Whatever Happened to Record Shops?

Ive just looked in the a to z and tracked it down as Release the Groove on Denman Street - pretty sure thats the one. its a bit off the beaten track, but great service in there, and quality stock. I hope it still exists...

release the groove, that's the one. dead good shop, fantastic people and damned good music

See thread re: 'Pirating Music: Is It Stealing?'

website is dead - not a good sign. Yeah, the couple of times i went in there the main guy, pretty sure his name was JP, properly talked me through all the stock in the shop - made me feel welcome, and guess what, got me to part with more money than i ought to have! But thats the sign of a nice shop - real interaction with music loving staff. The other guy who worked there was cool too...


Any idea if its still running Paulie?

wish it was, i used to enjoy my interactions with the staff but it doesn't happen no more, the interweb won

I'm convinced they based this scene from Human Traffic on it:

All of us serious vinyl pushers used to hustle like that, push up the dial to plus 8, whack up the bass

'yeh Tongy dropped it, Friday night....'

That's Vinyl Junkies on betwick St. JP is the manager.

all about edgeworld though

Just got a message from the author of the book Graham Jones today that theres a feature on Last Shop Standing on BBC1

Sky channel 975 at 7.30pm on Mon 1st Feb.

Or from Tuesday the 2nd Feb on the BBC iplayer. It will be on here for a week.

www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer

Search for Inside Out North East

he's the nicest guy, and its bound to be a fun feature, so check it if you can!

IIRC they'd been bought out by WH Shit by then, which was pretty much a death sentence for any town which had a WHS with record dept and an Our Price, as the Our Price often got closed down.

Irrelevant.

Will definitely have a look at this.

I was just trying to recall how many record shops disappeared in SW11 between me leaving school there in '78 and the mid 80s, when I returned there for a bit.

Reading's Records on Lavender Hill.
Citicenta Records on St. John's Road
Twist 'n' Shout Records on Battersea High Street.
Raven Records on Northcote Road

Only one I can think of that survived beyond then and into the new millennium was Dub Vendor.

I'm about a third of the way through it at the moment, as he's doing a tour of the country. It's quite interesting, although he's not the most gripping writer.

Out of the chain stores am I right in thinking HMV is the only one left?

I reckon so, unless you count Fopp, but there's only about 5 of those left and HMV own them anyway.

Should have followed this warning, went into Lillywhites last weekend, wtf happened there. Can't believed this used to be the same place I remember. Sad.

In today's Independent - looks like another stalwart of Berwick Street, Vinyl Junkies, will be closing soon

"The revolution that killed Soho's record shops"
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/u...n-that-killed-sohos-record-shops-1971342.html

thats about it really....

That's really sad, just about the only record shop I still frequent.

I'm still very much in love with Black Cat in Taunton, which is my local place. I got the new Gil Scott-Heron last week from him, and I'll check out tomorrow if he's got Steve Mason's solo album. There're some quite good places in Yeovil, Bridgwater and Glasto, but I reckon the best in Somerset is the excellent Raves From The Grave in Frome. Frome's the last place you'd expect it, but they have a truly stunning selection there.

whereabouts in Frome? I might have to take a Ganda!

Down Cheap Street (yes, that is its real name). In the town centre, it's a pedestrianised lane with a gutter of flowing water going down the centre. Quite quaint. They've got a vinyl shop and a CD shop a couple of doors apart. Schedule a couple of hours to root through all the racks.

pelicanneck in manchester used to be good. shame.

I went to a record fair just along from my house yesterday, and I think I managed to impress one stallholder with the range of stuff I got from him; M.I.A, This Mortal Coil and Yabby U, all of which I'd been looking for for a while. I got some good stuff off them before when they visited too, although looking round at the stallholders and the other customers, I think I was the only one still to see 40 and no women were present.

Wyld Pitch in Soho appears to have shut - thats the last hip hop shop gone. TBH it was a bit of weird place, but still...

Also was in Dub Vendor (clapham) for the first time in a long time, now reduced to a third of the shop floor, with a cafe in the front (may have been like this for a while now...) - the Notting Hill branch closed a few years back now

I can't bring myself to go in there any more, it's a shadow of its normal self, especially since record production in Jamaica ceased last year. The last batch of singles pressed in JA was spring last year, although I hear a new rhythm has just seen a release on 7", not seen it yet. JA record industry taking its dying gasps

do you shop in brixton ringo? whats your take on Blacker Dread, Supertone, Selectas etc?