ASHEVILLE, N.C. (828newsNOW) — Every year, Asheville Media Group asks the community what the best of Asheville is: the best restaurants, the best spots to shop, the best schools, services and salons. Our poll encompasses 200+ categories that celebrate what makes Asheville the best.
In this series, “Behind ‘Best of Asheville’,” 828newsNOW will profile a few of the 2024 Best of Asheville winners.
FINKELSTEIN’S – Music Instrument Shop Silver Medal winner
The oldest pawn shop in North Carolina rests unassuming in a row of storefronts in downtown Asheville. Finkelstein’s, still dubbed “Finkelstein’s Loan Office” on its facade, has been a staple of Asheville commerce since 1903, located at 21 Broadway St.
More than 100 years later, it’s still winning awards.
Finkelstein’s is the winner of a Silver Medal for Music Instrument Shop in the 2024 round of Best of Asheville. According to owner Alan Sheppard, music has been a major part of the Finkelstein’s model for years.
“Pawn shops have always been synonymous with music stores. You hear a lot of country songs, every type of song has talked about have to pawn your guitar to get a wedding ring, or they went in and bought a guitar in Nashville because they had a dream of being a guitar player,” Sheppard pointed out. “Pawn shops was actually your jewelry store, your music store, your watch shop, they were all kinda combined because there was no such thing as a free-standing music store.”
Sheppard said that Finkelstein’s has been a go-to store for musical equipment since he was a child, even before he got into the pawn business himself.
“Even when I was a kid and I needed a pack of strings for a guitar, I went to Finkelstein’s,” Sheppard said.
The same is true today. Finkelstein’s is inviting as a musical storefront: the windows are lined with guitars, violins and other stringed instruments.
According to Sheppard, the pawn shop is the perfect place for long-time musicians to find a musical curio or for first-time players to find a cheap, reliable instrument.
“We’ve sold everybody. Billy Gibson with ZZ Top, him and his partner,” Sheppard recalled. “Between those two, we’ve sold them five guitars in the last 10 years. We’ve had a lot of other stars come through. There’s some I won’t say because we signed non-disclosures with them, but we’ve sold instruments to other musicians that’s used them in music videos.”
As exciting as the famous – or, as Sheppard affectionately calls them, “fluffy people” – shoppers are, it’s the regular Asheville clientele that Finkelstein’s is dedicated to serving.
“We’ve got guitars that start at $89. We don’t sell junky stuff,” Sheppard promised. “We try to sell something that if somebody’s gonna spend the money for their kid to play, you can go buy a guitar for $49, but if your kid really has interest in playing, I always tell parents never to buy something stupid inexpensive.”
That attention to detail and concern for what instrument is going to be the best match for the customer is what has kept Finkelstein’s alive and thriving for over 100 years.
For more information about Finkelstein’s, visit their Facebook page, www.facebook.com/finkelsteinsasheville.