Dennis Vance is seated at his desk amid a sea of mandolins on a brutally hot, 110 degree summer day at The Mandolin Store in Surprise, Ariz. assisting a customer by phone.
The store is small enough that a private conversation is out of the question so it's easy to listen and sense most end with the caller feeling like they made a friend, comments I've seen mirrored online more than a few times. Many of Vance's customers not only bought their first mandolin here, but their second, third and more, and few calls end without Vance tilting his head back for a proper belly laugh.
If you get the idea he enjoys running The Mandolin Store, you'd be correct.
About the author: Scott Tichenor is the founder of the Mandolin Cafe. He traveled to Phoenix for the sole purpose of profiling The Mandolin Store, a long-time supporter of the site.
Vance arrives for the day dressed in sandals, shorts and short-sleeve t-shirt and told me it doesn't particularly matter what he wears, because it's unlikely he'll see anyone. If walk-in business was what he was after he'd be better off selling golf clubs and carts to retirees that make up the area, home of the famed Sun City retirement communities.General Manager Brian Farmer is seated nearby with another dozen instruments performing setup and repair on outgoing instruments. By my count, that's over 150 mandolins in stock.
After imagining what the store experience might be after many years, walking through the front door I discovered I wasn't quite prepared. For a mandolin player, this is utter chaos of the very best kind.
A look at the store's web site might conjure up visions of dozens of customers perusing instruments during store hours. Not so. "We'd be out of business if we relied on walk-ins," Vance told me. "Greater Phoenix area is not a particularly robust acoustic music community."
Vance, who launched The Mandolin Store in his bluegrass and old-time music rich home state of Ohio in 2004 relocated to Surprise in 2007 to care for his aging father who passed away in 2017.
Entering the store you're hit with everything from fine new Gibson mandolins to spectacular options from Ellis, Pava, Northfield, Kentucky, Eastman, Weber and more. It's simply nothing short of one of the most impressive mandolin retail operations on the planet and like nothing else I've ever experienced in person.
It's unlikely anyone you can make phone contact with (ie., not amazon, not eBay), approaches as many Eastman and Kentucky models in stock.
Some might question the wisdom of basing an entire business around a single instrument such as a mandolin, but for Vance, the decision was easy.
I asked, he laughed: "I'm a one trick pony. It's all mandolins all the time. We're really passionate about doing the very best at what we do. We carried guitars for years but decided to concentrate on just mandolins. I love guitars, and we still take them in trade from time to time but our focus changed a few years ago and we never looked back.
"We sell a lot of product, and in order to satisfy customer demand year-round we need to have a full range from entry level to the finest professional grade instruments available at all times. We decided a long time ago we couldn't afford to not have what customers need so we place large orders."
"How large," I inquired?
"We're receiving a shipment of 110 Eastman Mandolins as part of our Fall order of 300 in a couple of days. The rest come later," he said.
"How many?" I said, thinking I misunderstood.
He's also the main distributor for new Gibson Mandolins and is unabashedly enthusiastic about the new instruments coming out of Nashville.
"I'd like to think there's nowhere else you can get this kind of selection, and because it's all we do, we're totally committed to that effort. We're all about selection and service.
"Of course we work with all of the prominent mandolin companies everyone is familiar with: Gibson, Collings, Ellis, Weber, Pava, Northfield, Eastman and Kentucky for starters," he added, "but some of the best used mandolins from an endless list of small builders have all made their appearance here at one time, whether a Nugget, Dudenbostel, Gilchrist, Heiden, or many others at the very top end of the market price-wise. And we've had our share of high end vintage Gibsons as well."
Brian Farmer
General Manager Brian Farmer performs set-up work on all mandolins before they're shipped.
Although The Mandolin Store no longer actively carries new guitars in retail, General Manager Brian Farmer has launched Sun Valley Guitars inside the store with Vance's approval and support.
Sun Valley Guitars is an authorized dealer of Eastman, Collings and Recording King guitars with the hope of adding Taylor in the near future. On The Mandolin Store web site, the link "Guitars" points to Sun Valley Guitars. On the Sun Valley Guitar site, the link "Mandolins" points back to The Mandolin Store.
"We were always more of an internet-based business, but a lot more sales occur directly through the web site these days vs. over the phone. I love that kind of business, but what I really enjoy is talking to customers and making that human connection. This is a people business first. I've made and retained a lot of good friends over the years through the store."
Another sign of changing times, a chat function just added to The Mandolin Store home page has turned out more productive than anticipated.
Chats are directed to an app on his cell phone at times he chooses to be available. Having it on is apparently not restricted to just being in the store. Late the evening of my visit I watched as he completed a sale with a customer clearly intent on testing the store's hours. It seems Vance is more than willing to be available at hours of his own choosing. "I got a kick out of that one," he laughed. "They're surprised to get a response at that time of night and it makes for good conversation."
"It's just a different way to connect," he said. "A lot of customers expect it and I enjoy the connection."
While the store continues to be one of the hot spots for the mandolin community, change is inevitable, and more may be in its future.
After his father's passing, his mother moved back to Ohio to be near her extended family. Part-time employee Adam McIntosh, who still performs video work for the store also moved back to Ohio but travels to Surprise a few times a year to assist. Single, with no immediate family in the area, Vance is staying for now with two dogs, Mandy (short for "Mandolin") and Emmy, but says the pull of the Midwest to be near family is strong. A talented mandolin and guitar player who loves classic country music and bluegrass, he also misses the strong base of musicians in the Midwest. A move of the store could be in the cards.
In the meantime, phones ring, chats are answered, sometimes at odd hours, instruments fly in and out of inventory, and The Mandolin Store continues on as one of the favorite spots anywhere for all things mandolin.
And yet there may be one more announcement he intends to share with the community at some point. It was the primary reason I traveled to Phoenix for this feature article, but Vance ultimately declined saying it would best be shared at a later time.
"Soon, maybe," he said with a smile.
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