Beanscene diversifies

BEANSCENE, the fast-growing coffee shop chain founded in Glasgow in 1999, took a step towards its goal of being "as much about music as it is about coffee" last night when it launched its own record label, Luna Records, at a live event in its Kelvingrove outlet. Beanscene's nine stores in Glasgow, Edinburgh, Stirling and St Andrews, which together turned over £2.5 million last year, will sell Luna CDs over the counter, and music in download form on its website, www.beanscene.co.uk. The move was encouraged by Beanscene's own research, which found that 75 per cent of its 15,000-plus weekly customers would be prepared to buy the company's music direct from coffee bars.

The launch of Luna, which has signed acts including Ella Bell, Wild Strawberry and the MaryHillbillys, marks a departure in the life of the company, which plans to have 20 Scottish outlets by 2007. With its off-high-street locations, long opening hours and wide crossover appeal to students, parents of young children, and business people, Beanscene intends its music label to complement its existing internet radio station and in-store music policy, being "as much about lifestyle as about coffee". Managing director Gordon Richardson said: "With music downloads now outstripping CD sales, music is being accessed, purchased and listened to in entirely new ways. "Our research indicates that there is a demand for readily available, adult-oriented, album-driven, edgy yet accessible music to be downloaded, and we will use our stores to direct people to the website."

Richardson revealed yesterday that Beanscene was on the brink of adding six new outlets, including three in Edinburgh, one in Ayr and one in Dundee. He also confirmed that the company was considering a move into England. He said: "We are constantly refining the business model. When we have the 20 Scottish outlets, we will step back and look at what we have built. "It may be that we achieve the critical mass that would make us consider venture-capital funding, or we might have managed stores. Or we might go down the franchise route."