11:17am Wednesday 11th March 2009
By Jim Greenhalf
Bright spots amid the prevailing gloom include perhaps the most unusual success story in Bradford.
Over the past 12 months, business at the Early Music Shop in Saltaire has increased by 20 per cent; that’s ten per cent above target and represents, in cash terms, about £1.1m.
While that result would not look out of place with a retailer of food and drink, who would have expected it from an emporium selling harpsichords and recorders?
The Early Music Shop, formerly part of Woods and now part of the Music Sales Group, is unique in the UK, said manager Peter Booth.
He said: “There are shops that sell recorders or early brass instruments, but this is the only one in the UK that sells the complete range. Our website has 6,000 product items listed. Our name is known worldwide.
“At the beginning of April, we are taking a stand at the Frankfurt Music Trade Fair. The main reason for going is to reach out for new markets and perhaps to dealers in Austria and Germany.
“We have a whole range of instruments that come under the name of the Early Music Shop, made to our design. The fall in the value of the pound means the year will be a good one for exporting.
“We noticed this with website orders. We get a lot in from Japan and America because the US dollar is much stronger against the pound than it used to be.”
Since the website was launched in November at the annual Greenwich Early Music Festival and Exhibition, Peter Booth estimates that the shop has had up to 400 online orders, ranging from a simple tuning pin to a £7,000 spinet made by Guido Bizzi in Milan.
Peter joined the Early Music Shop 26 years ago when he was a 22-year-old music graduate. Bradford born and bred, his passion is playing jazz piano, not that he gets much time for that because the shop is open seven days a week.
Moving location more than 18 months ago to Saltaire’s World Heritage Site, to a property at the rear of the main Salts Mill building, has helped the business to prosper.
“The first week we moved here, on the Sunday afternoon, someone from the village came in and bought a £600 eight-course (string) lute – because he’d always wanted one. There aren’t many places where you can buy these instruments,” Peter said.
The Early Music Shop has added another string to its bow: concert promotion.
This Friday’s Red Priest concert at Salts Mill sold out within weeks of the tickets going on sale. On May 2, acclaimed soloists Pamela Thorby (recorder) and Rachael Podger (piano) will be in concert at Saltaire United Reformed Church.
These promotions, however, are just the beginning. The biggest idea of all in Peter Booth’s mind is an annual Early Music Festival, an international event based at Saltaire.
Given the world-wide interest in the village, Salts Mill and music of the mediaeval, renaissance and baroque periods, an Early Music Festival seems a sound proposition.
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