CHAPPELL OF BOND STREET RETAIL The Church of Chappell


Chappell of Bond Street celebrates 200 years as a sheet music and MI retailer this month, making it one of just a handful of genuinely historic musical stores in the country. Andy Barrett pays them a visit and helps blow out the candles…


off the top of my head), such as Foulds in Derby, Millers Music in Cambridge, Bruce Millers in Aberdeen and Sheargold in the Home Counties. This is an elite list of stores. Let’s face it, to survive ten years in MI retail takes some doing, but 100? Spare a thought then for one of the two


T


stores in the country that has been supplying musical goods to the British public for 200 years. That takes some real doing. The first mention of the Chappell of Bond


Street store (for it is Chappell’s alongside Banks of York that belong to this exclusive club) is an announcement in the Morning Chronicle on January 23rd 1811 that the store had opened – and it has continued uninterrupted since then. The only thing of any real significance that


has changed with the store is its address. While maintaining the branding ‘of Bond Street’, the


WWW.MI-PRO.CO.UK


here is a very short list of MI stores that date back more than 100 years (asking for forgiveness for those I miss as I list a few


shop has been on Wardour Street for the past five years – and with premises such as these, it is little wonder. “The Bond Street operation had slowly


shrunk into the basement, selling sheet music only, as the area had become almost exclusively a centre for high-end fashion and jewellery,” explains Chappell’s shop manager, Nigel Hill. “With the investment coming in from Yamaha (which owns the shop), we immediately saw the ‘wow’ factor that the Wardour Street premises has – and the fact that it was once the Novello music shop gave it an aura we simply couldn’t resist.” That ‘wow’ factor continues inside with the stunning acoustic piano hall on the first floor and combined with Soho being a hub for media and the arts, the whole demographic was – and still is – perfect. “Moving away from Bond Street might sound like a step down,” said Hill. “But in Bond Street we were in the basement with just one window.


Here we have this fantastic building. ‘Bond Street’ is the brand, the history and the heritage – we’ve kept that, but we’re in a much better place now.”


CELEBRATE GOOD TIMES For the bicentenary celebrations, Chappell’s is looking to ‘infuse’ everything it does over 2011 with anniversary branding and will be opening out some of the activities it has introduced over the past few years, including celebrity concerts and lunchtime recitals. “It is all geared to remind people of the


sort of thing we do and what we represent,” says Hill. What Chappell represents is actually what


Chappell’s features 40,000 sheet music titles and plenty of instruments to sample


any self-respecting retailer should: the centre of the local music community. The fact that the community is at the very heart of London’s entertainment district means that it has to up its game a little, but essentially the role is the same.


miPRO JANUARY 2011 75


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