Hobgoblin music shop on the move

Bristol people have been turning to music to cheer themselves up in such numbers during the recession that the city’s best known music shop is expanding into new larger premises.

 

Hobgoblin Music, an Aladdin’s cave of musical instruments, at College Green is to move a few hundred yards up the road to a new enlarged shop at 36 Park Street opening on March 2 where there will be room to provide a bigger and better range to customers.

 

Shop manager Cris Pierssene said: “We have just had our best year ever as a business and we believe it is because people are turning to music in these tough times for fun and to cheer themselves up.

 

“It is the traditional, fairly inexpensive, instruments that have been selling well such as ukuleles, guitars and penny whistles. But we are also seeing significant increases in sales of more expensive instruments such as fiddles and accordions.

 

“People are teaching themselves to play and rediscovering the simple pleasure of making music and maybe rediscovering some of the folk music of the past at the same time.

 

“The new shop will be bigger and better enabling us to expand our entire range. There will be a new music books section and we will have room for an instrument repairs service.”

 

The new Bristol Hobgoblin Music shop will be the largest in the eight-shop chain, which also has stores in Birmingham, Crawley, Leeds, London, Manchester, Wadebridge and Milton Keynes.

 

Local musicians will benefit from the move as during February the store will hold a closing down sale at College Green with up to 20 per cent discounts on instruments to save having to move too many to the new shop.

 

The Bristol Music Shop, which currently sells sheet music at College Green will remain and expand into the area occupied by Hobgoblin Music at the moment.