The Story

Hays Music Store opened its doors on July 1, 1957, at 313 Vine Street in downtown Poplar Bluff, the culmination of owner Joel S. Hays's lifelong passion for music.

Joel Hays was born in Poplar Bluff on June 13, 1918. An accomplished pianist who had reportedly performed in 47 of the 48 states before settling down, Joel married Letha Montgomery on February 20, 1947. That same year, he opened The Record Shop, operating from the mezzanine of Fuller's Jewelry on South Main Street. The shop sold 78-rpm records, including recordings that had previously been difficult to obtain locally.

In February 1955, Joel was seriously injured in an automobile accident. His 1982 obituary states that the injuries prevented him from continuing to use his previous location as a store. But that wasn't the end of the story.

In 1957, Joel and Letha opened a completely remodeled store at 313 Vine Street — Hays Music Store. The newspaper announcement described a store offering phonograph records, band and musical instruments, tape recorders, amplifying equipment, public-address systems, and record players. Guitars included the Gibson line, and customers could use listening posts and a listening room to sample records before buying.

The business would remain at 313 Vine for 32 years. Joel died in May 1982 at age 63, but Hays Music did not disappear with him. Letha and the family carried it forward.

In 1989, Hays Music moved to a larger location at 444 Vine Street. Over time, the inventory changed along with the music industry — records gave way increasingly to instruments, amplifiers, speakers, microphones, and equipment. In 2007, Hays Music celebrated its 50th anniversary, with another generation of the family — including Joel and Letha's son Greg Hays — part of the story.

The Hays family's connection to the building went beyond commerce. In 2001, Letha Hays, Greg Hays, and Joel and Letha's daughter Luana Hays purchased the historic Begley Building at Vine and Broadway — the building that housed Hays Music — and undertook extensive preservation work, replacing the roof, tuckpointing brickwork, installing new wiring and windows, and reopening windows that had been bricked shut.

Hays Music also had a deep connection to the Rodgers Theatre. The business donated a Mackie 6,000-watt sound system to help the theatre host concerts and live performances, and served as an advance ticket location for events there. The Rodgers was also part of the story of Greg's parents — Joel and Letha's relationship had roots there.

By 2020, that long chapter was coming to an end. Hays Music closed its doors after more than six decades as a downtown Poplar Bluff institution — a place where generations bought their first guitar, needed strings or an amplifier, browsed records, took lessons, or simply knew the storefront from walking or driving past it for years.