rochester, he grew up in a musical family and was in band and choir as “early as I could be” playing the saxophone first and then the guitar as a young teen.

Throughout high school he played in a rock band, which began recording their own music.

“I got really interested in that side of things — recording and live sounds.”

That interest continued into college as he attended Moorhead State to continue studying music and recording.

Haltvik found he “liked the behind the scene stuff… not playing as much as helping others who are playing.”

This, of course, is key to owning a music store where aiding musicians is the name of the game

“It’s exciting to see beginners come in, see their first instrument, try their first instrument — that’s a lot of fun…(and) when people come back, it’s fun to see.”

And customers have been coming back for generations.

One customer taking a look around during the reopening was Kim Howard. She began going to Music Street at the old location when she was in middle school, starting with the flute. Now she’s here with her daughter, Asia, getting a new string and rosin for her daughter’s violin.

Howard was excited “that they have more space…it was pretty crammed at the other store.”

Music Street’s primary market is local schools, servicing instruments and providing rentals through its rent to buy program.

This past summer Music Street serviced “over 300” instruments, taking them apart, cleaning and oiling them, replacing pads and keys when needed.

The store provides instruments to students in around 25 schools in the area, spreading out to Wilmar, Edgerton, Canby, and Wabasso.

Music Street also hosts teachers to provide lessons in their space, including for voice, guitar and piano.