Guitars Bring Solace To Millions — And Cash To Hawaii’s Biggest Car Dealer …Guitar and ukulele sales have been a boon for Servco Pacific, which, besides selling Toyotas, is also the majority owner of the iconic Fender Musical Instruments Corp.
Over the past two years, the Covid-19 crisis produced well-documented boons for companies like the at-home fitness firm Peloton and Zoom Video Communications. But another company — this one based in Hawaii — also thrived amidst the pandemic for an unexpected reason.
Servco Pacific, which is best known for selling Toyotas and Lexuses, was perfectly positioned to catch a wave of interest from people locked up at home looking for creative, artistic and emotional outlets. The reason: Servco is also the majority owner of Fender Musical Instruments Corp. — the iconic maker of guitars like the Stratocaster and Telecaster. And millions of people started playing guitar and other fretted instruments, like ukuleles and basses, in the past two years.
“Our estimate is that 16 million new beginners started during Covid in the U.S.,” said Mark Fukunaga, Servco’s chairman and chief executive. “That’s huge.”
