Music publisher stops sale-or-return

A message from J G Windows music shop in Newcastle:

Important Announcement
about our Printed Music department
We would like to inform you of some significant changes affecting our printed music department this January.
Since 2017, our printed music selection has been supplied on consignment / sale or return by Hal Leonard, one of the biggest publishers and distributers in the world. This has allowed us to offer an unrivalled choice of music in what we believe to be the best browsable selection of music in the UK.
Unfortunately, we have recently been informed that Hal Leonard will be terminating this consignment agreement on January 22nd 2024.
We hope you will understand that Hal Leonard’s decision has been hard for us to come to terms with. It does not just affect our business, but all similar businesses that stock printed music under the Hal Leonard agreement both in the UK and Europe.
Having been selling sheet music in Newcastle since 1908, we are determined to continue to offer what we believe to be an important service to local musicians.

As such, we have decided to continue our printed music department, initially by offering a smaller selection of key titles, backed-up by an improved special order system.

We do this in the hope that, if there is enough support and demand from our loyal customers, we can grow the department again and increase the choice we offer over time.