Maintaining Family-Business Success Takes Dedication
Longevity: Daynes Music dealer has lasted through four generations in Utah
By Phil Sahm
The Salt Lake Tribune
Most family businesses do not live into the second generation.
Daynes Music has reached the fourth and is headed into the fifth generation.
With that ability to survive, it is no surprise that the Steinway & Sons piano dealer is the oldest family-owned business in Utah, according to a recent study. The institute for Family Enterprise at Bryant College in Rhode Island sponsored the study to find out why some family businesses survive and others do not.
Professor William O’Hara contacted state historical societies, government agencies, newspapers and other sources to trace the roots of family businesses.
The oldest family owned business he found in the country is Tuttle Market Gardens, a farm and retail market founded in 1640 in New Hampshire.
Longevity does not come easy, said Skip Daynes, who oversees Daynes Music today. His family business has taken a bumpy ride.
“My grandfather lost everything in the Depression,” Daynes said.
His great-grandfather, John Daynes started the business, selling music and jewelry, in 1862.
Mormon pioneers who settled Utah craved music, but packing their pianos across the Plains was not an option.
John Daynes saw the opportunity and took advantage of it. In 1873, he brought the first Steinway to Utah, via San Francisco and Donner Pass in the Sierra Nevada Mountains.
That piano remains in use today.
John Daynes’ son expanded the business to own all the music stores in Utah, but then lost everything in the Depression.
Skip Daynes’ father rebuilt the business, but stayed with it more through a sense of obligation, not desire. With a degree from Stanford, he would rather have pursued a career with a large corporation, or perhaps, the Army.
I don’t think my dad enjoyed the business at all,” Daynes said. “He did want not any of his three children in it.”
That was all right with Skip, who wanted to be a rancher. But after graduating from the University of Utah, he saw the 105-year old family business on the verge of bankruptcy. He paid ...
