Instruments sold for consignment at In Your Ear. Photo by Kristie Watkins.
With just one foot in the door or even just a peek in the window, one will find a place that exudes character and passion. The shop is filled with just about everything: records, CD’s, vape and hookah accessories, quirky gifts, t-shirts, stickers and so much more.
The atmosphere of In Your Ear Music Emporium is a culture all on its own, but that is just the way the owner Lauren Calvert dreamt it up to be.
In Your Ear has so much more than just music. Photo by Kristie Watkins.
Calvert grew up with a passion for music. She never played any instruments, but always loved to listen to them. When she came to college at Western Carolina University in 1988, CD’s were just starting to get popular. She would drive to Waynesville to the closest music store to get her favorite music.
“In the ’80s and ’90s, music is what drove us. People don’t think about music the same way they used to. It’s different now that everything is on your phone. You don’t have to participate in the music like we did,” said Calvert.
While working as a server at Lulu’s cafe on Main Street in Sylva, she decided she didn’t want to have to drive all the way to Waynesville to get music. She knew other people in the community who didn’t want to do that either. With no clear path after graduation, In Your Ear Music became her plan.
Main Street seemed to be the perfect place for her new business. Calvert found an investor through working at Lulu’s and set up shop in July of 1994.
Calvert graduated from WCU with a Bachelor’s of Science in Fine Art with a concentration in Graphic Design. People would say to her, “you’re an artist that owns a business” now it is “you’re a business owner who used to be an artist.”
“That’s true. I haven’t had any time for art. My creativity comes out in here,” Calvert explained.
Lauren Calvert, owner of In Your Ear. Photo by Kristie Watkins.
Calvert considers herself very driven and goal oriented so she was determined to find something she enjoyed doing that would also make her money. Starting a business requires a passion for the trade. For Calvert, music was just a part of who she was, and during the time she started In Your Ear, music was a part of everyone.
She smiled remembering what her store used to look like. She didn’t have enough money to buy carpet so she painted the floor; she didn’t have enough money to fill the space with product so she built a wall to make the space smaller.
Calvert reminisced on life when she began her business, life when the only thing between WCU and Sylva was an Ingles and Hardee’s.
“People want to come to Main Street and walk the stores and that wasn’t available back then,” she said.
But with a will and open mind, In Your Ear Music is now an inevitable part of that stroll.
Since the start, Calvert has worked to grow the business. She listens to the people; she hears what the community wants and that is how she has grown the business to become much more than just music. As more businesses came in and the town grew, she saw more traffic and sales. It became a more merchant downtown and the businesses worked together.
Although her business has grown, it has not been without challenges.
Being a small business owner is hard. Calvert said their biggest struggle now is how to beat the Internet. People go shopping to see what they want and then order it online. What she said people don’t realize is they aren’t hurting big corporations like Wal-Mart, but the small businesses like hers. That’s money that is coming out of her pocket, not a big business man.
All the Vinyl that fills the store is one of the things that sets In Your Ear apart from other music stores today.
Despite music moving to a more digital approach, In Your Ear has stayed traditional. They don’t even have a website. As she said, the one thing they do that the Internet cannot is vinyl. Buying and selling vinyl helped them diversify the store and sell more than just music.
The struggle of owning a business hits Calvert hard sometimes, and sometimes she thinks about walking away.
“Every time I think about throwing in the towel, I have some amazing interaction with a customer who has never been here before or someone who only comes up here for vacation and always looks forward to coming to my store or even better, kids who used to shop here with their parents are now coming back here to shop with their kids. That’s what keeps me jazzed about it,” Calvert said.
Calvert said there is magic to the business. Sometimes she picks something up frustrated it hasn’t sold and the next day it is bought. She said everything is connected somehow. She picked up a random record on the shelf and said, “This is what I am talking about, last night my daughter was singing this song and today I just so happen to pick it up. That’s the magic. That’s what I love.”
Calvert looks through all her records and pulls out one with a special significance. Photo by Kristie Watkins.
Julia Brooks has been a sales associate for almost two years at In Your Ear. She loves music and loves her job. She said she has learned so much about music through working with Calvert.
“At the heart of it all, she’s a just a solid human,” Brooks said.
Brooks explained how Calvert accommodates people, not just giving a day off when needed but really going out of her way to be there for people and see what they need and how she can help.
“The nice thing is to always have a job I love coming to. This has provided my living for 23 years,” Calvert said.
Brooks said Calvert has a commitment to what she does; people buy from her because she knows her stuff and is convincing with her passion.
Calvert said growing up she never knew what she wanted to do or where she wanted to be. This area captivated her, the business was just a way for her passion and drives to come alive and according to her, “Everything else just fit naturally, the rest is history.”
