There is a long history behind Diplomate Musique. This music store opened on Beaubien in 1959 and became Diplomate Musique in 1972. Franco Amante was a local musician playing in Montreal when he took a job at the store in 1978. Approximately 10 years later, the owners decided to sell and Franco went from musician to entrepreneur, although he doesn’t see himself as a businessman selling musical instruments, but as a musician running a business. “It’s passion that keeps me going. You have to be passionate about your work,” explains Franco. “That makes the long hours we put in very easy to handle because we are working in the field we love to work in. We love working with people. Music is our life.”

Through the decades, Diplomate Musique sold every item that had to do with music, but with the Internet changing the habits of shoppers, the store decided to become more specialized. “Times change. The Internet makes it difficult to be a Jack of all trades,” insists Franco. “We are trying to find a niche. We are more of a boutique for high-end instruments now. It was hard to be a general store where we would sell pianos, organs, flutes, saxophones, guitars; all of these types of stores will start disappearing. Everybody will have to specialize in certain fields.”