TMCnet News
Defunct Holze Music Co. store in Waco, Texas, to liquidate(Waco Tribune-Herald (TX) Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Dec. 19--Nostalgia buffs wanting a piece of historic Holze Music Co. may want to attend a store liquidation auction Saturday. Everything from old instrument repair parts to amplifiers to neon signs will be auctioned off beginning at 10 a.m. at what once was the flagship Holze store at 1210 Lake Air Drive. Preview time is from noon to 6 p.m. today. The 71-year-old Holze Music Co. went out of business in the spring, when owner Rob Gibson found himself in a financial bind that included becoming delinquent on about $200,000 in sales tax payments to the state and being hit with lawsuits by companies that claimed Holze fell behind on payments for instruments. Robert W. Clark (left) and son Robbie examine a musical instrument to be sold during an auction Saturday at the defunct Holze Music Co. store at 1210 Lake Air Drive. A preview showing starts at noon today. (Duane A. Laverty photo) Office equipment at the Holze Music Co. store on Lake Air Drive will be among the items sold during a liquidation sale on Saturday. (Duane A. Laverty photo) Community Bank & Trust posted the store for foreclosure and took possession of it when Gibson failed to make loan payments "for several months," said bank attorney Jeff Cox. Now Community has hired Clark Auction Co. to clear out the store, "right down to the fixtures," said auctioneer Robert W. Clark. "I'm expecting a good turnout based on the number of people who have come by and called about what we have," he said. Larry Holze, who now works as a spokesman for the city of Waco, says he won't attend the auction, though he has emotional ties to the place. "I spent 35 years in the business, and my brother and I designed and built this building. It opened in December 1972, when Karl May was mayor, and we had a little ceremony for the occasion," he said. Holze Music Co. was so popular at that time, such a part of the Waco community and generations of school-age youngsters who rented their band instruments there, that brothers Larry and Ronnie Holze could operate their Holze's location on Lake Air Drive while their father and company founder, Lewis Holze, operated his on North 18th Street. "He was totally supportive of us, but he stayed at the older store because that was his home," Holze said of his father. Eventually, the old Holze's closed and the one on Lake Air Drive stuck around, becoming the hub of a chain that grew to 10 stores statewide after Gibson bought out the company in 1992. The Waco Holze's became known for selling and renting band instruments, as well as offering guitars and keyboard instruments. "But what people may not remember is that we were big Magnavox dealers, selling 35 different console stereos that we displayed in homey-type situations," said Holze, adding: "We were among the very first to have a video library. We had movie clubs, with our movies available only to customers who bought VCRs from us. We even sold microwave ovens and had a fleet of radio-dispatch trucks." By the time Gibson bought the company, Holze's had become exclusively a music store, leaving the TVs, microwave ovens and stereos to the growing number of "big-box" retailers. Gibson, who could not be reached for comment about the auction, took possession of a company with a solid reputation. But he has said he ran into "cash-flow" problems as he grew the company, and his attempts to get financing from banks and venture capital firms proved fruitless. Last weekend in Fort Worth, about 300 bidders from as far away as Minnesota and Florida showed up to bid on about 20,000 items from the 10 Holze Music Co. stores around the state. The merchandise included instruments, accessories, electronic equipment and tools used in instrument repair. "The typical buyers were music store owners and resellers. We basically sold the stuff for what it would bring on the wholesale market," said Robert Clark's son, Robbie. About 100 instruments that were not included in that sale will be brought to Waco and included in Saturday's auction. Robbie Clark would not comment on how much money the sale in Fort Worth fetched or what lienholders would benefit from the auctions. But David Lacy, president of Community Bank & Trust, confirmed the bank is a lienholder that will benefit. The sale in Waco will include flutes, clarinets, saxophones and trumpets; fixtures, furniture and display cases; neon signs, speakers and more. When Holze shut its doors statewide, hundreds, if not thousands, of instruments were still in the possession of customers who were leasing them. An account was set up to continue receiving payments from customers who want to keep the instruments. "There are still a lot of horns and accounts still out there," Clark said. To see more of the Waco Tribune-Herald, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.wacotrib.com. Copyright (c) 2008, Waco Tribune-Herald, Texas Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. For reprints, email [email protected], call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA. |