- Riverton Music is closing its West Jordan location due to rising costs.
- Owner Kevin Rindlisbacher cites tariffs and inflation as reasons for the closure.
- He hopes for economic stabilization to maintain the remaining locations in Sandy and Clearfield.
SANDY — As many Utah businesses navigate the new world of tariffs, a mom-and-pop music store is closing one of its three locations to help counter rising costs.
Riverton Music owner Kevin Rindlisbacher said tariff-related costs and supply issues as well as inflationary costs led to the decision to close the West Jordan location, 7742 Campus View Dr., as the family-run business navigates unprecedented uncertainty.
"It just becomes more problematic to really stock and to be able to sell enough product to justify the store's existence anymore," Rindlisbacher said during a recent interview with KSL. "Unfortunately, we made the decision to close that location."
According to Rindlisbacher, tariffs have impacted his business on multiple fronts, including rising manufacturing costs in Asia, where he said as much as 85% of musical instruments are produced.
"A product that was costing us, you know, $200 yesterday, if we want to order it next week, could be $300 or $400," he explained.
He also said the tariff bill for importing musical instruments has been hefty, particularly with containers of pianos.
"A tariff that used to cost me $4,000 or $5,000 could now be $40,000," Rindlisbacher said. "I just can't amortize that cost over the units that are inside of the container and have any chance of making money."
The owner said the unpredictability of the past year has been difficult.
"I've been in this business now for 43 years, and I've never experienced price increases like I have in the last year," he said. "Our utilities have gone up, our rent has gone up and we're trying to pay our employees a wage that will allow them to live, and at the same time, we're selling less stuff because of the price increases that we've experienced."
Further, Rindlisbacher said the past year has been unlike anything his family has encountered since opening the first store back in 1968.
"I used to feel like we had some control over our destiny — that if we worked smart, we worked hard, we hired good people, we had good product, that we could control where we are going," Rindlisbacher said as he discussed the emotions involved in navigating the current environment.
"It's that uncertainty — it's that not knowing where we're heading and what we can control about it, which is virtually nothing."
Rindlisbacher said he didn't want to let his customers, employees or even vendors down, and he was hoping the other two locations in Sandy and Clearfield would continue to move forward.
He said he also hopes for tariffs and inflation to ease.
"I'm just waiting for some common sense to enter into the picture and settle things down," Rindlisbacher said. "We're hoping that that will happen sooner rather than later."
