Popular Oakland music store closes after 70 years

OAKLAND, Calif. (KTVU) - A music shop that's been an institution in East Oakland, is closing after 70 years in business.

It's having an estate sale this weekend and longtime customers remembered the store's late owner Saturday by bringing instruments and keepsakes. 

Accordions, guitars, violins, and drums- all had to go because Fiore's Music Company is going out of business.

For decades, Jack Fiore ran the shop on MacArthur Boulevard in East Oakland, buying and repairing instruments and offering music lessons.

Fiore died last year, at the age of 97. 

This weekend, John Fiore is helping to sell off things from his dad's store, including old instruments, vintage photos, and knickknacks. They're all throwbacks to decades past. 

Jack Fiore grew up in Oakland and taught the accordion while still in high school. He joined the Army Air Corps and helped entertain the troops during World War II. 

In 1947, he opened his shop in East Oakland.

Through the  years, as Oakland changed, Fiore's was always there to provide lessons and bring people joy through music. 

Many of those same people waited in line today to take home a piece of history. 

Dianne McAlister from Hayward says, "Maybe 20 years ago, I purchased my first accordion and I came here to learn how to play it from Mr. Fiore".

"He was a community guy, he always had things, he stayed open," says Mike Rose from San Francisco, "He did what he loved and he stayed until he didn't".

John Fiore says the reason why the store could stay in Oakland is because the community "supported him and protected him".

If there are any instruments left over, they'll be donated to local schools and non-profits.