On Welland’s Main Street, tucked away from the jarring modern renovations of downtown stands a staple of the city’s infrastructure, a mom and pop music shop – Central Music, the only one in the city – operated by mother-and-son duo, Helen and Bob Nitransky.

Since 1968, they’ve been servicing Welland with music, changing alongside the musical zeitgeists over the last half of the 20th century and the 2000s. Initially a record store, once Beatlemania engulfed the continent the game changed shifting to sell instruments became the focus.

“I’m the only guy in the world that works in a music store who doesn’t play anything. I tried to play the guitar when I was a bit older but it didn’t come easy to me – it was always more fun to play hockey out in the back.” – Bob Nitransky

Bob was born into the business. During Central Music’s early days, he and his family lived in the apartment above the store. In grade seven he started working at the shop when his father was running it; coming in after school he’d clean the store, performing the menial tasks from emptying the trash and ashtrays and scrubbing the floor on his hands and knees with a bucket of water and Comet®. Throughout high school, he ordered and priced vinyl albums while his father sold the instruments.

When his father passed in 1988, the keys were handed to him and his mother. They’ve been through it all; a bystander to the heydays when Welland’s main strip was the place to be – great music and different bands all within walking distance just outside their doorstep.

“Back in the 70s we had five or six bars in the downtown area that had live entertainment six nights a week,” Bob said. “Then the 80s and 90s came and there was the smoking ban, the crackdown on impaired driving. All those factors tore into the bar business, the live bands and they all disappeared eventually – I don’t think we’ll ever see that happen again.”

Welland’s Main Street was flourishing back in the 70s and 80s. Now the back half is riddled with empty properties and sparse traffic.

While the outside noise faded, Central Music kept cranking the volume. Their selection grew with the times and made lifelong customers through the process, helping local high school music departments to seasoned musicians in need of re-stringing.

For someone who strays from playing, you’d never know from how articulated he is when talking tuning and guitar storage; but, decades in the business would do it, I guess.

If you’re ever in need of a quality instrument or music education, Central Music’s got you covered. You can always find Bob and his team in the trove boarded by penitentiary-style bars – fittingly enough, prisoners of rock ‘n’ roll.

Previous Water & Steel entries
Session #2 – Beatlemania’s Influence
Session #1 – The Hometown Blues