The Music Man

Barry Bull is mostly recognised as the owner of multi award winning business Toombul Music, a single retail outlet in Brisbane that achieved iconic retail status.

His career began in music retailing in 1960, and after hours he would strap on his guitar and play on Brisbane's booming band circuit with his band, The Counts

He was recruited by a record company, CBS Records (now Sony Music) an rose through the ranks to become national marketing chief throughout the seventies

In 1981, after giving Rock and Roll the best years of his life, he returned to Brisbane with the ambition to own his own business and acquired Toombul Music.

Over the years, Toombul Music won more than 30 Westfield Retail awards, including the "National Individual Specialty Retailer Award" three times. In 1997 Toombul Music was an inaugural inductee into the Westfield Hall of Fame in recognition of outstanding retail achievement.

In 2001 Barry was presented "A Westfield Legend Award" acknowledging 20 years of superior retailing and in 2003 was awarded a Commonwealth Centenary Medal for distinguished achievement in business. In 2006 Electronic Interiors, a new division of Toombul Music specialising in the installation of Home Cinema, won a National CEDIA (Custom Electronic Design Installation Association) Award for Best Home Cinema installation under $50,000 an achievement that was repeated in 2007.

Barry has pioneered many music retail concepts, including the establishment of the Australian Music Retailers Association and the unique presentation of celebrities and superstars on the centre stage of a suburban shopping centre. This activity brought infinite joy to many thousands of music fans, provided him with an outstanding customer base and brought extraordinary customer loyalty and reputation to his business.

After 27 years of successful retailing however, the winds of change demanded reinvention. In July 2008 the business was closed at Toombul and the now successful Electronic Interiors division was relocated to Northgate and Toombul Music became an online business, servicing a large data base of clients. Both divisions are now separately owned and operated by Barry's son's.

This enabled Barry to concentrate on his passion for writing and speaking and to share his business skills and experience with others. He is the author of three best selling business books  A Little Bull goes a long way (2001),  My little book of Bull (2003) and The Bullseye Principle (2006), and today is one of the country's most capable business presenters sharing his vast retail experiences to local and international conference audiences.

To further utilise this experience Barry started his own record label BBMusic in 2008 and now has eight Music for Cruizin double albums released nationally through Sony Music.