House of Guitars

House of Guitars — commonly shortened to HOG — is a music and record store at 645 Titus Avenue in Irondequoit, a suburb just north of Rochester, NY. Brothers Armand and Bruce Schaubroeck founded the business in 1964, originally operating out of their mother's basement during the wave of guitar demand sparked by the Beatles' American debut. By around 1970, the brothers moved operations into the former Irondequoit Grange Hall on Titus Avenue, eventually acquiring adjacent buildings and connecting them to create the sprawling, multi-level space the store occupies today. Now with more than sixty years in business, House of Guitars bills itself as the largest guitar store in the world and has become a cultural landmark that draws visitors from well beyond the Rochester area.

The store stocks a deep inventory of new, used, and vintage guitars alongside drums, keyboards, amplifiers, and PA equipment. Accessories, cases, and stands fill the front section facing Titus Avenue, while the rear of the building houses a large collection of vinyl records, CDs, DVDs, and band merchandise including T-shirts. Additional services include:

• In-house instrument repair through Robinson Kustom Repair
• Daily music lessons across multiple instruments
• Nationwide shipping on purchases made through their website

House of Guitars was among the first American retailers to carry Vox amplifiers, importing them from England in the 1960s, and became an early authorized dealer for brands like Epiphone, Hofner, Guild, and Gretsch.

House of Guitars is known for its floor-to-ceiling rock memorabilia as much as its instrument selection. The ceilings and walls are covered with signed photographs, posters, drum pads, and Sharpie signatures left by visiting musicians. The store's collection includes items such as a John Lennon military jacket, original animation cels from the Beatles' Yellow Submarine film, and signed instruments from artists including Charlie Daniels and President Bill Clinton. The shop has earned platinum record awards in its own name, and its longtime slogan — "For the Rising Young Stars from Earth" — reflects the eccentric personality that has made it a rite-of-passage destination for Rochester-area music fans for decades.

House of Guitars sits on Titus Avenue in Irondequoit, NY, a residential suburb bordering Rochester to the north. The stretch of Titus Avenue near the store is a mixed commercial corridor with neighborhood shops and restaurants. Street parking and a small lot serve the building. For anyone exploring the Rochester area, the store is roughly a ten-minute drive north of downtown and sits within easy reach of Irondequoit Bay and the Seabreeze Amusement Park area farther east along the lake.