Philip Cann – “Cann the Music Man” was one of Sheffield’s best-known music and record retailers for much of the 20th century. The business started on Dixon Lane, near the old markets, and was trading by at least the 1920s, possibly earlier. It sold records, musical instruments, sheet music, gramophones and later hi-fi equipment. Around 1959, the business moved to larger premises on Chapel Walk, just off Fargate. The Chapel Walk shop had a famous basement record department with listening booths, where customers could listen to LPs before buying them. Many Sheffield music fans remember spending hours there in the late 1960s and 1970s.
If you bought guitars in Sheffield during the early 1970s, Cann’s was one of the main places to go. They stocked guitars, amps, hi-fi equipment and records. Former customers recall seeing Gibson Les Pauls in the window and buying their first electric guitars there.
Philip Cann’s sons eventually sold the business. It was taken over by Vallances, but the Cann name was retained for several years before being replaced. The Chapel Walk shop finally disappeared in the mid-1970s.
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