MI Pro

Receivers went into Sound Control Manchester City Store this morning and threw all the staff out before changing the locks.

Bloody Hell.

Have Sound Control done a Williams? I guess they won't be taking on the Gibson dealership then.

Feel sorry for the staff.

does this include Turnkey?

What a shame - They are great stores and the staff are always polite. Maybe TurnKey will put in an offer?

nah its the whole group turnkey, SC, the lot! we'll miss u all x

Well it looked like a disaster waiting to happen.I`m afraid that mi retailing has always been a cottage industry. Sorry for the folks that will find themselves with no job.

Crikey! Knew this was on the cards for a while but didn't expect anything as dramatic as this. Heard many, many rumours about the total debts they owe.
I wonder what impact this will have on the distributors/manufactuers they are debted to. The losses could be huge for them........

Well at least some of the many shops ruined by SC moving into thier towns or cities may gain back some strength and bring back the human personal side to this industry

The business and stores, not a complete shock. But i really hope the employees are ok. Regardless of "bad service" naysayers, no-one deserves that.

IS THERE GONNA BE A SALE? SWEET!

I hope that the old A1 music shop in Manchester doesn't turn into a trendy nightclub. That place has a huge history behind it in the country's rock and roll scene and it should be turned into a live music venue to keep it's spirit alive.

Gotta be the biggest single event for many years. I guess we can look forward to a huge pile of auctioned off gear circulating, and all distributors (including us) suffering big losses. Then... place your bets on certain big European dealers grasping the opportunity. Just what they have been waiting for....?

Mark said
Well at least some of the many shops ruined by SC moving into thier towns or cities may gain back some strength and bring back the human personal side to this industry.

Sorry Mark but you cant blame Sound Control on that one. Blame the suppliers who do deals that are never available to the rest of us and are now supplying the likes of Dolphin...and how did they start....from a bedroom! Someone must have supplied that bedroom!

Seems that they were (Un)Sound and (Out of)Control!
Should have taken advice from Mr Micawber perhaps, (or is that spelled McCawber!)

he he - dolphin will probably buy some of the SC stores and we'll be reading the same thing about them in a few years.

It sucks big time that the staff of Sound Control have been made redundant. There were a lot of hard workers, and very nice staff members. I wish everyone good luck in the future.

Sorry for all the staff, no one likes to loose their job. However, It is good to see that large internet discounters get their fingers burnt in the end. Serves them right for sucking the margins out of the life of the smaller independent retailers. Another one bites the dust... Who's next?

Does this mean current Directors, wont make the same pay out as past directors ? hope Simple Minds have a tour this year !

I'm really sorry to hear the news. A lot of great guys have put their all into the company, what a terrible shame.

And to Billy sorry.

In response to Happy Chappy's two very childish posts, Lets hope that no one is next. This is just another nail in this industries coffin, and is nothing to be celebrated. And even though I work for a competitor (not Dolphin I may add) I am very sorry to see them go.

I wish all the staff the best of luck in the furture

I can't say I'm surprised, SC have been reportedly trading well into the red for years and ultimately it's not sustainable. I have heard rumours that Fender will be taking on some (but not all) of the SC sites as 'Fender SuperCentres' to showcase their products. It would account for them heavily increasing their product portfolio recently and I can see the next step will be direct selling on-line. Reality is, they would be 100% self sustainable and they won't need us retailers !

Anon is absolutely right, this is not good for the industry. However, if the Suppliers who have been supporting yet another financially weak business get their fingers burnt, then they deserve it, when will they learn?

Looks like someone has already set up a blog site.

http://www.where-i...o.uk/

I've heard lots of rumours about this since Christmas.

A real shame on the whole.

Matt

Can't help but think that if all you gloating rubber neckers had put half as much energy into making your own business a sucess as you are picking the bones out of this, you wouldnt have time to spend posting these comments as you'd be far too busy making your own living right now........

This is bad news for the industry as a whole. A lot of good staff, distributors, media and everyone related to the industry will be hit.
It is churlish and childish of for anyone to gloat over such a situation. I would wish it on no-one.
My best wishes to all who have been and are still involved in SC.

Fender were approached to invest in Sound Control some time ago in relation to the Super Centres, at which point they wisely declined.

And regarding Directors of Sound Control, Ray Miller got out just in time it seems, although this will have a detrimental effect now on how Gibson and all other brands will be sold as they've had the largest chain in the UK go bump.

isn't this a contradiction in terms ?

Does Anyone know what will happen to Turnkey?

I feel sorry for all the staff, I have been in their situation not funny at all.

Wish all you staff good luck in the future.
X

Whilst sorry for the staff, maybe the suppliers who have supported them in preference to the smaller music shop will have learnt their lesson. This will happen again - I have said for many years that suppliers shouldn't be so quick to place the majority of their eggs into a few large baskets offering them preferential prices and gining them advantages over the smaller store. GREAT NEWS I SAY!!!

Some very bitter and nasty comments here!
Whatever anyone says or feels, this is not good news for anyone in the MI industry! Period!

I worked for SC for over 6 years as a manager (I left a year ago). There's real people at the end of this and many are my friends. No matter what you think of the company and it's methods, it's not a happy day, it's quite a sad one. It's never good to gloat.

Not good news really. SC were 'ok' on prices and were often willing to pricematch. What let them down was lacklustre customer service and poor buying decisions.

Hopefully their demise will not affect the suppliers too much and doesn't have a knock on effect in the confidence of competitors creditors forcing them to pull out too.

hmmm...in receivership...doesn't necessarily mean that SC will cease trading. I can see a down size with some form of buyout for flag ship stores and get rid of multiples i.e. one of the Leeds stores will go, more than likely Leeds East with Leeds City to carry on.

I feel sorry for ray - out of the frying pan into the fire hey

For what it's worth, I hear that 10 stores are still open. It's still a sad day for all the people who worked for Sound Control and it won't do MI retail any good if banks lose their confidence in this sector.

I agree with Anon2 - some very bitter and twisted comments. Particularly from Happy Chappy who needs a good slap! The industry is in decline and we should all be working hard to stop this. Real people have lost their jobs - and the closures will affect a lot of people. Remember competition is a good thing and is 'not having a Sound Control' store near you really a good thing!?
A sad day for the industry but particularly for many of my friends who have lost their jobs.

Turnkey and SC are all part of the same group

I've seen lots of comments about SC 'shafting' customers and the like.. It would be great to see the MI business act like a business for a change ie charge a fair price for good service and make a fair profit.

Unfortunately, the industry still seems hell bent on suicidal tendencies where all margins are discounted away to nothing. SC were better than most at maintaining their margins and its a real shame to see them go. No-one has a perfect business model in MI but some at least do try to make it a business.

just spoken to one of the (ex) managers. apparently 12 stores are still open, including salford. although he thinks their days are numbered.

It's certainly a sad day for all the employees at Sound Control, the industry is in a pretty bad place anyway and this may just be the lifeline that small independents who provide ACTUAL customer care and ACTUAL support need to spur them on. Suppliers should sit back and ask themselves whether they got hurt badly enough to make a policy change. "All your eggs in one basket" is a dreadfully dangerous trading style and maybe it's time for the wholesalers to give the smaller specialist independents the support that Sound Control received.

Please remember that many of us lost our jobs today and more will no doubt. We worked ****ing hard for the company and always tried to do our best for the customers. Thanks to the great customers.

Cheers.

"...........What crazy discounted prices?"

What planet have you been on for the last 20 yrs????
What goes around comes around.........
Wonderful Wonderful news.
Who's Next?.........

As a staff member at one of the bigger stores on the company, I can vouch that we tried bloody hard to do the best for our customers - from doing good prices, matching prices online (that we get badgered to do - not because we want to sell at that price!) to giving customers lifts home, and going way above and beyond the call of duty. It seems we could never do right for doing wrong, and at times I just wanted to tell customers to get lost and go buy online! You only hear the bad things about companies like sound control - bloody well consider the staff and what they go through before making comments that may damn well offend and hurt good people in a time of personal crisis please!

A bad day for the MI trade. It must be a matter of time now for the likes of Fender to start opening their own stores and doing away with badly run retailers. Possibly a good thing for the end user though. Look at what Apple has achieved in the last five years by opening their own stores. Times are changing fast and the trade is running in fear instead of adapting itself and facing these challenges head on.

I don't think anyone is pleased to hear that some many decent people have lost their jobs. There are plenty of smaller stores out there who are obviously relieved that they do not have to compete with SCs I can make less money quicker than you ethos.

I think Dolphin are involved with Bank of Scotland and SC with RBS

May I also sympathise with the now-redundant staff. Happened to me a few years back, and it's never pretty.
It's not nice to see so many MI moaners crawling out of the woodwork, SC didn't get ridiculous deals, and didn't job gear out too much either.
Show some respect for the upheaval this is going to cause real people, staff, customers & suppliers .

If you are right i guess it will be another example of "Fins ain't what they they used to be! (Sorry)

This is a sad day for many of my former colleagues. I spent 12 great years managing one of AOS flagship stores.This was a store that cared for it's customers and I believe the AOS group would not have faced the same consequence that SC are facing today. Good luck to all in the future