Music shop duo’ s £11k rates are main bugbear about town centre spot

After more than 40 years in business the main regret for the owners of specialist music shop Sound and Vision are the extra costs of being in Elgin town centre.

Father and son Vic and Graham Flett spoke to us about the challenges and opportunities of their central location.

When it started out in 1980 Sound and Vision sold DJ equipment and vinyl records from a tiny unit in South College Street, which is now The Hairshop.

Vic, 74, then ran it with his friend David, and as both had day jobs, Sound and Vision only opened two nights a week and all day on Saturdays.

After two years they moved to South Street in the town centre to grow the business.

Vic said: “The High Street was where we wanted to be but it was way too expensive.

“I knew the costs would be prohibitive, they still are, so we started off in a small shop next door before moving where we are now in 1989.”

Despite the additional costs that come with a town centre presence, Vic is still adamant it’s the only place to be for local retailers, though ideally he would like the premises to be smaller, if only to cut costs.

He revealed Sound and Vision currently has an annual business rates bill of £11,000, a fee he has repeatedly appealed and contested over the years with no success.

Graham said: “We’ve got the benefit here of a good shop space but all the storage space we have makes the rates ridiculous.

“When you look around the town you see properties filling up reasonably quickly, but it’s all the smaller properties that are under the rates threshold.”

Vic said: “I think we’d still want to be in the town

centre, or close to it though. It’s where people expect to find businesses like us.”

Graham added: “Being on an industrial estate wouldn’t work for us and the Edgar Road retail park units are vastly too big for us.”

Drivers flouting parking restrictions in Elgin town centre has been a major concern in recent years.

Cars and vans parked on pavements, double yellow lines and in disabled and loading bays have been commonplace.

But things could be changing, with Moray Council now paying for police overtime to enforce the rules.

The initiative resulted in 79 fines being issued in just three days in early April, a staggering 61% of the total issued throughout 2023.

Addressing illegal parking on South Street has been a concern for Vic.

He said: “We see cars sitting in loading bays all day as if it was normal. The loading bays are obviously there for deliveries.

“The police have come down a few times. It’s good to see them doing something about it now. It must be frustrating for them, I’m sure they’d rather be doing other things.”

Sound and Vision doesn’t rely on seasonal trade, it has waves of customers that come and go year round.

Sales of various musical instrument accessories are the main day-to-day business with big one-off sales, including electric pianos, providing a boost.

The firm has also diversified into fitting sound systems into

buildings including village halls.

And the specialist music retailer has found a new source of revenue online.

Graham said: “With the internet we’re now sending stuff all over the world.

“Just recently a guy from New Zealand has been in touch, we also send to the US and Canada regularly and also Europe, but less so after Brexit.”

Another source of unease are roadworks – a fixture on South Street for nearly a year with no end in sight.

Extensive renovation is already under way on the Crown Office as well as the prominent Gordon & MacPhail corner building.

And a Moray Council-led project to refurbish the former Junners toy shop into smaller retail units with flats above is also planned.

Vic and Graham believe the long-term works are having a dramatic impact on South Street footfall but are optimistic about the end results.

Graham said: “We’ve already had it for a while and it looks like the works we’ve got at the moment might just run on into the Junners works, which is a worry.

“Don’t get me wrong though, if the Junners project comes through and there’s more retail in there then it can only be a good thing for the street.”

Vic added: “Poundland opening up soon will make a big difference to the High Street, just to have that corner open again.

“They’ve done a great job with the building too. It’ll put the rest of the building owners down the High Street to shame.”

MOOD MUSIC: Vic and Graham Flett, who together run Sound and Vision in Elgin. Picture by Jason Hedges.