Music fans across Nottingham are delighted after it was announced that a historic music shop based in the city centre is set to be saved after its previous owners announced their retirement. David Oldershaw and Margaret Frogson appealed to potential buyers to save the Windblowers store on Derby Road from closure earlier this year.
Luckily two new owners have decided to take on the store which will open in a new location in the Beeston Technology Drive in Unit 29. Co-owners and musicians Richard Cox and James Beard decided to save the historic shop and workshop. The new shop opened to the public on December 1.
"I'm a musician and I run a business, Europa Records that sells classical recordings. I've done this for the past 20 years and I've known Windblowers since I came to Nottingham as a student as I used to go there and buy sheet music," Richard said.
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"I heard they were closing down and looking for a buyer but I presumed at that point, that someone would snap it up because it was such a landmark for music in Nottingham. I found out in August that they hadn't got a buyer so they were going to close. I got in touch to ask if we could come to an agreement and we did."
When it came to making the decision to relocate the business, it was an easy decision for Richard who was already based in Beeston with his original business. Original Windblowers staff member Nick Milburn will also be joining the new Beeston team as manager.
"We were already based in Beeston so the easiest thing to do was to move it into our existing premises. It was one of the ways of making it a viable venture as the rent was quite expensive so it had been putting a lot of prospective buyers off. We said we wanted to move it into our current premises which would share the overheads that way," he said.
One of the major parts of the original Windblowers was the workshop where customers could bring their instruments for repair. The workshop also trained a new generation of instrument repair people who can help musicians to keep extensive equipment in the best possible condition.
"It's absolutely vital to have the workshop. It's lagging behind slightly but it will be open in the new year. We do have third-party repair places we can use in the meantime so we will be moving things out to those for now but having our own internal workshop is essential. Musical instruments aren't cheap and It's important to have another string to your bow as a business," he said.
"We want to be able to help musicians look after their instruments which many have originally bought at Windblowers. It's really important as sometimes we can have more repair inquiries than new instrument inquiries so it's vital in my opinion."
When it comes to business, it's a tough time to be opening a new venture due to the energy crisis and the cost of living increases. Richard is aware of the difficulties but plans to increase their sales of the second-hand instruments that the business sells to help musicians afford to keep playing or encourage young people interested in starting music.
"Our intention is to try and increase the number of secondhand instruments that we sell. Generally speaking, you can get them half to two-thirds of the price of a new one. I think that's really important as we sell to a lot of parents who may not be that well off for their children," he said.
"They want to learn to play the flute or clarinet which is about £500 which is a lot to spend on a new instrument. If we want to able to offer those things for £200 or £300 instead. It's something we are very keen to do."
When it comes to changes, Richard and James are not planning to alter much about the business as they know the name Windblowers is so well-established on the music scene However, it's small steps first as they move to update the shop with a new website. They hope to welcome new customers to the shop with events starting with a mulled wine and mince pie morning on December 17 from 10am until 12.30pm.
"The biggest thing we are going to do fairly quickly is to get a brand new website up and running. So that we can support the shop and people will be able to buy instruments and book repair appointments or instrument testing appointments. That will hopefully be coming in the new year," he said.
"It's early days so far but it struck me that we might be able to do a monthly thing where people can come in to play a monthly concert for free. The only other thing we might do is get back into brass one day if things work out but that's tentative."
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