Chappell of Bond Street
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Chappell of Bond Street (aka Chappell's[1]) is a piano, musical instrument, musical equipment and sheet music retailer incorporating the Yamaha London store in Wardour Street, Soho, London.
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[edit] History
Chappell of Bond Street have been trading in London since 1811, when the original company, Chappell & Co. was founded. Chappell & Co. also published music, but in 1980 Chappell's piano manufacturing and retail business was sold to Kemble & Company who then continued to run the premises under the same name "Chappell of Bond Street". The publishing business of Chappell Music was later taken over by Warner Brothers becoming Warner/Chappell Music. The Bond Street premises were completely refurbished in 1986 to mark the 175th year of trading.
Kemble & Company, a family business, commenced building pianos in the early 1900s and developed into Britain’s largest piano manufacturers, moving to a modern factory in Bletchley, Milton Keynes. In 1966 Kemble & Company became distributors for Yamaha electronic organs. As Yamaha became dominant in other product areas a joint venture company, Yamaha-Kemble Music (UK) Ltd , was set up to further develop sales in the U.K. market of Yamaha pianos, electronic keyboards, guitars and hi-tech equipment.
In July 2007 the minority Kemble family shareholding was bought out by Yamaha and the company was renamed Yamaha Music (U.K.) Ltd in autumn of 2007[2][3]. Kemble Music Ltd which owns Chappell of Bond Street is a subsidiary of Yamaha Music (U.K.) Ltd [4].
[edit] Relocation to Wardour Street
In November 2006, Chappell of Bond Street closed its doors at 50, New Bond Street for the final time, reopening on November 11 2006 at 152-160 Wardour Street. The new store incorporates the Yamaha London store which functions as Yamaha’s national showcase.
The landmark, Grade II listed building has recently been restored, with three floors of retail space and houses one of the world’s most extensive collections of printed music and the most comprehensive display of Yamaha instruments in the U.K.
In the basement the printed music department stocks around 50,000 sheet music titles, including tablature (a.k.a tab or tabulature). The printed music department was awarded the "Printed Music Retailer of The Year" in 2006 at the Music Industries Association Awards. The ground floor displays Guitars, Brass and Woodwind, Keyboards, Digital Pianos, Electronic Percussion, Music Technology and Pro Audio products, with trial rooms.
On the first floor there is an oak-panelled piano hall, where customers can try Yamaha pianos ranging from small uprights to a full 9 ft. Concert Grand Piano. A series of lunchtime recitals in the performance space within the historic Piano Hall at Chappells commenced on September 26, 2007 and will continue till June, 2008[5].
[edit] References
- ^ Forums > Chappell Of Bond Street
- ^ Yamaha buys out Kemble family, MI Pro, July 10, 2007
- ^ Cancellation of Joint Venture Contracts for Sales Subsidiaries in U.K. and Spain, Yamaha Global website, July 10, 2007
- ^ Chappell of Bond Street, Terms, Policies and procedures
- ^ Yamaha London LIVE! and Chappell of Bond Street launch lunchtime conservatoire concert series, Yamaha Europe
- Husk, William Henry; Cranmer, Margaret; Jones, Peter Ward; and Snell, Kenneth R. "Chappell". Grove Music Online (subscription required). ed. L. Macy. Retrieved on March 7, 2007.
- Letters of Charles Dickens to Wilkie Collins (1891) - Page 136
- The Ladies Museum (1831)- Page 91
