OUR COMPANY HISTORY

• Home organs

  In the 1960s Arthur Sauer establishes a distribution network for Farfisa, a producer of electronic organs, at a time of growing popularity of home organs.

  

  His son Michael Sauer took over the management of Farfisa in the 1970s.

• First Store opened

  1972 the first store of MUSIC STORE professional opens in Cologne.

  

  Further branches were opened in Gummersbach, Neumünster, Heide and Husum, but closed soon. The Cologne location, on the other hand, developed into a popular contact point for professional artists and hobby musicians, especially after an advertising campaign in 1973.

• Moving to the city centre

  

  MUSIC STORE professional continues to expand and moves from Bonner Strasse to Cologne city centre in the 1980s. Among other things, a much better connection and the immediate proximity to the neighbouring countries of the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg contribute to the growing popularity of the store in addition to the large selection.

• Change of management

  The manufacturer Farfisa is sold in 1983 and Michael Sauer officially takes over the management of MUSIC STORE professional.

  

  At the end of the 80s, the retail space in the Kleine Budengasse was further expanded and a multi-storey car park was also taken over, which still offers numerous customer parking spaces in the middle of the city centre.

• Foundation of the Music Store Rock School

  

  In 1992 the Music Store Rock School is founded, where young musicians are trained on band instruments and already founded bands are supported via band coaching. Today, the school is located in the city centre of Cologne and in Cologne-Brück, among other places.

• Expansion of the premises

  
  
  After the store has been successfully located in downtown Cologne for many years, additional test rooms for guitars were built in 2004 and premises for its own call centre were built in 2005.

• Acquisition of the Wersi brand

  
  
  In 2010, keyboard and organ producer Wersi filed for bankruptcy. MUSIC STORE professional seizes the opportunity and acquires the trademarks and property rights of the well-known manufacturer. The Wersi studio in Hohentengen takes over the production and development of the organs and for keyboards MUSIC STORE cooperates with the Chinese supplier Medeli.

• Relocation to Istanbulstraße

  

  The store in the city centre quickly becomes too small for the large assortment. MUSIC STORE professional is therefore moving once again and opening the doors of its new shop with the gigantic new total area of up to 40,000m² on 16 May 2011 in Istanbulstrasse. Sales, logistics and administration will all be accommodated in one area.