Millers Music makes a start towards a reshaped Cambridge city centre

Millers Music has remodelled its retail profile as it bids to offer an improved service to customers both online and in person.

The strategic overhaul has seen a new warehouse opening on Barnwell Business Park, enabling the Sussex Street-based premises to continue selling and renting stock that can’t easily be sold online – that’s pianos, orchestral instruments and classical guitars.

Combining a more modest retail presence with a warehouse holding stock for online customers is the brainchild of Simon Pollard, who took over the famed Cambridge musical instrument retailer – established in 1856 – in 2012.

At that time it was owned by Barry Robinson, great-grandson of founder Albert Miller. The Miller family had acquired Ken Stevens in 1980 and formed a new associated company to accommodate the new arrival – Ken Stevens being a relative latecomer to the musical party, having been set up in the 1960s.

“In any other city, 1856 would be the oldest surviving business, but by Cambridge standards it’s not all that old,” says Simon, whose success has been to develop the company from a musical instruments business to a retail leisure group.

“In 2012 I was working for another music company based in London, with a warehouse in Bury St Edmunds,” he says. “After a deal to buy Millers fell through, Barry approached me and I bought the business. It was a successful business, and now it’s not just Millers, it’s part of a group which includes Cookes Pianos in Norwich – founded in 1887 – which we bought in 2016, and Foulds Music in Derby, which was established in 1893.”

Foulds was acquired in December last year. A couple of years previously Millers Music group had moved beyond being solely a purveyor of musical instruments with the acquisition of Open Air – an outdoor clothing and equipment shop trading since 1990 – on Green Street.

“I bought that in August 2018,” notes Simon, owner and managing director of the Millers Music group, “so we’ve gone from being a traditional piano business to a leisure group employing 58 people on our books.”

The start of lockdown last year accelerated a process that had already been set in motion with the boom in online trading.

“More and more guitars are sold online,” Simon explains, “much more so than pianos, and guitar margins – even top brands – are very tight. It’s sad because we had a great guitar department – David Gilmour of Pink Floyd apparently bought one of his first guitars from Millers – but it wasn’t our core business, though we did well with iconic brands such as Fender, Marshall and Martin.

“A lot of that business has moved online – pedals and amps for instance. The same has happened with outdoor clothing. When it comes to buying a piano, it’s not easy to buy pianos and orchestral instruments virtually.”

Simon has repositioned the group – the new Millers website goes live on March 10 – to take advantage of this new trading environment.

“We’re seeing more and more sales online,” he says. “You’d be amazed at what’s sold, it’s 1,000 per cent up, 2,000 per cent at one point. More people are playing instruments now than at any time in the last 20 or 30 years, but sales have moved online.

“It doesn’t mean showrooms don’t have value but the experience needs to change and we’re now progressing to having an online presence and a showroom.

“It’s part of our integrated operation, and I believe our relationship with our customers will be stronger as a result.”

The new arrangements will mean that Open Air remains at 28 Green Street, selling a range of footwear, rucksacks – including fitting services – as well as seasonal accessories. Open Air “will have a much larger selection available online along with our expert team on the phones, LiveChat, social media, and even offering virtual fittings and consultations on a national basis”.

Millers Music retains the site on Sussex Street, with floor space reduced 20 per cent by vacating the corner spot. The stock for the group will be held at the new premises on Barnwell Business Park just off the Newmarket Road. Both retailers will be able to supply the market nationally from their online platforms.

“We moved out of 11/12 Green Street last weekend, we’d been packing up for six weeks,” says Simon. “Millers Music will have the showroom and the warehouse, which will be moved out of town as the online side grows further. We’ll still be in Green Street, though, at number 28.

“The Barnwell site is probably 3,500 sq ft in total; the plan is to move to a much larger facility later this year or in 2022. The acoustic and electric guitars will be in Barnwell – the shop will have classical guitars and also folk instruments, like mandolins.”

Simon raises concerns about what is going to happen to retail in the territories he has interests in. Though he’s able to adapt, he understands the pressures on those who aren’t so easily transportable.

“We pay £130,000 a year to be in Cambridge as a group now,” he remarks of the rates on the premises. “With rents, rates and service charges, it’s £400,000 a year in total. That’s 60 per cent to the landlords, Trinity, then £130,000 in property tax.

“The colleges have been pretty understanding in terms of rent holidays, rent credits and so on.

“We’re part of the Music Industries Association which is associated with the British Retail Council, who are lobbying for rates reform because we’re effectively being subsidised to move out of city centres. It’s a massive problem.

“Business rates are effectively a disincentive to improve your business because they are based on the value of the property, not income – it’s an archaic tax and it needs to change. The rates have been such a cash cow.

“Cambridge will succeed because the biopharma industry is here, and the cluster, but retail will change and it’ll take a few years to work through.

“The empty units in Cambridge will be filled as Cambridge is a very successful city, but in Derby having so many empty units is causing all sorts of problems.

“The ability to provide an online option for people who don’t want to go to the city centre is essential. Covid has accelerated so much change in such a short time. Our city centres will change. The move has involved investment in technology, we’ve really invested in a contact management system for online – that’s really important for us. The stock goes straight from the order on the website to the courier. The technology is enabling our teams to do more, understanding our customers and delivering better service.”

You can’t help but feel optimistic for Millers Music as the model for a next-generation musical retailer is rolled out.

“We recognise we need contact with our customers,” Simon concludes. “There’s been record increases in home recording, even saxophones.

“Hopefully people will continue to investigate and enjoy music; it has great psychological and health benefits. We’ve all experienced a loss in our social contact but being able to play a musical instrument can really help.”