Online pressure forces Northampton indie to downsize

Northampton indie store St Giles Music has blamed its decision to downsize to smaller premises next door, on increased online competition.

The store downsized at the start of the New Year to its current music studio next door. The 28-year-old business had operated at the previous store since it first opened in 1988, but due to the increase in people buying online has been forced to make a change.

Talking to local paper the Northants Herald and Post, co-owner Simon Jobs who runs the business with Dad, Phil, said: ”We have struggled for the last four or five years. The last few years have become quite difficult with regards to the selling of instruments, because many people now are quite happy just ordering instruments blindly on the internet, so we find that we are selling less of them.

“Also with the way the internet goes and discounting, we don’t make as much money on them – you lose your margins on them. The running of the business is much more difficult when you’re not making as much money on the instruments.

“People will come in and take your advice and a lot of them will go away and just buy them elsewhere. So we are taking into account all the different factors. Instead of not being here at all, we have decided to downsize and carry on doing what we have always done. It’s nobody’s fault and I am not moaning about the internet, it is just the way of the world.”

Jobs added that falling prices have also been a factor in the shop’s travails. 

“Every year, items are getting cheaper. This year we are selling £600 pianos, whereas 10 or 15 years ago we were selling £1,500 pianos, so because the product has become less in cost, you have to sell more of that product to make the same sort of money as you were making originally. And at the same time, the bills are going up.”

“So by moving into our music studio, we can still have a presence, offer the same products and still offer advice to all our existing customers.”

Explaining why he didn’t simply close the shop, he added: “I think Northampton needs a music store. We have got a great music environment, all the pubs and bands that are around. We have a lot of nightlife, we’ve got the Northampton festivals that happen throughout the year.

“And from an educational point of view through our music service, we’ve got the Northamptonshire Music and Performing Arts Service on Kettering Road who teach around 10,000 students throughout the schools. And I think with the centre you need to have a music store where people can go to, so they can get the right advice and continue in their ways.

“It’s very easy to not get on with music for not getting the right advice, and if there is no one there to give you that advice, then people won’t get on well in music.”