I haven't been on the forums much recently so if this has already been mentioned I've probably missed it, but did you all know that the Chappell's Milton Keynes shop is closing on September 11th?

They've got a closing down sale on at the moment with at least 25% of everything and 33% off sheet music. You can get some great bargains and there is a lot of sheet music and books left (they seem to have a good stock of the ABRSM selected exam pieces books, although if you want the grade 5 violin Shostakovich Elegie or Bohm Spanish Dance, tough - I got the last copies for my daughter!)

Some parts of the shop are looking a little bare now as the sale has been on for nearly 2 weeks, but it's worth going for a look if you're in the area as you might pick up a bargain on something you never knew you needed...

Great though the sale is, it's such a shame - after 25 years their lease is up and the new rental terms are just too high for them. I guess they're trying to compete with the internet now so a big shop in a prestige location just isn't viable any more. Pretty soon the Milton Keynes shopping centre will consist entirely of mobile phone and clothes shops - anything more interesting will just be priced out!

Again, sorry if this has already been talked about - I must log on more often!

Regards,

Jane

No, it's such a shame when music shops close down because you lose (usually) knowledgable people face to face and you can browse which you can't on the internet. Sad for new composers whose music will never see the light of day unless they perform it themselves.

The internet is partly to blame for local shops having to close but also people in the habit of photocopying or pirating music from the internet. It's a great loss really. A music shop on the high street at least makes some people aware of music.

I do agree that sheet and other music pirates do not help the business of local shops, some of whom do business over the phone if you can't get the the shop itself.

I'm resigned to this being another nail in the coffin of 'classical' music. Even our instrument makers are blighted by the far eastern cloners, too ready to steal patents and products and piggyback to profit on the back of others' work. Hence you'd never catch me with a yamaha anything.

It's principle. If I took someone else's music, copied it and sold it as my own I'd be done for plagiarism so how come these huge far eastern outfits get away with it?

A sad situation but what can be done? I once bought more sheet music as a result of visiting shops - pieces that wouldn't catch my eye in the best internet shops so I don't buy them. When I'm going to play them I like to see what I'm in for before buying.

There are some fabulous deals at the moment, I managed to get a Yamaha P-60 from there for £500, reduced from £670, and there is some sheet music that is up to 75% off (in little boxes at the back of the sheet music section, near the choral music).

I tend to agree with earlier posters - there are fabulous deals at the moment but when it's gone it's gone.

Ws

I went in there once although it was years ago. I rarely go to Milton Keynes. I don't remember too much because I wasn't really playing attention to it. I had my eyes set on a grand piano. So I walked to it and started to play an easier version of The Entertainer because I just learned it. First time I touched a grand piano. It felt so good, the sound. Have they got grand pianos at cheap prices? Or did they stop selling it ages ago.

It's a real shame that Chappell's is closing down, yes, it did take them over 9 months to get a book for me, but their my local music shop and for most things they are pretty good. As I've always lived in MK I didn't realise that other people don't have similar large-ish sheet music and instrumental supplies shops near to them.

I think music in the city is going to really suffer now. The MK Festival of the Arts applicants won't be able to just walk over the road to buy music, a real blow to a fantastic local event.

hornplayer

I agree with other posters that it's really sad . I think the internet has gradually changed the face of shopping, though, with certain areas being hit sooner than others-I know of another local shop that just couldn't compete with internet prices on instruments. At the end of the day, though it's the landlords pricing people out of prestigious shopping centres- soon they'll all look exactly the same wherever you go.And I don't need umpteen mobile phone shops and clothes shops all selling the same stuff. The centres are in it to make money- but especially with somewhere like Milton Keynes, which doesn't have a High Street as such, other than the shopping centre, without sounding too moralistic, city centre landlords do have a big responsibility in making sure there's a balance and heart to the city. And with a music shop, it's not just a retailer you lose, but a local music centre, often the first port of call for anyone looking for a teacher.

Chappell's closing down ????

Thats where i got my Clavanova from 3 months ago.They had some wicked stuff in there ! However,there is still a branch open in Harrods ( where else !?)

The changes wrought by the internet are not good but I suspect that in time internet shops will manage people's expectations down rather than improve the quality of service.

You can't look at the contents page of a book, skim through the music or look up relevant notes on a CD. The shops assume you approach with the info you already want which means visiting bookshops, music shops or spending ages on the internet trying to get the background details.

Even the ability to download free music or books is suspect. If your home printer is like mine and you want to print downloads the expense is often higher than buying the score in hardcopy. Certainly is with books and I'm far happier carrying a paperback when travelling than a notebook computer! People don't always cost these things properly.

So it is sad. As you say, jpiano, we're moving into an age of stamped-out, standardised cloned towns. You have the choice 'take it or leave it'. But you won't find much music and I'll bet that internet instrument shops are far less obliging with aftersales service than the local music shop.

More to the point, internet sheet-music shops rarely oblige. My local music shop will try to order obscure things and keep me posted. Even that is changing. With the decline in classical music the place has become a repository for pop albums and play-piano-in-a-day stuff and if the piece you want isn't in the warner catalogue - 'sorry, we can't get it.' I can't blame them, they're just trying to keep afloat by catering to what's popular. And certain internet shops will order non-stock items if they can and you give them enough information.

I thought Chappels had a place in Bond Street. Has that gone?

No, Bond Street is staying open. And I think of Bond Street as being much more interesting than Oxford Street in terms of specialist shops-not that I'm into designer, expensive dress shops, but at least you get away from one and the same fits all feel. And yes, as a teacher I need to be able to be able to browse and actually look at stuff before I decide what's right for a pupil. I also find searching on internet music sites can be incredibly frustrating-even if you have the exact title of a piece, try looking for, say, a book in a piano teaching series-even a key word search doesn't always find it. And it's fine if something is recommended or well reviewed-or by someone I already use, but you need a shop to be able to find the hidden gems that I'd miss otherwise. I don't think it's to do with a decline in classical music-put it this way, Chappells MK is in an area where the local AB exam centre has got busier and busier over the past few years, the ' teach yourself piano standing on your head in 5 minutes in your sleep' books might be a tad unrealistic, but are an example of an upsurge of interest, Classic FM has huge amounts of listeners-somewhere there's contradictory things going on.

I agree that it's really sad when a local shop closes down. We no longer have a music shop and only one record shop (we used to have two of each). And, yes, the internet is partly to blame. I bought my clarinet from an internet retailer (and saved a couple of hundred pounds in the process) and get sheet music and most of my CDs over the net. Shops will always find it hard to compete on prices and on convenience. Massive rent increases, lack of parking and poor public transport make the problem even worse.

Noodelz, I can't remember seeing any grands left (although I wasn't really looking at pianos so I can't be sure), but I think that when I was in there a few days ago there was a sign advertising 33% off all acoustic pianos - and they certainly had a few uprights.

There are still plenty of excellent specialist shops around in the Bedford/MK area - for acoustic pianos, there's still the Milton Keynes Piano Workshop in Newport Pagnell, for woodwind and brass there's Myatt in Hitchin, for strings there's Evans-Pugh Strings of Hitchin and for electric guitars/amps etc there's Machinehead - their shop is almost opposite Strings. I think Hitchin must be the centre of the music shop universe for some reason!!
Hobgoblin are in Newport Pagnell for folk/traditional instruments and still in Milton Keynes is Sound Control for guitars, bass, drums, keyboards and all things electronic. My local shop is Tema in Kempston near Bedford - a really good and very helpful little shop. I beat a path to their door every couple of weeks in term time as my children are always needing more books for one instrument or another!

We must keep supporting these shops - how can an internet dealer let you spend nearly 2 hours trying out 3 different soprano saxophones before buying, as my daughter did in Myatt's shop a few months ago? Or a similar length of time experimenting with 5 different guitar amps as my husband did in Machinehead a couple of weeks ago?

I'm not saying we should never buy from the internet - I do so regularly - and I'm sure that 's not the only factor here (the huge rent increase is not due to the internet after all), but we'd all suffer dreadfully if more music shops were to close.

I was surfing Google last night to see if my MUSIC SHOP in Milton Keynes showed up - no sign on the first three pages - very frustrating. What I did find however was this terrific forum and your pasionate discussion about the demise of Chappells in Milton Keynes. If you will let me I'd like to tell the story from my side ...

I am the proprietor of a Music Store in Milton Keynes. We moved to our current premises the same week Chappells closed down with our objective to add Piano, Keyboard and Guitar tuition to our web based Instrument business. The reason for taking the tuition route was that we could not compete with Chappells huge marketing budget and their preferencial location in the city centre and we simply could not sell enough instruments.

So now 8 months after Chappells closed we find ourselves as the ONLY general Instrument and Sheet Music store left in Milton Keynes. OK - you have Sound Control (Guitars & Hi End Synths), Hobgoblin (Folk), TalkinHedz (Drums), and Holywood Music (PA & Guitars). But only ourselves serving the classical and accoustic market - and were located at Bradwell Abbey - near the concrete cows !

Our business is a family business despite it's corporate looking image - run just by myself most of the time. My pricipal aim is always to offer outstanding service, I do take orders for Music and I do deliver it in days not weeks/months ! We keep a huge range of Instruments and Accessories, Strings, Metronomes, Gig Bags etc. If we have not got it - I'll give you a delivery date there and then while you wait. We have a great relationship with most of the major manufacturers - and we don't wait until we have a huge order for them before we place an order - net result you get your Instrument / Music etc sooner rather than later.

We're trying very hard to get noticed - and we really need all of your help to survive. Apart from the fact that I need to buy food on a more serious note - I would urge you all to support US to ensure we don't follow the Chappells route !

We're adding new lines all the time and doing our best to support the community needs since Chappells closed. I have listed just a few of the principal lines we stock below - and it would be great to see you all some time. PLEASE MAKE USE OF OUR SERVICES - we are here for all Musicians !

Thanks for "listening",

Paul.
SigNetMusic - 63 Alston Drive, Bradwell Abbey, MK13 9HB
Tel: 0800 542 1566
Web: http://www.signetmusic.com

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Our Major Brands:

YAMAHA / BUFFET / STENTOR / JUPITER / KORG / CONN / BACH / SELMER / PERCUSSION PLUS / ZELLER / GIBSON / EPIPHONE / SUZUKI / TANGLEWOOD etc.

Instruments:

BRASS - Cornet / Trumpet / Trombone etc.
STRINGS - Violin / Cello / Viola / Double Bass
WOODWIND - Piccolo / Flute / Clarinet / Saxophone etc
KEYBOARDS - Toys to Serious !
DIGITAL PIANOS - ** NEWLY APPOINTED as THE Milton Keyens - Yamaha Clavinova Dealer **
GUITARS
FOLK INSTRUMENTS
AMPLIFIERS / MICROPHONES etc.
EDUCATIONAL Percussion


Sheet Music:

Sheet Music / Tutor Books / Exam Music

Software:

** Due in September - Steinberg CUBASE **

Accessories:

Guitar / Violin strings etc.
Cleaning Materials
Metronomes & Tuners
Mouthpieces
Reeds etc. etc.


Services:

Rental Scheme
VAT Free Scheme


Tuition:

Guitar
Keyboard
Piano

Welcome to the Forums - but please note that you're not supposed to advertise or put personal information such as addresses or phone numbers on here - you'd better edit your post!

Sounds so good, but Milton Keynes is a bit far from me

Welcome to the Forums! Hope you don't get addicted like the rest of us - try reading the thread "Forums are taking over your life when ..." to see what you're letting yourself in for!

Glad to see the ABRSM have made an exception in your case about advertising. I think a new music store ought to be allowed one advertisement, which it looks as if they have!

What about a separate forum for music shops, ABRSM, not to advertise but to support each other if they're not competitive???