Nationally Known Denver Drum Store to Close After a 41-Year Run

Alex Simpson is getting ready for an onslaught.

It's a few minutes before the doors open at Rupp's Drums, and ever since the announcement last week that the store would be closing after 41 years, folks have been descending on its 2045 South Holly Street location in large numbers.

"Some people are coming in because they see the opportunity to stock up on gear at great prices," says Simpson, who's owned Rupp's Drums since 2018. "But a lot of them are longtime customers who want to say goodbye to us and see the place one last time. It's been a strange mixture of emotions — heartbreaking and heartwarming at the same time."

When Rupp's Drums founder Bob Rupp launched his namesake enterprise in 1984, he was already a major player in the local music community, and the store only deepened the connection.

In those days, Rupp was renowned for his stick work with the Rumble, a band that became known beyond Colorado after winning an MTV national talent search that earned its video two months of rotation on the network; the group also landed a record deal with U.K.-based Hi-Lo label. He subsequently kept time for a wide variety of area acts, including Fear of Sleep, Carolyn's Mother, Love Garage, Paul Galaxy and the Galactix, Sex With Susie and Vinyl Oyster, when not running Rupp's Drums, which earned a deserved reputation as a percussionist's dream supply house.

Over the years, Rupp became pals with a who's-who of drum royalty: Cream's Ginger Baker, the Red Hot Chili Peppers' Chad Smith, Missing Person's Terry Bozzio and Stephen Perkins of Jane's Addiction, among many others. But he had a similar kinship with pretty much anyone devoted to crashing cymbals, and the feeling was mutual.

In 2003, Rupp sold the store to businessman Brad Telepo and moved out of state, but the magic of Rupp's Drums lingered, as Simpson experienced from an early age.

"My dad was a professional musician, and he had a relationship with the store," he recalls. "We were living in Wyoming, and when I was a kid, he would drive me the two hours down from Cheyenne twice a year to visit Rupp's Drums. We called those trips 'pilgrimages,' and they'd usually be on my birthday or Christmas. We'd listen or air-drum to Neil Peart from Rush on the way down and then spend an entire afternoon soaking up the atmosphere, talking to the staff and drooling at the gear I only got to see in catalogs. My first drum kits came from the store, and I launched my drumming career when I left college in 2011."

After moving to Denver, Simpson joined area favorite Vices I Admire and sat in with various metal and progressive outfits. But he also worked as a salesman from Rupp's Drums from 2012 to 2015 before relocating to New York, where he wound up working for a professional drumline crew — "We'd play during intermission for the Giants, Knicks, Jets, Patriots and Rangers," he notes — and doing some off-Broadway gigs. But an unexpected message changed his career trajectory.
"A former Rupp's Drums colleague of mine texted me to say Brad had put the store up for sale," Simpson says. "So I came to Denver and purchased it."

The challenges Simpson faced were substantial, he concedes. "The business was on the verge of closing permanently when I bought it. It was in some financial trouble, it was bleeding customers, and it had sort of declined in reputation. I wanted to restore its financial health and reputation, reenergize the Colorado drumming community and get the store to what it was under Bob Rupp's leadership — which was a huge pillar in the local scene. It was a place where drummers could come together and get an experience where, frankly, they couldn't get anywhere else."

Over the next seven years, Simpson feels he achieved these goals. The store became consistently profitable and put on approximately 130 drum clinics, master classes and competitions — "more than any other independent drum store in the country," he maintains — with big names such as Styx's Todd Sucherman, Dennis Chambers, whose résumé includes Parliament/Funkadelic, Herbie Hancock and Santana, and onetime Prince cohort Hannah Welton. Rupp's Drums also earned multiple retail awards from the likes of the National Association of Music Merchants (NAMM).

Change came this year, when Simpson was presented with "an exciting new career opportunity" that he's not yet ready to share publicly. But while numerous potential buyers showed interest in taking over Rupp's Drums, "no one was able to come up with the financing." He sees this development in part as "a reflection of banks becoming more risk-averse now. Small retail is struggling nationally, and at the end of the day, it's not easy. To own a business like this is a big risk, and ultimately, the banks and the buyers I was working with weren't willing to take on that kind of risk right now — which is why I had to make the difficult decision to close Rupp's Drums."

Many of his peers around the country have had to do likewise of late. "I think statistically, more independent music-retail stores have closed than opened in the past five years. We've had the pandemic and the supply-chain crisis and inflation and the tariff impact — and this type of business is particularly vulnerable to things like that."

The tentative closure date is August 31, but the situation remains in flux. "Since the announcement was made, we've seen an unprecedented amount of in-store traffic," he reveals. "Our inventory is liquidating much faster than I had anticipated."

Simpson feels his predecessor deserves plenty of credit for the lengthy run of Rupp's Drums. "I have a tremendous amount of appreciation and respect for Bob, who has been a staple of not just the Colorado music industry but the national music-products industry for decades. His personality and gift for bringing people together were big reasons the store lasted as long as it did. It was a beautiful, rare thing, and I want to thank him on behalf of the entire drumming community."

As for Rupp, he returned to Colorado a few years back and is currently living in Parker. The 68-year-old survived a bout with cancer the better part of a decade ago, but he recently suffered an injury — "I tore my right kneecap off taking out the trash!" he exclaims — that necessitates the use of a cane, walker or wheelchair. But he's not done rocking. "I'm playing with the guys in Fear of Sleep again," he says. "I set up my basement like a nightclub, with lights and all of that, and we play for twenty or twenty-five people, which is great. Playing for 25 people is just as exciting as playing for thousands of people for me."

With an attitude like that, it's no wonder he's currently being promoted for inclusion in the Colorado Music Hall of Fame.

When he learned Rupp's Drums was nearing its final curtain, he had a mixed reaction. "I kind of suspected it could happen," he allows, "but I was still totally shocked." Nonetheless, he has only kind words for Simpson — "I really like that guy" — and plenty of fond memories of the store's heyday.

"I love everybody," he says. "I love all the bands and all the drummers. There's not one drummer I don't love."

That affection will linger even after the final solo at Rupp's Drums.