Derrek Vaughn | The Valdosta Daily TimesRutland's Music owner, Pat Rutland, is retiring at the end of the February and the store will close then as well. 

VALDOSTA — Rutland’s Music will be closing after 53 years of business, and its owner, Pat Rutland, will be retiring at the end of February.

Rutland’s Music is a family-owned business and was originally started by Rutland’s father, Bob “Georgia Slim” Rutland, who is in the Atlanta Country Music Hall of Fame, Rutland said. 

It is also the last major music store in Valdosta.

Rutland’s original plan was to retire at the end of 2017, but around Christmas, a real estate agent visited the store, looking to buy a piano, Rutland said. The agent decided to not buy the piano and left.

The agent came back the next day, Dec. 24, Rutland said. He told Rutland that a voice had told him to buy the piano so loudly it woke him.

Rutland told the agent that he must “be closer to the big man upstairs,” he said. The agent bought the piano and Rutland told him that he was planning on retiring at the end of the year and if he knew anyone looking for a building and some land to let him know.

The agent came back the Monday following Christmas and said he may have a buyer and asked what Rutland was looking to get for the property.

The agent came back the next Friday and told Rutland some good news and some bad news. The good news, the agent had a buyer for the building and land. The bad news, Rutland would need to be out of the building quickly.

The quick turnaround prompted a retiring sale where all of the products in the store went on sale starting Friday, Jan. 27. The sale is on-going and will be until all of the product is out of the store, Rutland said.

During the sale recently, several musicians were outside and ready to enter the store 30 minutes before it opened. The check-out line was to the back of the store and musicians could be seen playing guitars, checking prices and talking to each other about the instruments they were thinking about buying.

The musicians in Rutland’s Music that morning were part of what Rutland described as a family.

“We are a musical family, and that is what has kept us in business through the years,” he said. “We’ve been blessed to be a part of the family.”

Through the years, Rutland has aimed to please his customers, and while he knows he won’t be able to please everyone, he still tries.

“There’s an old saying: You can’t please everyone 100 percent of the time,” he said. “If we please 90 percent — we’d be very thankful.”

Along with the standard line of instruments, Rutland’s Music sells high-end guitars and basses.

He carried Paul Reed Smiths, Music Mans, Torres, Fenders and Gibbons, Bourgeois and Ramirez classical guitars.

“I am not a guitar collector, I sell to the collectors,” Rutland said.

With retirement nearing, Rutland doesn’t think he will miss working the music store, not because he wants a break, but because he is a musician and has no intention to quit playing music.

“Once you play an instrument, it is the most addicting thing in you can do,” he said. “You’ll do it for the rest of your life. So yes, I am addicted to music.”

To him running the store was just a part of being a musician and even in retirement, he will still be a musician and plans to be until the day he dies, he said. 

One of the things Rutland stressed is Rutland’s Music is not going out of business, but the business is retiring.  

“Going out of business means you had bad business, retiring means you had great business,” he said. 

And to have wonderful business means there has to be customers and Rutland is thankful to all of his customers over the years. 

“Thank you to the musicians and churches of Valdosta for supporting us with 53 years of wonderful business,” he said. 

Rutlands will be open until the end of February and is located at 2541 Bemiss Road. It is open form 9:30 a.m.-3 p.m Monday through Saturday. Call (229) 242-1222 for more information.  

Jason Smith is a reporter at The Valdosta Daily Times. He can be contacted at 229-244-3400 ext.1256.