LITTLE ROCK — Some 30 years ago, Steve Witkowski, of an old North Little Rock Polish family, emerged from the droves of investment bankers that were swarming the mid-South to seek other ventures.
Along with girlfriend Beckey Stone of Benton he got into the import business, going back and forth to Europe to buy whole flats of furniture and art that Americans seemed to be craving. They operated as International Antique Gallery on Crystal Hill Road. Now and then a fine old piano would be among the artwork acquired for the gallery.
As they continued, they got married to the business and to each other.
Pianos more and more became a bigger part of the business and the "antiques" venture became International Piano Gallery. Over the years, they turned to selling new pianos instead of just the fine old used ones.
Now after almost 28 years in the piano business, the Witkowskis are closing the doors and will no longer operate as new piano dealers. They're not selling the name or the business, they just want to close on a chapter of their lives that has been a great satisfaction, Witkowski said last week.
They had become a major source of fine-quality foreign pianos in this market, particularly pianos from Vienna. They picked up dealerships for various lines of familiar names - Steinway, Kawai and others. "Our bread and butter was in the midprice range. The pianos that were bread and butter for schools and churches," he said.
In the 1980s, the Witkowskis reached their pinnacle and then a problem. Through his connections in Europe, he landed the North American (and Canadian) dealership rights for an Italian piano - the Fazioli, regarded as a fine new instrument. It had been in production only a few years.
"Twenty-three years ago most people who heard that we had taken on the distributorship of an unknown piano ... thought we were crazy," Steve Witowski said. As is often thecase, jumping out and taking such a huge risk paid off, and the Fazioli piano is now known nationwide, in no small part because of the hard work and vision of the Witkowskis.
For a time, they continued to sell the Fazioli and Steinway lines but eventually had to give up the Steinway contract. Then a few years ago they dropped the nationwide Fazioli distributorship and took on just four states. "They wanted too much," he said. In 2005, Witkowski took on his dream - the music venue known as the Windsong Performing Arts Center.
"Once again, we decided to take on a daunting challenge," he said.
The sprawling arts center is alongside Interstate 40 where it intersects with Interstate 430 in North Little Rock.
Operating the center alone was enough reason to drop the piano business, but, Witkowski reminded that "the piano business has been really very sluggish. A piano has become a luxury in many ways."
Windsong is already a hot spot, with its audio and video recording facilities, music concert hall and woodland ambiance. The facility also can be used for everything from corporate meetings and weddingsto family gatherings, he says.
"Beckey and I are excited," he said last week. "We've spent 28 years in piano; we're ready to move on to what we're doing now." MOVING BACK
Thoma Thoma, the advertising agency, is moving from its Riverdale quarters to the Arkansas Capital Commerce Center at 200 S. Commerce St. in downtown Little Rock.
The move will take place at the end of this month.
In a way, it's a move back. The agency was first housed in a residence in the historic Quapaw Quarter, moving to the Riverdale neighborhood about 10 years ago.
The agency will move to the fifth floor into Suite 501, which is the eastern side of the 10-story building overlooking the Clinton Presidential Center.
"It's a creative space that was actually for a creative firm - perfect for what we do," says Mark Rushing with Thoma Thoma.
The agency considers itself a designer and creative firm and also does public relations and account service.
The entire floor of the downtown building was once used by another agency - Forza, whichfaded from the scene several years ago leaving some pretty opulent quarters.
The space is about 6,500 square feet and has some attractive features for Thoma Thoma.
"In addition to a very nice layout for offices, it also has, in the middle, an actual stage room with lighting and pullout bleachers that will be useful for us in our team branding and media workshop training," Rushing said.
The area also has a husband and wife suite, built for that purpose, a good fit for Martin and Melissa Thoma.
There's no real reason for the move, Rushing said. "When your lease comes up you consider your options and when this space became available they looked at it, and it was an opportunity they couldn't pass up." NATIONAL ACCOUNT
Baby Bee Bright, the developer, manufacturer and marketer of prenatal educational and related products, has selected Cranford Johnson Robinson Woods of Little Rock as its advertising agency of record.
The agency is one of Arkansas' oldest and largest advertising firms with more than 100employees and annual capitalized billings of $80 million.
Baby Bee Bright Corp. is a Mount Juliet, Tenn., company that offers a patented audiodirectional technology as the delivery system for prenatal education. Its products include the Baby Bee Bright educational system, designed for expectant mothers to transmit music and sound to their babies allowing the mothers to bond with them while teaching early language skills and enhancing the babies' development, the company says.
A news release on the selection of the agency says that "Studies show that language learning begins in the womb and the sound stimulation such as music and talking is linked to increased IQ and thinking development."
Fred Dahlman, president and chief executive officer, says his company is augmenting its marketing efforts of the full line of Baby Bee Bright products and that the agency was a good fit for the job.
Everybody's Business runs every Sunday in the business section of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. Send your business news to Leroy Donald, Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, P.O. Box 2221, Little Rock, Ark. 72203, or e-mail: leroylero@att.net
Business, Pages 80 on 10/07/2007