Katelyn Umholtz | The Valdosta Daily TimesBen Owens has owned and operated Ben Owens Music in Valdosta for 23 years now. 

REMERTON — Every year Ben Owens keeps his music shop open is a good year.

Therefore, he has done 23 solid years of business in the Valdosta community.

“I owe it to the grace of God and the Valdosta community for keeping me alive,” Owens said. “I’m looking forward to 23 more years.”

The store, which specializes in selling musical instruments and teaching how to play them, is known as the Pink House and sits on a quiet street in Remerton.

Inside the quaint, colorful house are rows and rows of guitars, other musical instrument equipment and pamphlets offering lessons for a variety of instruments — even the ukulele and mandolin.

Running his own music shop was a dream for Owens while he was teaching music lessons at Sandy Campbell Music during his college years in 1988.

“I basically built this business on teaching lessons,” Owens said. “I’m a big believer in teaching children music education.”

To teach music, he had to learn it first.

His love for playing began with seventh-grade band in Albany, where his friend wanted to join and made Owens join, too.

“We were both supposed to play trumpet,” Owens said. “The band director made me play trombone because I had long arms. I never really liked the trombone, but it developed my ears and senses to listening to music.”

He later received a guitar for his 13th birthday from his mom. Owens broke a string on it within minutes of holding it, but he was still able to learn a chord with only five strings.

His first song was “Sweet Home Alabama.”

A year later, he was ready for his next guitar — a Sears and Roebuck guitar and amp from a pawn shop. An uncle helped Owens talk the price down from $100 to $70.

His collection of guitars has since grown, and every one of them is special — a few Gibson Les Pauls and even some he has crafted himself named Blue Boy and Natty.

It wasn’t until 1996, when Owens was married and had a child, that he put his passion into a store.

The first version of the shop wasn’t at the Pink House, but at a location on Ashley Street.

He named it Encore.

“Being a musician, you always pray for an encore,” Owens said. “I thought that was a catchy name. After the first five years, no one knew that was me. I thought it would be a good idea to change it to Ben Owens Music because everybody knew me.”

The store later moved to another Ashley Street location then off of Baytree before settling into its current quiet spot in Remerton.

“This is the Pink House,” Owens said. “It has gotten famous around South Georgia. I put a lot of heart and soul into this place, and there’s not another music store like this anywhere — I hear that all the time.”

The location has even reached musicians outside of the Lowndes County border, from Kurt Vile stopping by to Joe Bonamassa purchasing a guitar in the shop.

Even with the highest of highs in the business, owning a retail store during the internet age has served up many challenges.

“This is an old-fashioned business,” Owens said. “The only way I’m staying alive is because I’ve been here for so long and made so many relationships.”

At 54, Owens doesn’t plan to retire his shop any time soon. He keeps lessons going with five music teachers, an impressive display of instruments and his beautiful hand-crafted guitars.

It’s been a long, hard journey, but Owens thanks his family, friends and the overall Valdosta community for supporting him since day one of his crazy venture.

“Money comes and goes,” Owens said. “If you’ve touched people’s lives and made a difference in the world, that’s what it’s all about.”

Ben Owens Music is located at 1803 Plum St., and the business can be reached at (229) 247-1868 and benowensmusic@gmail.com. Visit the store’s website at benowensmusic.com for more information. 

The hours are 10:30 a.m.-6 p.m. Monday through Friday and 10:30 a.m.-3 p.m. Saturday. Ben Owens Music is closed Sundays.

Katelyn Umholtz is a reporter with the Valdosta Daily Times. She can be contacted at (229)244-3400 ext. 1256.