By Kate Hill

Staff Writer

Last winter, pianist Richard Ford set up a unique space in The Shoppes at Johnny Appleseed, a cooperative-style artisan marketplace at 3402 Old State Rd., Erieville.

The 20,000 square foot store is home to over 55 local artists and vendors, offering an eclectic selection of items, including jewelry, pottery, home décor, furniture, antiques, women’s clothing, books, toys, quilts, cutting boards, honey, candles, soaps, jams and jellies, and more.

Owners Erica and Patrick Gilmore also run an eatery inside the store. Open Saturday and Sunday, the Apple Kitchen offers lunch, desserts, and a selection of New York State craft brews and Finger Lake wines.

Ford, who has a music degree from Ithaca College, spent a number of years teaching music history and business management as an adjunct professor at Cazenovia College, Syracuse University and Onondaga Community College.

He now uses his space at Johnny Appleseed to share his love and knowledge of music with visitors and to showcase his vast collection of LPs, cassettes, books, instruments and sheet music.

“I have about 2,000 to 3,000 LPs, several hundred of which are here,” Ford said.

His diverse collection of literature includes not only piano lesson books and professional music books, but also works on American history, jazz, the Trump era, African American history, and more.

The collector also owns over a hundred pieces of antique sheet music, which he displays for educational purposes.

“They are all racist and truly awful,” he said. “But this is what my grandparents grew up with. People would buy sheet music based on the covers, because they didn’t know what the music actually sounded like. [Some of the songs] became big parts of American culture. I would like to speak to teachers and college students and say ‘You need to know that this is what your grandparents grew up hearing about [and seeing.] I certainly grew up as a kid with grandparents who had this kind of stuff as collectibles.”

The musician began collecting in his twenties.

“I acquired a reputation, and people would give me collections of music or records because they didn’t know what to do with them,” Ford said.

More recently, Ford began wondering what to do with his own collection.

“I’ll sell anything now,” he said. “Humorously, I’m dealing with what I have diagnosed as PDDC — ‘pre-dementia decluttering.’ I have one daughter, who is in her thirties and is a music teacher down in the Catskills, and she doesn’t want any of this. So I thought ‘Yeah, I’ll have a hobby business.’”

In addition to selling items from his collection, Ford also teaches piano lessons in the store and plays live music for several hours on weekends when the café is open.

“Dick Ford is just so interesting,” said Erica. “People come in and say ‘Do you know this song or this song?’ and he knows every single one. Sometimes people do sing-alongs back there. He’s been teaching my youngest son lessons for the past three months and he is a great teacher . . . Dick being here is really a big benefit for our store.”

Erica’s in-laws, Florence and Owen Gilmore, originally opened Johnny Appleseed as an apple orchard before eventually transitioning into the unfinished furniture business. After over 35 years in business, the family-run furniture store closed in 2015.

“When they closed, my mother- and father-in-law tried to sell the building, house and land, but it just didn’t sell,” Erica said. “My husband, who is the youngest of the eight boys, and I moved our family here from Clinton, and with my mother-in-law’s help, we decided to try a different direction and business plan. We reopened in June 2017 as The Shoppes at Johnny Appleseed. We started with four venders, and since that time we’ve grown to 56 or 57 different vendors . . . There is always new stuff coming in. More than half of my stuff is made in America, and all of my vendors are local, from within 30 miles or less.”

The Shoppes at Johnny Appleseed is open Wednesday through Saturday 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Sunday 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. The Apple Kitchen is open Saturday and Sunday noon to 4 p.m.

For more information, visit johnnyshoppes.com.