Royal Music, which has catered to school music programs and music enthusiasts in Bowling Green for more than 70 years, will live on under a new name.

Greg and Paula Lyons, who have owned Royal Music since 1991 and moved it from State Street to its current location on Fairview Avenue in 2011, announced last week that the business has been sold to Maryland-based Music & Arts.

Other than that change in the name on the front door, Greg Lyons said it will be business as usual at the store.

“We’ve always been school-oriented, with our primary focus being school bands and orchestras,” he said. “That won’t change, and there will be little effect on the inventory.”

With nearly all employees staying, Greg Lyons said the service provided by the store shouldn’t change.

“Everybody will still be working, and I’ll still be visiting schools,” he said.

The acquisition, part of an expansion by Music & Arts, comes at a good time for Royal Music, according to Greg Lyons.

“Music & Arts approached us,” said Greg Lyons, a former high school band director who bought Royal Music from Norman and Betty Lewis. “They’re in growth mode.

“I really think it was lucky that they came along when they did. This way, the music store will go on.”

It will go on as part of one of the largest school music retailers and lesson providers in the nation. Music & Arts, founded in 1952, has grown to more than 500 retail and affiliate locations. According to its website, Music & Arts teaches more than 1.5 million lessons per year.

The lesson aspect of the local business should grow with extended hours, Greg Lyons said. Royal Music was open from 9 a.m. until 5 p.m. weekdays and closed at noon Saturdays. Music & Arts is now open from 10 a.m. until 8 p.m. weekdays and from 10 a.m. until 6 p.m. Saturdays.

Rental of musical instruments to school band and orchestra members, long a staple of Royal Music, will continue. Greg Lyons said the store rents an estimated 1,500 instruments annually and covers some 30 counties in Kentucky and Tennessee.

Although pleased that the store will live on once they decide to retire, Greg and Paula Lyons both expressed some sadness as they talked Thursday about their memories of Royal Music.

“When I was in fifth grade, I got my first cornet from Mr. Lewis at Royal Music,” Greg Lyons recalled. “Now I see a lot of kids who started with us and have gone on to teaching music in local schools.”

Paula Lyons, who will leave her job as the store’s bookkeeper because that role is now being handled at the corporate level, said: “It’s a very emotional thing to back away from the music store. It has provided a wonderful life for us. The best part has been seeing kids fall in love with playing an instrument.”