40 Years of Concept Music

At the ripe old age of 25, with the help of friends and family and a with a loan for $10,000 from the Bank, we spent a furious few weeks painting and installing some carpet and showcases, and I had my own shop.  Somehow it survived the first very rocky 5 years (it took that long before I could even draw a minimum wage) and was a lot tougher than I thought it would be. Retrospectively, I must have had just the right balance of naivety and confidence (some might say youthful arrogance?!) and Concept Music had now found its feet (and beat).

The first incarnation of Concept Music lasted about 10 years before I started to outgrow the premises, but fortunately the owner of the building offered to extend it for me to give roughly twice the floor space. I employed the services of an interior designer and the new store was beautiful. To this day I still miss various aspects of it. 

Over the next 10 years Murray Street changed.  It became a one way street and got a LOT busier with almost no parking, and with more and more customers complaining they’d have to drive around the block 3 or 4 times to park I knew it was time to move on. In early 2000 I stumbled across yet another empty furniture showroom at the corner of Cambridge and Harbourne in Wembley. 

At the time I recall being extremely nervous if people would follow me “out of the city”, but in hindsight it was one of the best decisions I’ve ever made and we never looked back. Cambridge St was a winner from day one. The exposure was brilliant, people LOVED the easy access and parking. It wasn’t quite the “old” Concept (yet!) but we definitely hit the ground running and Concept grew very quickly. In fact wasn’t that long before I realised, we would need more space again. And soon! 

Read the full story here.