New age music stores still waiting for boom in sales

Hi-Hat, Groove, Planet M and Music Cafe. Four new age music stores launched in quick succession, within a period of six months. Have they offered what they had promised? More importantly, are they successful in drawing the customers?

Hi-Hat, set up by Anuj Mehra of J K Finance is managed by Ashish Behl and Vijay Jaccob, both ex BMG Crescendo. Besides a convenient location, the shop draws your attention with the neatly stacked racks, album categorisations with ample space to move around. Listening posts are there, of course, and the trademark cafe which seems to have become the in-thing in all the newly opened music stores was first started by Hi-Hat. Only unlike in the other stores at Hi-Hat, the cafe is located out of the store. Vijay Jacob, Merchandise Manager is not unduly worried about it. “The danger of people making this a hang-out place is far less than that in Planet M or Groove, beca-use our shop is in an area which is essentially residential. It’s the college kids who have the tendency to hang-out and as such there aren’t many colleges here.”

Shelly, a customer who’s in his early 40s is a regular because, “there’s a large variety to choose from and the categorisation makes the job simpler”. When asked whether he had visited the stores in town he replied in the negative. “Since I get whatever I want here, I don’t see any need to go there,” he said.

Music Cafe - T-series Store, the only shop in town to dedicate three storeys to music is situated a few kilometres away from Hi-Hat. Located in Bandra, it has divided its music into three levels. The first level caters to Hindi music, (film music, ghazals and pop), the top floor is dedicated to international music while the basement stocks devotional, regional, classical music and video CDs.

The store probably has the largest collection of devotional music. After all, that is T Series’ forte. “Surprisingly, devotional music which I never thought will sell in this upmarket area is moving briskly at the counter,” observes Krishan Kumar who’s in charge of the store.

Since the day we visited was only the third day after the store’s opening, it was too early to gauge the response. But during the one hour we spend there, we saw few customers picking up albums.

A couple who were on their way to another music shop walked into the store on seeing it. They were particularly impressed with the categorisation of classical albums and commented that it was one of the best in the suburbs but were disappointed on not finding some old classical collections. They started jocularly berating the salesperson who was trying hard to convince them that the collection had arrived but it had yet to be displayed. The couple bought a few CDs and left a list of albums they wanted with the salesperson saying, “let’s see whether you get back to us with it.”

Interestingly, Music Cafe doesn’t stock any of Tips’ albums, we guess it’s for obvious reasons. As to how it will affect their business, T-Series MD, Bhushan Kumar’s quote in an earlier interview says it all, “This is not really an extension of our business. We own the land on which the store stands. It’s a good investment.”

That’s probably how even the Times Group looks at its music store Planet M. The difference being that the company is promoting the store in a huge way. Movie tickets, live performances, celebrity visits and now the Freddie Mercury exhibition, in short - the works. The store is pulling out all stops to lure customers.

Situated at a prime location opposite CST station, the store has a futuristic look and design. According to Arun Arora, executive director, Times group, such a design doesn’t exist anywhere in the world. A view concurred by Mr Jayant, a customer who had come from Dubai. “I am impre-ssed with the interior of the store. Everything has been arranged keeping in mind customer convenience.” But another woman in her 30s had this to say, “It’s very cluttered. I wasn’t comfortable as I couldn’t browse at a leisurely place. The racks are not user-friendly. The shop is no doubt, swanky and fancy, but the elevations are a little staggering. You feel you’ll slip on them.”

The shop has a jukebox, listening posts, dancing hall, books, soft toys, bags and T-Shirts. The mezannine floor has been used for the cafe. It is designed in such a way that the first section of the shop is stacked with music racks while the second section has books, bags, T-shirts, toys and kids albums. There’s a huge screen which airs the latest music videos. In fact, a common feature noticeable in all these stores was an overwhelmingly young crowd. Not surprisingly, international albums were the fastest selling albums in all the stores.

On the day Freddie Mercury’s photographic exhibition was being inaugurated, we found Gary Lawyer performing live. A huge crowd had gathered outside the store to watch. The trend of organising live shops has caught on with all the music stores. Do they really help in promoting sales? According to Jacob, hardly any sales take place on the day celebrity visits are organised. “That’s the reason we have it only once a month. Planet M can do it often because they are backed by a newspaper. This definitely helps in drawing the crowds to the store. There are chances that some of them will convert into buyers,” he explained.

Planet M undoubtedly, is attracting all kinds of people - teenagers, elderly people and families. “We have a footfall of more than 1000 every day,” claims Arora. But how much of it is converted into actual sales? “Sales are happening but we are making losses,” was his candid reply. However, he is confident that the shop will break-even in two years.

V G Jairam, Head Operation & Marketing, Groove added two more years to that. Groove is located at Eros Theatre building, which is one of the best locations the city can offer. Set up jointly by Brian Tellis and the Cambatta Group, the 6,500 sq feet shop is designed in such a way that there is more than ample space to check out all kinds of music.

Apart from the usual categorisation they have a jazz and classical music suite. According to Jairam the response has been “fabulous”. One customer said, “The ambience is good but I have been looking for an audio cassette prescribing exercises and I haven’t found it here. I looked for it in Planet M too but it wasn’t there. Now I am thinking of checking it out in Rhythm House.”

Rhythm House situated bang opposite Jehangir Art Gallery has been a music lover’s paradise for over five decades now. All these years it did not have any competition. But things have changed now. “Our sales have been affected not only because of Planet M and Groove but even shops like Hi-Hat and Music Cafe are eating into our market. Now, people from the suburbs are not coming to us,” reveals Mehmood Curmally, director, Rhythm House. But music aficionados still swear by the detailed categorisation of albums in Rhythm House which is the best. Still,to keep up with competition besides keeping the shop open on Sundays, Curmally is planning a few changes inside the store. “Though space is a constraint I am planning to re-arrange and innovate.”

C P Joseph, editor of a music magazine Raga To Rock opined “Like all business ventures the music stores too will not make money from day one. They will become viable in due course. The only unique selling propositions of all these stores is that they have a large collection of all genre of music.”

As to whether it will increase the number of buyers he feels, “a small percentage of increase will be there because of the ambience provided by these stores.” He however thinks that eventually, the small 10/12 music shops will be wiped out.

Whether it’s boom time for music companies or not, it does appear to be the right time for the mushrooming of music stores. Says Joseph, “I am sure atleast two more such shops will open soon.”

Chaya Unnikrishnan