Since I was about 7, my immediate thought upon waking up on a Saturday, or arriving in any new town or city is to go and find the nearest Record Shop. One of the nice side effects of the “Vinyl Revival” is that more Record Shops seem to be opening again, and generally speaking the ones that survived have had a bit of a new lease of life and feel a lot less dusty and desperate than they did 10 years ago. I’ve visited loads of fantastic shops recently and we’re spoilt for choice in the North West – but I’ve also visited some really bizarre and frustrating ones further afield which make me understand why people would rather shop online if that’s all they get to experience. I don’t wanna harm anyone’s business – and I know some people prefer the really grim and grotty side of crate digging, so I won’t name names (apart from Sister Ray) but you might recognise some of these.
1. The shop which is absolutely rammed with stock, so much so that some of it is piled vertically, preventing access to other stuff behind on shelves so it’s impossible to look through without causing a minor avalanche of Vinyl – and certain parts of the shop are completely inaccessible – but the vast majority appears to be total crap anyway, but who knows whats at the bottom of that pile..slowly being crushed.
2. The shop where the racks are packed so tight you have to pull a few out in order to flick through – but the stock is all really really good stuff which must all be being warped and damaged – and then you realise half the stock doesn’t have a price tag on it – and the owner makes up a price on the spot which will either be massively overpriced or underpriced – so when you find something you want you will probably have to barter, whether you like it or not (I don’t).
3. The shop where everything is priced but has a sign up saying that “prices are indicative” due to the fluctuation in vinyl values – and he will check each purchase online before selling it to you and you may be charged more?!
4. The shop full of absolute crap, bulked out with “reissues” which are actually badly made Vinyl Bootlegs of rare albums – typically 90s things like ‘Nevermind’ or ‘Definitely Maybe’, or incredibly rare 60s and 70s on multi-coloured vinyl with badly reproduced sleeves from a jpeg file.
5. The shop that puts a Photocopy of the sleeve in the rack rather than the actual sleeve – (they have a Photocopier on the shop floor for that purpose) and they never offer to show you said item or inspect it before buying. I’ll name that one because they’re big enough to be named and shamed and the staff aren’t exactly a laugh a minute- Sister Ray in London’s increasingly boring Soho.
So having Record Shops back is great – but the bad ones I think are in danger of derailing things somewhat as unless you’re the type that likes to don a pair of knee pads and breathing apparatus to find the gems in amongst the teetering pile of Cliff Richard LPs, these are the things that put people off visiting retail shops and send them scurrying back to Tax Dodgers. Be interested to hear others experiences, good or bad.
That one London shop Back Then with a big NO ARGUING sign on the wall. I had no idea why it was there until I asked for an offer on my mint vinyl Tangerine Dream album (the Kaleidoscope one). The sneering yob behind the counter took it from its inner sleeve, getting his fingers all over the grooves, and pronounced it a bootleg copy. Which it wasn’t; and back then as I far as I know there were none. I immediately understood the need for the sign.
Our local record shop went under just before the vinyl upswing could have saved it, but the dear owner, who is still a good friend, had a completely different attitude. The shop was your archetypal friendly record shop – more of a coffee bar and meeting place which just happened to have some records there which, yerknow, you could look through if inclined, and I used to joke with him that he had not a retailer bone in his body. He would actively talk you out of buying things if he thought they were crap or allow you you to return things sometimes if you didn’t like them. How he kept going was a mystery, but I guess he had enough regular customers who would insist he took money from time to time. I do miss the place dreadfully.
I used to know a shop which had a great owner similar (same?) to the one you desribe @NigelT. He was great, loved music and is still a friend. Forced to shut because of too high rent, maybe if the LP revival had begun earlier…who knows.
Regarding no. 1. This is the worst I know. The write up here is generous. It really is a smelly, extraordinarily messy place where if you ever do find a record you might want to own, you will find that a) it’s in terrible condition and b) it is overpriced.
https://noisey.vice.com/en_ca/article/mggj7n/brian-lipsin-is-kingston-ontarios-anarchist-record-shop-owner
There’s a newly opened store in this town which is utterly terrible. The owner previously had a stall situated in our indoor market, specialising in quack alternative medicines and similar tat. He then started to sell Crosley style groove-gougers, stocking about a dozen different models. Then, once he’d relocated to a larger stall, started selling records too. No CDs, DVDs etc, just records, and a bizarre mix of re-issues plus a few current titles. And I mean a bizarre selection of re-issues – Brothers In Arms, some Rick Springfield albums, several Simon & Garfunkel titles, an out-of-copyright Drifters compilation, loads of Country titles, several crooners and so on. It was as if the record buying decisions were being made by a madman.
He’s now moved to a shop across town. Most of the floor space is taken up by the Crosley players, and some Ed Sheeran t-shirts. The records are now displayed in a fairly small rack, but displayed side-ways on with the spine facing outwards, something I’ve never seen anywhere else. The sign above the door carries the strap-line “For The Best Sound”. I honestly can’t see him lasting beyond Christmas.
Since you ‘about 7’, how did you manage to get your little hands to the back of the record racks Doc? I know you are a big fella but… only kidding, nice post, thanks.
From about the same age I used to buy 2nd hand singles for 25p each at a local electrical spares and repairs shop. They were kept in a wide wooden unit that stretched back about three feet, and of course set at adult height. The guy used to get me a chair to stand on so I could reach everything. I’d browse for ages, narrowing down my choices in order to spend my pennies as wisely as possible.
*sighs*
Didn’t need to, Woolworths top 40 singles were laid out in order behind the counter and you just picked the number you wanted. Ah happy days. P.s. I’m a little slimmer these days Baron!
This is a comment of two opposites.
First the absolutely unique ‘Hairy Records’ once on Bold Street, Liverpool. It only opened when the owner wasn’t in the pub. I used to call in on the odd occasion when it was actually open. The last time was a few years back where I met up with several AWers prior to a Mingle, whatever happened to those great meet-ups? Anyhow we were all sifting through and buying several LPs in this dank place when the owner shouts out “that’s it I’m shutting the fucking shop bring your stuff to the till”. What a bloody nutter, granted he sold a few LPs but could have sold many more.
That was the last time I was in ‘Hairy’, I wonder what happened to the stock, I’ll give the guy his due the albums were well ordered and categorise, I could always find what I was looking for if it was in stock.
Second – The complete opposite to ‘Hairy’, ‘Quicksilver Records’ in Southport. I was actually introduced to this shop by one of the guys I used to support out in the community who also loved his music. This shop is owned by Steve a friendly and music loving guy. He stocks Rock, Prog, 60’s, 70’s classic, new and used CDs/LPs, you won’t find any Cliff, Wham or Neil Diamond stuff. Steve will also buy or trade. This is a very small shop, no room for a cafe but if you love the music described you’ll love this shop.
Yep Hairy was…a bit hairy. The stock was just cherry picked and sold off to other local dealers. There a 3 new shops in Liverpool since it closed – Dig Vinyl, Cafe Pop and a place below a cafe called 81 Renshaw. The Jacaranda bar was sells a bit of vinyl as well.
Been to Quicksilver a couple of times and always picked something up. Good little selection, very reasonable prices and a friendly guy at the counter. There are some bargain bin crates under the racks where you may well find some Wham or Cliff if that’s yer thang.
I’ve been in Dig a few times but not the others. It’s a nice place, I’ve always picked some LPs up in there. I reckon I paid more than I should but the young guys running it I felt sorry for to have knocked the price down.
Quicksilver, I doubt you’ll find any of that stuff in those bargain bin crates, he (Steve) would never allow ’em through the door!
Edit: I’m hoping he’ll take some Smiths original LPs through the door on my next visit!
I think I just put the 150 quid worth of records I had picked out from the racks back in and walked out of Hairy that time. Bloke was a fucking idiot
Another grotty record shop, this one appeared about thirty years ago. The shop initially sold fruit and vegetables, but due to competition decided to branch out into selling second-hand records, with the two side-by-side for a while. The first batch of records being a huge stash of ex-jukebox singles, sourced from a local jukebox operator.
Once the fruit and veg disappeared, in came several racks of LPs, acquired mainly in job lots from who-knows-where. Pricing came courtesy of several old copies of Record Collector magazine, with everything not listed priced seemingly random. With the shop being fairly small, there wasn’t much room for much more than an A-Z section of albums, and another for singles. Even so, things were badly filed, and badly priced, with some utter junk on sale.
There were two owners, the un-named chap who ran the fruit and veg business, and Ken, a dodgy wheeler-dealer with little knowledge of music other than Rumours and Bat Out Of Hell.
Ken soon moved out on his own to a larger shop a few doors away, taking all the stock with him. Now that Ken ran the shop alone, it seemed to get even worse, even though the Record Collector Price Guide had now been published.
Ken’s problem was that he couldn’t understand the price guide. Often modern re-issues of old albums would be charged at the going rate for original copies, even if they still carried a modern Woolworth’s price ticket on the cover. Other times rare singles would be offered for 50p as he had no idea as to what they were and couldn’t be bothered to look them up. Filing was atrocious – for example every soul album would be dumped in a section marked Motown, and a single by jazzers Morrissey Mullen was filed with the ex-jukebox single from The Smiths. He also had rack of cassettes – the majority being those awful pirate copies from somewhere in the Middle East that sounded terrible.
But the worst was his rack of rarities which were nothing of the sort. The daftest had to be a signed live album by some minor Merseybeat era act (I forget which one) – the album was from their later cabaret years, and most likely every copy ever sold would have been signed. Others were simply bog standard K-Tel compilations from several years ago, and other such rubbish.
A coffee shop that I occasionally visit when I’m on business recently sprouted several boxes of vinyl, along with some previously enjoyed books. Discs with covers in tatters, scratched to buggery and nothing below $10.
Yes – many’s the time I have been tempted by a small box of records in the corner of an otherwise uninteresting shop. Beaten up old copies of shit records by Cliff and Berni Flint with ridiculous price tags that will nevertheless be snapped up by the kind of people that do “home staging” and want to find a retro “old school” record player and have it placed, poncily and precariously on a nautical-themed wooden chest in the corner of a pretend-teenager’s room with records scattered in a perfect arc on the clean-as-you-like fluffy rug. Or it’s put in a stupid, pointless box room next to a small fridge (a “beer fridge”), facing a poster of The Stig. There’s a broken flat computer monitor on the desk, which jostles for space with a baseball mitt for some fucking reason. They call this 8′ by 10′ tomb of despondency a “man cave”. Bastards.
Don’t you just hate the way some people insist on showing you they know how to spell Berni Flint?
It’s a way of showing respect. And I mean that most sincerely.
I feel so culturally deprived when `I read such ironically sophisticated cultural critique as this. Oh please can I be you?
Be my guest. Careful though, I have baggage.
I miss Vibes in Bury. When I worked in the town 30 years ago I would visit daily at lunchtime to see what new offers they had. As a chart return shop they would receive all manner of special releases and promos that they would sell on cheaply. All singles were marked down once they exited the charts or bundled together as “10 for £1”. Until they closed there was always a section for Prog releases.
In my hometown there has been a shop around for years that adopts the attitude of a pile-the-crap-high market trader. It shall remain nameless but I will simply call it Z Records.
It mixes expensive new stock with similarly priced secondhand purchases or stuff he buys at car boot sales, has special offers that only apply if the owner feels like honouring them and don’t forget to check your change before you put it away. I was duped out of £5 on my last visit and it was definitely my last visit.
I recall discovering such a chart return shop back in the late 1980s, located in a nearby small market town. The shop was also the town’s only electrical goods dealer, with the record shop occupying about a third of the building.
Every current major single release was available, usually in countless variations. There was also a huge rack of ex-chart hit 7″ singles, containing many more hundreds of oddities – picture discs, coloured vinyl, bundled posters and badges. There were even singles that came in a special wallet sleeve aimed at holding several different variants which were to be released in future weeks. Far different from the singles rack in our local Woolies, which just had the plain 7″ versions in stock, often without a picture sleeve.
When I next visited the shop some time later, the chart compilers had changed the rules regarding chart eligibility, limiting the number of variants per single to a more manageable four. Naturally there were far fewer 7″ singles on display.
They were great if you were in the know. I used to call in a small shop in Darwen and once bought an Elvis Costello 7″ single that came with a free copy of the Get Happy! LP.
Z Records, X marks the spot.
Aw I miss Vibes. They used to get my lunch money in the late 80s -and I took full advantage of the ‘special deals’ the Record Company Reps were obviously giving them to get some chart action. I was fond of Save Records in the market too, but that has gone now too so it’s just HMV in Bury. Aw I really like “Z Records” (pretty sure I know where you mean!)- been going there for decades and I reckon about 20% of my collection probably came from there.
You will be familiar with his “buy 5 CDs and get them all half price”.
Yeah…after he pushes the prices up to £14.99 and above. Then you get to the counter and he says the offer does not apply to releases for the current year. You point out they are all releases from years ago but he then says it also applies to those he added to his stock this year.
Vibes was my competition when I worked for the man of Our Price in the early 90’s. Used to really enjoy my visits to see what the competition were up to!
It had a sister shop too – called Muse, which was a in the indoor precinct bit. Remember that? Never quite figured out what the difference was although I think Muse was supposed to be more upmarket and mainly albums, CDs and tapes rather than singles and 12″s.
My memory tells me it was Muze. Sold more dance & reduced price stuff. It became their mail order outlet when the shop closed.
Weird. My shop WAS in the indoor bit but I don’t recall Muse/Muze at all. I guess it was the 90’s….if you can remember it you weren’t there!
I noticed a n apparently new second hand vinyl shop on the first floor (hence easy to miss) in a popular street in Belfast recently. I browsed and went to pay for an LP and a book. The book was priced in pencil inside. The berk at the till said, ‘Ah, the owner doesn’t want to sell this’. ‘But it was over there, racked out for sale…’ ‘Yes, but he doesn’t want to sell it….’ Somebody in that shop is an idiot – either the owner or the guy on the till that day. Don’t want to sell something? It’s easy – take it off the shelves.
Or it might be put back on the shelf with a higher price, still in pencil.
I fully expect to go back in a week or two and see it on the shelf again.
I knew a secondhand bookshop that regularly did that, but then most secondhand bookshops are odd in some way. I suspect that a critical mass of secondhand books can tip an owner over the edge.
Indeed. There seems to be a law in Sussex that second hand book shops are run by conspicuously well-spoken but disheveled middle-aged men. Perhaps in the way Victorian younger sons had to join the clergy or the armed forces as there was nothing for them to inherit, so the upper middle class go into the book trade.
That’s certainly true of Lewes. Not that I mind.
Were you a Lewes man, Mike? My home town, so if you were I can picture you as one of the longhair hippies in the Lewes Arms, when I was sneaking in underage. Happy daze.
No, my mother moved there from Southend to be near my sisters after my dad died. Good town to potter around in, though it gets a bit up itself occasionally. Good town to drink in too.
I’m originally from Newhaven and started my working life in Woolies on Cliffe High Street. One of my jobs was to change the wicks on the gas lamps and keep them running. It meant that we were able to stay open during the various industrial actions that saw power cuts at that time (and cash tills could be operated maually when the power went, by people who could add and subtract – don’t get me started…)
Newhaven! Happy days in the flat above the bait shop. Or one, anyway.
Woolies in the Cliffe, down by the cinema, closed for decades. And what was the name of the ironmonger who sold loads of seeds and garden produce. Was it Elphicks?
Where Victor Value was is now a trendy brewery tap for the ever excellent Harvey’s brewery. And Bill’s, now a national name in trendy restaurants, started life tucked in next door to Caffyns garage.
God, I must go back there some time.
The Pells is calling me.
“Prices are indicative”
Only ever happened to me once and that was at a record fair, it was a Fall LP, can’t recall which one, priced at £10. “Oh I’ve priced that up wrong it should be £20”
“OK, I’ll not bother” (I’m not a big fan)
“I can do it for £17”
“No thanks”
“£15”
“It’s ok thanks, I’m not that bothered”
“Oh go on then £10”
I walked away.
Good for you! I’m tempted to name and shame the shop in question because I think it’s bloody outrageous – and quite possibly contravenes trading standards surely? Suffice to say – I didn’t buy anything from said shop and didn’t spend as long as I would have done as I didn’t fancy that awkward moment at the counter when he decided what the price should be.
Price labels are technically only an “invitation to trade”, and not a formal contract, that’s to protect shops from being forced to sell (say) TVs that might have been mistakenly (or even maliciously) priced at £1 instead of £100, at the lower price. That said, virtually all large shops will honour a sticker price, as it’s not worth their time/reputation to fight it. Unfortunately, smaller shops can game the system by underpricing items to get punters interested, then haggle upwards…
99 times out of a hundred I simply walk away from scenarios like that, as it’s a demonstration of bad faith that spoils my shopping experience, but a few years ago in Valencia one shop got me on a bad day and I stood my ground for an triple CD clearly marked at 5 euros, which the shopkeeper said should have been 20. His wife ended up stepping in to let it go, as it was clearly putting off other punters in the store…
An invitation to trade….? I had no idea. What liberal times we live in!
At risk of being accused of legal pedantry, (but that is the point of the civil courts, is it not?) I believe the correct term is “invitation to treat”.
This was covered in some detail in the “gay wedding cake” thread a while back.
A friend just sent me this: an interactive map of (hopefully) every record shop in the world.
http://www.openculture.com/2017/11/an-interactive-map-of-every-vinyl-record-shop-in-the-world.html
An ambitious project! 30 years ago it would have been mission impossible.