Music is a driving force in our culture today. Simply look to the fairly recent invention of the mp3 player and the iPod and you will see how people from all ages connect with a small plastic device and two earbuds.

But behind this beautiful thing called music is an equally beautiful thing called a musician.

Musicians come in all shapes, sizes, genders, ages and ethnic back rounds. But the one thing that musicians share is a love and a passion for, yes, music.

It is this very love for music that leads musicians from all over Manitoba to a store called Quest Musique. What started as a little repair shop in the basement of owner Sam Trachilis’ house has turned into a multi-location musician enthusiast store in the city of Winnipeg.

Hundreds of people dawn the doorways of Quest Musique daily, but what is it like to be on the inside? To know the inner workings of a music store?

I have had the privilege to work at Quest Musique on Portage Avenue for the past month. In my time there I have learnt more than I could ever imagine about music, musical instruments and the musical subculture in Winnipeg.

The job of working in a music store seems glamorous does it not? You play guitars and talk with people, right? Well, to a degree . . . But apart from the apparent glamour of the job there is a whole other world behind the scenes.

Deliveries are the first part of the chain. After all, how does product make it to the shelves without being ordered? The order must be placed with a vendor who will then package up the order and send it off to the store. Orders can vary from one guitar to two hundred packages of guitar strings, but no matter what it may be, each piece of equipment is equally important to the store.

Now let’s take a look at the back door. The delivery van pulls up and rings the back door buzzer. The shipper and receiver in the basement gets a call to come take the package and to register all the serial numbers through the computer. The product then makes its way up to the floor where it is placed on the shelves to be sold.

Now it comes to the sales guys and girls. These are the individuals who really need to know how stuff works. They must have adequate knowledge to pitch a product to a customer but they also need to be personable enough to convince the customer that they would even want to buy from the store.

Wes Dowse, the general manager at Quest’s Portage Avenue location put it like this then asked by Canadian Music Trade: “When I do sales training with the guys, it’s usually based upon making friends with people and matching people with the instrument that will best suit them. When you’ve made friends with your customer, it’s pretty easy to make a sale. On the other side of that, you’re not going to want to sell them something that they’re not going to be able to use.”

Once a sale is finalized, everyone involved comes out on top. The customer gets a new piece of gear that is now uniquely their own, the store itself turns a profit and the sales person can add another sale to their sales records.

Quest Musique is most definitely unique environment. It is not often that you find a workplace where each and every employee looks forward to going to work in the morning. It provides local musicians a place to get their gear repaired, to sell old gear and to buy the newest product on the shelves.

Even now, the full potential of Quest Musique has not been reached. Founder and owner Sam Trachilis desires to one day incorporate both cafes and recording studios to Quest Musique locations and to possibly expand to Western Canada.

As Quest grows, so does the solid base of musicians in Winnipeg. Music stores like Quest Musique support and sustain the vibrant and diverse music scene in Winnipeg.