Know Your Mom and Pop: The Village Drum Shop

Turning a hobby into a full-time job and successful business is a dream come true for most people. While the stress of everyday work life still exists, the effort put into every minute spent on the job is purely a show of passion. Not many people have the opportunity to live this reality, and it’s always a pleasure to witness its sustainability.

Anthony DeFusco started playing drums when he was young. He was in a band as a teenager, but then life took time away from his hobby. He got married, had kids and found a regular job. Though he wasn’t playing as much during this time, he started collecting and reselling gear. Surprisingly to him, this hobby started to gain traction with people and became more than he could handle at home. Sensing that his regular job was becoming unstable and seeing that there was a demand for drum gear, DeFusco took a chance and opened up The Village Drum Shop on a small side road in Scituate Village. The business is still going strong after more than seven years.

“We decided that there should be a dedicated shop where you can go to buy drum gear and get reliable and honest advice, and where musicians could hang with each other to create a great atmosphere,” DeFusco said.

DeFusco started small as the name and reputation were built. In addition to selling drum gear (they will also buy and trade equipment) and other items on the first level of the shop, The Village Drum shop offers lessons (with two experienced drums teachers who offer lessons Monday through Saturday), head replacement and drum tuning, and restorations and tune-ups, which is DeFusco’s main interest.

“We pride ourselves on restoration, and thoroughly enjoy restoring drums of any and all kinds,” DeFusco said. “We can restore them to their near original condition.”

Through advertisements, a successful website and the ever-important word of mouth, the business really started to grow, which led DeFusco to expand the store. He refinished the basement, which now houses a wide selection of cymbals, snare drums, pedals and stands. He also became a vendor for many of the leading drum distributors and manufacturers, including DW, Zildjian, Ludwig, Sonor, Tama, Pearl, Pacific Drums and Percussion, Paiste and Sabian.

The Village Drum offers the same services as a mega-chain while giving customers the service only available from a mom and pop store. Stores like Guitar Center and online competition drive DeFusco to give customers a reason to shop at his store. He offers reasonable prices and stock that is constantly changing. Most importantly, he is honest with his customers about their needs and wants, and does what he can to fairly give them the best service and price that he can.

“We believe people like to purchase from small businesses as we do ourselves,” DeFusco said. “The personal service is important to them and they know they are going to see something new every time they come into our dedicated drum shop.”

DeFusco enjoys getting to meet and build relationships with his customers, seeing them grow and prosper as musicians while being able to offer an outlet to people looking to learn a new skill.

“We have met so many nice people during the seven and a half years that we have been operating,” DeFusco proudly boasts. “Our customers are the core of our business. The friendships we have made with so many of our customers go beyond anything we ever expected when we opened.”

DeFusco is truly living a drummer’s dream: being around drums all day, ordering products, restoring drums and spending time meeting, conversing and advising like-minded people about his passion. I must admit that I’m a little jealous.

The Village Drum & Music is located at 17 Silk Lane in North Scituate. Hours of operation are Monday, Tuesday and Thursday: 11am – 7pm; Wednesday and Friday: 11am – 6pm and Saturday: 10am – 5pm.  You can call 401-764-0990, check out their website at villagedrumandmusic.com, Facebook page at facebook.com/The-Village-Drum-and-Music-114767491881415 and eBay store at stores.ebay.com/The-Village-Drum-and-Music?_rdc=1.