Classics in the city

[Guest]

Was passing through Glasgow today on my way back from Fort William to Manchester and thought id pop into Classics in the City in Glasgow.

When did it shut down? :-(

[Byas'd Opinion]

Just a few months ago. The owner was retiring, tried to sell the shop as a going concern, but couldn't find a buyer. Shame, as it was a good shop.

[Flosshilde]

I vaguely thought it would be good to get a consortium together to buy it but didn't really have a clue about how to go about it. Rather regret now not putting more thought into it

The asking price was 'only' about £100,000 for the shop, stock, fittings & of course the name & reputation. which could be seen as a bargain.

[amateur51]

What a wonderfully romantic notion, Flossie! Bravo!

However, as the excellent & much-missed Peter Jones once observed on Just A Minute, with 'How To Make A Small Fortune',

'I've always understood that the best way of making a small fortune is to start off with a big one!'

[nersner]

Are there any good classical music shops in Glasgow at present?

[Flosshilde]

Do you mean selling records/CDs? Or sheet music & instruments? If the former, no (there are a couple of bad ones - HMV )

If the latter, there is Biggars, in Sauchiehall St., & another one in Bath St that I can't remember the name of. There are probably others. I can't say if they are 'good' or not as I don't use them (not being able to read music or play an instrument)


We used to have Tower Records, which had a very good classical section (& staff who were interested), HMV which had a reasonable selection, Virgin, which were OK-ish, and Borders, which was also OK-ish.

I was talking to friends at the weekend about bookshops. When I moved to Glasgow (16 years ago) there was Waterstones, Smith's (John, not WH), Dillons, with Ottaker slightly later, then Borders. Waterstone took over Dillons (the site - not sure if they took over the business) and Ottaker, & closed the latter. Smith's went out of business (although they do still have a rump as University bookshops). Borders went out of business, so now we are left with Waterstone's.