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Foster Family Music is Closing

Foster Family Music

A 30 year old family business in the Quad Cities is going to close next month. That was the announcement today from Foster Family Music in Bettendorf.

Co-founder and co-owner, Jim Foster, says he and his wife Marilyn have decided to retire, and they were not able to find a buyer for their piano specialty store - they only sell pianos, and the industry has become much smaller than it used to be. 

Foster Family Music first opened in Southpark Mall in Moline, and then built the current store on State Street in Bettendorf 21 years ago. And he thinks the most important part of the building is their performance hall that seats 100. 

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It hosts hundreds of performances each year.

Foster says the store has five full-time employees, including him, his wife, and their daughter. Plus there are 5 more part-time workers. 

A final sale begins next week, and closing is set for December 20th. The Fosters plan to retire to a farm in Jackson County. 

A native of Detroit, Herb Trix began his radio career as a country-western disc jockey in Roswell, New Mexico (“KRSY, your superkicker in the Pecos Valley”), in 1978. After a stint at an oldies station in Topeka, Kansas (imagine getting paid to play “Louie Louie” and “Great Balls of Fire”), he wormed his way into news, first in Topeka, and then in Freeport Illinois.