Note-worthy takeover at Island Music

Thursday 06 July 2023

A lifelong musician has taken over the reins at Jersey's iconic music shop, and is hoping to hit all the right notes as he brings in some sweeping new changes.

Island Music has been a staple of the Jersey High Street since it was founded in 1989 under its original name 'Scriven’s Piano Centre'.

Its founder, Jonathan Scriven, left the island at the age of 17 for a three-year apprenticeship with Kemble-Yamaha in Milton-Keynes.

This kickstarted a life-long career in piano tuning before finally setting up shop in Jersey, and building up Island Music into one of Jersey's most recognisable stores. 

Now, 33 years later, Jonathan is retiring and handing the shop to a new owner: Paul Sharkey.

Pictured: Island Music has been a staple of the Jersey High Street since it was founded in 1989 under its original name 'Sciven’s Piano Centre'.

Paul has been a music lover since he was a teenager.

"I started out on guitar," he explained "It was Oasis that got me hooked on it but I soaked everything up."

He went on to study 'Popular Music' at university in Liverpool, playing in pubs and clubs all across "the music capital of the world". 

Throughout his time as a musician, Paul also developed a passion for music shops.

"They became a huge part of my life," he said. "They're a place for musicians, a sort of exclusive club where you're always surrounded by likeminded people." 

Paul added that owning a music shop has "been a lifelong dream".

Pictured: Jonathan Scriven, the founder of Island Music. 

Since living in Jersey, Paul been a regular customer of Island Music. He was first approached about a possible partnership with Jonathan 15 years ago but "the time just wasn't right".

However, in February this year, the offer of taking over the shop was again put to him.

Paul explained: "One Saturday I went in to see Jon as a customer, and he just said: 'You wouldn't think about wanting to buy the business?'. At that time I was at a bit of a crossroad in my career so I looked into it and I thought: 'I think I could make this work.'" 

He added: "When you do something like this, people will always talk about the risk, they'll say think of the internet and things like that! They'll think of all the reasons you shouldn't do it, but you have to think that actually you might be the perfect person to do it." 

As a result, Paul hung up his career in Sales at JT and agreed to take over the shop. He officially became the owner on 1 July.

Now he is at the helm, Paul is developing a "transformation program." Cosmetically, he's looking at getting some new decor and and even designing a new logo.

Moreover, he's looking to introduce the e-commerce platform Shopify to allow customers to easily interact with the store online, be it 'click-and-collect' or simply browsing what's in stock. 

Pictured: Paul is in the process or organising a contract with guitar makers Gibson and Epiphone.

For guitar connoisseurs, Paul is currently in the process of organising a contract with makers Gibson and Epiphone which he hopes will bring some of the "crème de la crème of the guitar world" over to Jersey.

Although nothing is finalised yet, Paul said that "it's looking good".

Finally, the new Island Music owner is hoping to tap into some of Jersey's homegrown talent.

"It's all about the community," he explained. "It's just not complete without that grass roots level of music...there are so many talented people over here and it's all about supporting that." 

To that end, Island Music will be hoping to sponsor and support more and more local music events, such as the upcoming Battle of the Bands later this month. 

Paul said: "The shop wouldn't be anything without the people on the island, and that's the secret to it's success." 

To find out more about Island Music, you can click HERE. 

Pictured top: Paul Sharkey, the new owner of Island Music. (Emily Stubbs)