A Seven Nation Army couldn’t hold back the excitement at one Toronto music store when former White Stripes frontman, Jack White, stopped by for a surprise visit.
As far as music stores in Toronto go, they just don’t get more iconic than Steve’s.
Though actually a chain based in Montreal, Toronto’s own location, which has been open since 1977, is the definition of an institution, serving generations of aspiring and professional musicians alike.
I, myself, am the proud owner of an acoustic guitar from Steve’s and, while it spends more time collecting dust than producing sweet melodies these days, the special place it, and thus, Steve’s holds in my heart remains.
It’s only natural, then, that the store also attracts its fair share of celebrity attention, which, most recently, came in the form of Rock legend, Jack White, who stopped by with his band ahead of his two-night stint at Massey Hall on Feb. 7 and 8.
“I was coming down from the second floor, and then I see that guy,” store manager, Stefano, who immediately recognized the star, tells blogTO.
“Then I went to check, you know, who was going to play tonight, that night, and it was Jack White,” he says, noting that much of his staff team, which is exclusively comprised of music-lovers, had already clocked the rocker.
Stefano tells blogTO that, along with White were his backing band, including a drummer who picked up a set of drumsticks from the store, and his manager, who willingly snapped a photo of Stefano and White.
While Jack White himself didn’t end up making a purchase during the visit, he sure didn’t walk away empty handed, either. Stefano tells blogTO that he gifted the star a Steve’s shirt to remember the city by.
While Stefano tells blogTO he wouldn’t necessarly count himself among White’s top fans, he still admits that the whole encounter — though it lasted not much longer than 10 minutes — left him decidedly starstruck.
“We could only get one photo,” Stefano tells blogTO, “but I wish I wasn’t in the middle of blinking.”
“I come from Italy,” Stefano tells blogTO, “I grew up seeing him on Rock TV channels there, […] and, when Italy won the World Cup, they used the melody from [Seven Nation Army] every day […] so, I saw him in the store, like, I slowly processed that. Then when I shore his hand, I was, you know, kind of sweating a little bit. I couldn’t believe it was Jack White.”
While, admittedly, celebrities don’t just stumble into Steve’s on a daily basis, Stefano does tell blogTO that they’ve seen their fair share over the years, from Stranger Things star Finn Wolfhard to Metallica bass player, Robert Trujillo, and it never gets less exciting.
With levels of in-person shoppers still bouncing back even five years after the Covid-19 pandemic, Stefano tells blogTO that he sees celebrity visitors as a great opportunity to build excitement around shopping in-store, too.
“I want to bring the crowd here and and feel the place is still alive,” he tells blogTO. “So that’s why I asked for for that picture. Hopefully it’s gonna make people go ‘oh, let’s go in the store, let’s let’s browse there, or let’s buy something there, let’s go in.'”
“That’s my mission,” Stefano adds.
Steve’s Music Store is located at
