Austin Bazaar

"Whatever it is, we want to be there for you," he said.

Austin Bazaar sells equipment and instruments, including keyboards, children's instruments, electronic and acoustic drum sets, guitars, ukuleles and saxophones. It carries more than 180 brands, including its own brand, Barcelona, which makes a variety of instruments from guitars and basses to flutes and saxophones. Porter said the brand offers a more affordable way for people to learn to play an instrument.

Porter said the company has about 25 employees, about a third of whom are musicians, which helps in providing good service.

"We want to find people that are passionate about the kind of work that we do," he said. "It certainly helps in our industry to have musicians working with us because they care about the product, and they care about the end result."

In November, Austin Bazaar hosted a fundraiser for Barbara Jordan and River Oaks elementary schools and nonprofits Rock Raizer, Museum of Culture Arts Houston and Kids in a New Groove. Austin Bazaar regularly donates to these organizations and others in the local community, web content editor Larissa Williams said.

She said MOCAH comes by about every four months to collect a donation of mostly scratched or dented instruments for public works of art and its instrument repair classes. Austin Bazaar also donates instruments that are still new but were returned.

Kids in a New Groove uses its donations for music classes and to mentor children in foster care in Texas, Williams said. Singh said they try to help out any music programs or organizations in the area that need donations.

"What we try to do is help music programs because schools are closing down music programs, and budget cuts are happening," he said. "So if there is something we can help with, especially kids' music programs, we try to do that."

Austin Bazaar, 2306 Howard Lane, Ste. C, 512-200-4877, www.austinbazaar.com