Sound Control & Turnkey (UK) now in receivership...

Miscellaneous
1

As of the 30th of April, both sound control and turnkey are in administration; part of me is sad to see them in this position, the other is well and truely dancing on their grave…

whilst i found the customer service at the newcastle and birmingham branches to be quite good; the appallingly careless manner in which things went down in the leicester & london TK stores left me with little love for them; if it wasnt on the shelfs, there would be problems & weeks of them ! ..ultimately i took mine and other peoples business the way of the likes of DV247 & smaller retailers where possible.

What i hope this isnt mind, is the start of the demise of the music shop whereby you can actually go into the store to see & play with potential purchases :confused:

2

ouch - that’s not good!

Turnkey were notorious for crap customer service and that “Record shop” service attitude. Their sister company MediaTools next door were much better to deal with and had some truely awesome demo kit and rooms.

It’s getting harder and harder to find places to demo kit for sure, I know a lot of places that have stuff in stock and still won’t demo it.

The scarey thing is that group were huge - so it probably means a whole lot of people in that sector are in big trouble!

3

ah yes mediatools..

i once went in there to have a look at / listen to the studio electronics - omega 2 to see how much cop it was.. and yes, its unbelievably well engineered & sounds decent ..however its price could even make modular fans shudder.

only problem i had with mediatools was that once they saw me looking at a really expensive bit of kit; they wanted more than ever to try and get me to spend that sort of money.

even found myself sitting with two of the staff in their call centre level just as theyd closed up shop for the day; they where still busy giving me the hard sell, trying to get me to buy anything.. followed by suggesting a moog & then an andromeda. of which one i own & the other i have access to.

This put me right off them.

Also in passing i took the time to note what was written on the whiteboards in this room; every person on the phones had a personal sales target they had to meet; and the more they sold, the higher that goal post moved.

…I absolutely aborr that approach to business :confused:

4

http://www.mi-pro.co.uk/news/29486/Sound-Control-administration-update

14 stores to remain open for 90 days

It has emerged that 10 Sound Control stores, including those in Manchester City and Glasgow West, have been closed with immediate effect. Manchester Salford and Glasgow City have remained open

These are among 14 stores that will be kept open for 90 days in the hope of turning the business around to get the best price from bidders.

The following Sound Control stores, along with Turnkey will remain open for business:

Birmingham

Bristol

Edinburgh

Glasgow City

Leicester

London

Manchester Salford

Norwich

Sheffield

Dundee

Newcastle

Stockton

Stoke

Dunfermline

The following stores have closed:

Derby

Glasgow West

Hull

Kirkcaldy

Leeds East

Manchester City

Milton Keynes

Nottingham

Preston

Southampton

There is still no further information available from administrator, Deloitte, however a spokesperson from the company commented: “The teams are still all out on site. It’s a waiting game while we try to sort out things, such as staff.â€

It would appear that access to retrieve stock is not being given. It will doubtless be the big manufacturers and suppliers who are hardest hit.

The MIA, meanwhile, has offered to assist any Sound Control staff affected by the situation to find new jobs. The body’s chief executive Paul McManus told MI Pro he would be happy for those made redundant to send their CVs direct to paulmc@mia.org.uk. He will then group them into geographical regions and attempt to match them up with any firms looking for staff in those areas.

He commented: “The MIA would like to offer its support to any Sound Control staff who are in the dreadful situation of needing to find re-employment. The MIA has always kept a database of people wishing to find new employment in the industry. CVs are frequently sent to me and I liaise with companies that are looking for new staff. This totally impartial service is offered to people with the only aim being to keep skilled and experienced people in the industry and working. The MIA wishes to offer this service to any affected Sound Control staff and to let every company in the industry know that we will have a collated database that they can enquire about, accordingly.â€

This website will keep you updated as and when news comes in.

5

any news on Carrillon? They are owned by Turnkey…

6

yup, any business linked to them folded.

7

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/edinburgh_and_east/7377203.stm

Jobs cut at troubled music firm

Sound Control website

Sound control is to close down its internet and telesales operation

More than 150 jobs are to go at a Fife-based musical instrument chain after it went into administration.

Directors at Sound Control, which is based in Dunfermline, had been trying to sell elements of the troubled firm.

The UK-wide chain of 26 shops has been struggling to compete against other internet-based companies.

Administrators Deloitte have decided to shut 10 stores and close down the firm’s internet and telesales arm, making 163 people redundant.

Largest retailer

Sound Control also trades as Media Tools, Turnkey and Soho Sound House.

It is the largest musical instrument retailer in the UK, with a £50m annual turnover, employing 338 people.

John Reid from Deloitte said: "Following a review of the group’s operations, the administrators have made the difficult decision to close 10 of the group’s trading locations and bring to an end its telesales and internet sales activities.

"These changes to the group’s operations have resulted in 163 redundancies with immediate effect.

"The administrators welcome interest in the business and assets of the group and are already in discussions with a number of interested parties to explore a possible sale.

“However, at the same time as they explore sale options, the administrator will continue to trade the remaining 16 stores.”

http://www.soundonsound.com/news?NewsID=10049

Sound Control enter administration 

(SOS announcement)

01/05/2008

The UK’s largest retailer closes numerous branches

The UK’s largest retailer Sound Control, who also own Turnkey and Media Tools, went into administration yesterday, 30th April.

According to Deloitte, who have been appointed administrators of Sound Control Holdings Limited, 10 of the retailer’s 26 stores have been closed, with 163 of the 338 employees made redundant.

The administrators state “the Group [sound Control] has been impacted by increased competition from the internet and the directors had been pursuing a strategy to sell the business.”

John Reid, one of the two appointed admnistrators said "the administrator will continue to trade the remaining 16 stores, selling high quality musical instruments to the publicâ€.

Turnkey’s web site states “Whilst the Sound Control Group remains in administration, no orders can be placed. 16 of our 26 retail stores will continue to trade as normal”. It also says that telephone sales will be brought to an end.

We’ll keep you up to date with any further information. For ongoing discussion of the latest developments, check out the thread on the SOS forum.