Roland's New York store | Only US DW showroom

Roland has been in the American music business for more than fifty years without ever having a shop of its own. That changes next month, at 414 West 14th Street in Manhattan’s Meatpacking District.

Most of the coverage is leading on the pianos and the synths. Here is the line that should interest you more: Roland Store New York City will hold the only dedicated DW showroom in the United States.

What is actually in it for drummers

Two things, pulling in opposite directions, which is what makes the place worth a trip.

The first is a DW premium showroom — a room handed over to Drum Workshop’s acoustic instruments, and by Roland’s account the only one of its kind in the country. What ends up in it has not been detailed, so treat “premium showroom” as a promise rather than a stock list. But a permanent, walk-in space where you can hit DW shells before spending DW money exists nowhere else in America.

The second is a TR-808 exhibit, sat right at the entrance — the first in a rotating series of hands-on displays of legacy Roland gear.

Around them sits the rest of the range, plus a “BOSS Cavern” for the pedals. The pitch is hands-on exploration, workshops and one-to-one training rather than shifting boxes.

Roland and DW: worth being clear about

The announcement puts “Roland, BOSS and Drum Workshop under one roof”, which reads like a partnership. It is not one. Roland bought Drum Workshop outright in 2022 — every outstanding share, a reported $65 million — and DW arrived with Gretsch, Latin Percussion, PDP and Slingerland attached.

So the DW room is not a guest slot. It is Roland putting its own acoustic drum company in the window, and the clearest signal yet of what the acquisition was for: the company that sold you the V-Drums now wants to sell you the wood shells in the same afternoon, in the same building.

Why an 808 shrine, and why here

“New York has long been a place where new sounds, ideas, and creative movements take shape, making it a natural home for Roland’s U.S. flagship store,” said Roland CEO Masahiro Minowa.

If you know Roland mainly as a keyboard company, a drum machine at the door looks odd. It isn’t. Roland has built rhythm machines since 1972: the TR-808 in 1980, the TR-909 in 1983, the Octapad in 1985, the first mesh-head V-Drums in 1997.

And the 808 flopped — pulled after about three years and 12,000 units, at which point it turned up cheap in second-hand shops and got picked apart by producers in the Bronx and Queens. Putting it in a Manhattan window is less corporate nostalgia than a hometown story.

When can you actually go?

The 10 October event is invitation-only — artists, press, partners. Roland says the store opens to the public in early October but has not put a date on general access, so treat that as TBA.

Planned public hours: 11am to 7pm, seven days a week. Retail and showroom floors run to roughly 7,500 sq ft across the ground floor and lower level, with warehouse space taking the total past 9,000.

Final thoughts

New York drummers have never been short of shops. What they have not had is a room where DW’s expensive end is set up and playable, with the manufacturer’s own staff stood next to it.

That is the reason to go, and to go early. We will update this when the public date and the showroom contents are confirmed.

In the meantime: Roland’s electronic kits and what DW’s PurpleCore shells actually do.

Sources: Drumming News Network, MusicTech, NYREJ on the lease, and PR Newswire on the DW acquisition.