“We don’t want to let an amazing award get to our heads,” Elderly’s CEO Lillian Werbin said. “We’re going to continue doing what we do best and that’s being Elderly and selling fretted and stringed instruments to good people.”

The shop was established in 1972 by Lillian’s father, Stan Werbin, a University of Michigan graduate and New York native. Back then, just a handful of instruments lined the walls of the basement of Curious Bookshop’s former storefront in East Lansing’s Campus Town Mall.

By 1983, the business outgrew the confines of the basement and moved to the Washington Ave. location in Lansing. Now, Elderly sells both new and used instruments under Lillian’s ownership.

What began as a place to resell used folk instruments grew to become a mecca for musicians in Lansing, Stan Werbin said. 

“The name of the store is Elderly Instruments and that’s a little deceiving because we started out wanting to have just used and vintage instruments,” Stan said. “We learned early on that although we love the old instruments, we like the new ones too. In the last 50 years, the quality of new instruments has increased substantially.”

At the genesis of Elderly’s establishment, guitar repair shops were few and far between. Stan, however, said he was committed to the quality of the instruments he was selling. It is a store standard that every instrument is screened by the repair team on its way in and out of the shop.

“When we first got into business, guitar shops didn’t necessarily have repairmen,” Stan said. “Early on, we figured out it was necessary for an instrument to play properly in order for people to learn how to play and enjoy playing.”

The shop’s instruments are sourced everywhere from the original maker to antique stores and family members’ attics, Stan said. One customer treks from Arizona every year to bring in a harvest of banjos from his personal collection.

“I’ve gotten to know him over the years,” Stan said. “We’re good old friends. In fact, I heard from him today. It’s fun to see a dear old friend and see what kind of crazy instruments he’s going to bring.”

Last year, Stan handed ownership of the shop to his daughter after his retirement. As the new CEO of the shop, Lillian said she has come to appreciate the community Elderly Instruments fosters. 

“People are able to grow their craft from the seeds that we’ve given them,” Lillian said. “A lot of people have a lifetime of their musician’s journey with us. Their first instrument to their child’s first instrument comes from us, so we get to do a lot of that community building.”

Growing up, Lillian Werbin said she never understood the draw of her father’s work. She was neither involved nor interested.

“It was this elusive thing that my dad did,” Lillian said. “I didn’t quite understand that until I first started working part-time. I realized that he was supplying joy in all these different ways.”

Since starting work at Elderly Instruments nearly a decade ago, she has come to know both the business and her father in new ways and considers herself lucky to have her father as a mentor, Lillian said.

“I got this organic love for it and it grew,” Lillian said. “It was this far-off, distant thing and now I get to know it so intimately.”

In his time in the music business, Stan said he’s learned adaptability to change and tried to teach that to his daughter. 

“I used to say that everything changes every five years,” Stan Werbin said. “Nowadays, it might be every three years. Sometimes you forget to look back to see where you were five years ago. You’re thinking about where you’re going to be in three years or tomorrow.”

The shop has weathered changes within the past three years. While the Werbin duo worked together, they hosted a series of virtual concerts called Living Room Sessions during the COVID-19 pandemic. The goal was to keep the local music community connected, Stan said. 

“There are all kinds of things you have to do that you didn’t know you were going to have to do when you start a business from scratch,” Stan said. “It’s a lot of work, but it’s a lot of fun. We run a business that brings a lot of joy to us and to the people we work with and the customers seem to like us. What can I say? It’s a happy thing to be in the music business.”

Nearly three years and one U.S. Chamber of Commerce award later, community connection is still Elderly’s priority, Lillian said.

“This award has opened a new realm of things for us,” Lillian Werbin said. “But we’re really going to hunker down and just try to make sure that we keep doing the customer right and finding cool new things for people to be interested in.”