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Zachary Sulat is an employee at The Marvelous, the 40th Street music store that is now adding a musical instrument section and offering music lessons.

Five years ago, Mylan Marvelous opened his store to address what he saw as a glaring lack of places to buy music and comics in West Philadelphia.

Now, music has become the sole priority for The Marvelous, his store located below Smokey Joe's near 40th and Walnut streets.

The Marvelous has eliminated its comics section and begun to replace it with guitars, amps and everything else a music major could dream of.

In the face of inventory that loses much of its saleability after a week and after discussions with another West Philadelphia retailer interested in selling comic books, Marvelous has decided to focus on music.

He will now offer instruments and lessons, as well as the records he and his staff have been selling since the store opened.

When the shop originally opened, Marvelous saw a desperate need for a music and comics store in West Philadelphia.

Musically, the area was a "bereft desert," he said. "West Philadelphia had to have a record shop."

The move to expand from selling records to instruments stems from a lack of good instrument shops in Philadelphia, Marvelous said.

Matt Ricchini, one of the shop's managers, is responsible for the development of the new section.

"It's an obvious marriage of instruments and music," he said.

The shop is still putting its inventory together, Ricchini said.

Thus far, he said he has added drum kits, general music supplies and a series of amps to the store.

Ricchini said he also hopes to capitalize on impulse purchases to increase the store's revenue.

"Most musicians have one good violin that they'll stick with for a while, and a weird autoharp," he said.

The store will also provide Philadelphia musicians with the ability to sell their instruments through the store and will provide guitar and violin lessons.

But the store's provisioning of the nuts-and-bolts equipment needed to play music has some musicians especially excited.

Vince Barrucco, a sophomore in the College of General Studies, plays for Saudi Arabia, a band based in West Philadelphia.

"Instrument shops are pretty spread out, just as far as getting something like guitar strings," he said.

If musicians need equipment now, their primary resource is 8th Street Music, a store near 10th and Arch streets, Ricchini said.

Barrucco said he welcomed an instrument store closer to home.

"Marvelous is five blocks away; it's a lot better for me personally and for any band in West Philly - and there are a lot of bands in West Philadelphia," he said.

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