Entertainment For Lively Minds
What happens to record shops when they die?
Posted by REdge on 15 February 2010 - 1:25pm.
Stumbled across this article on the BBC this morning: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/8507703.stm
I'm very lucky that my local record shop is Rough Trade East - it's alive & kicking. But I know many that have closed. The old approach to music retail is gone. That's life. But like many I miss the atmosphere & culture of the old days. I like the approach of Stuff Croydon. Bringing a bit more non-corporate life to retail in the high street.
So, Massive... my Monday lunch time questions is: What has happened to the old record shops you used to spend time in? Have they gone online, are they empty, have they become soemthing else?
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Mine are still going!
I'm pleased to say all the key record shops of my youth, Probe in Liverpool, Piccadilly Records, Eastern Bloc and Vinyl Exchange in Manchester, X Records in Bolton, Vibes in Bury are all still trading.
I'm sure no fortunes are being made but the shops that survive are making the most of the vinyl revival and collectors editions, the second hand market and combining shop sales with selling online, and the making the most of the fact that people still have a romantic attraction to these places that they don't have for newsagents or shoe shops.
Interestingly, I've been using a site called Bandcamp which is a site for bands and musicians to host and sell their music digitally. They've now added the facility for bands to sell CD and vinyl such is the demand for 'physical product', and have even started their own Vinyl label. The notion that everyone has gone mp3 is as overstated as 'no-one reads magazines anymore'.
Discount Discs in Southport
Now a garage.
A lugubrious man with a fag always on the go ran the second-hand vinyl and cassette shop.
He'd let you try before you bought and plonk the needle on each track.
Just recently visted Spillers Records in Cardiff -
..The Oldest Record Shop In The World no less, and it's still there, despite years of threat of closure.
It's outlived Our Price,Tower Records,Virgin,Zavvi,Fopp and Borders - and with any luck it may outlive HMV one day too.
Would love to hear David and Mark record a Word Podcast from this historic UK treasure .
(hint hint)
Beanos, Croydon RIP
record shops are totally fucked, more's the pity of it. move on and join me in the elephant's graveyard, next to 'little jonny jewell'
No They're not!!
Look, It's a bit like Dr Who. Very old fashioned, tired, had its day, replaced by something more modern. Get rid of it. Move on.
Huge groundswell of emotional attachment from its fans, and all it needed was a radical re-invention that nobody could have imagined would have worked so well.
You can ring the clanging chimes of doom all you like
The romance of 'The Record Shop' is a very powerful thing.
It's almost beyond the commerce and retail side, its a leisure activity and a hobby for people and not just anoraks and crate-diggers. Why, when I go to my local indie shop, are there people who are probably far to young to read The Word, browsing the racks and buying 7" singles, albums, CDs, T Shirts and whatever else? Cos they like it..they're fans of bands and they want to collect things to show for it. That desire doesn't go away.
You can build on that idea and build something new from it.
There are people out there with the energy and ideas to do just that and I count myself among those people. Check out my website (link on my profile page). We're working on it! Sure the days when you have a record shop on every high street are gone, but this particular story isn't over yet.