Record Shops – Where From Here?
I’ve come across an awful lot of stuff of late that laments the demise of the small independent record shop. Well, whilst I agree that this is a crap thing – let’s face it, small local businesses crumbling in the face of the onslaught of massive conglomerates is pretty depressing in any industry – I am not sure if the local record shop is a victim of nasty wicked globalisation trends or if they simply aren’t viable businesses anymore.
Between online purchasing and bubblegum pop available in supermarkets, even the major retailers are not relying entirely on music and are instead moving towards a more general ‘entertainment retailer’ model, pushing DVD to the fore. Between digital on-demand movies, Amazon, Tesco’s and Oink (bad, bad online file sharing) what does the future really hold for HMV, for example? But that’s not really point of this post, which is to ask what the little guys can do.
Well, one of the most consistently successful smaller record shops on these shores – in fact the only one I know of – is Fopp. In fact, they’re so successful that you can’t really talk about them as a small business anymore, but how did they manage to go from a market stall in Glasgow 25 years ago, to five shops in 2000 to 30 just recently? And that’s before adding the 67 it has just acquired by buying out MusicZone.
I used to go into Fopp on Byres Road in Glasgow all the time and I can promise you, they had their target market absolutely nailed. Despite being a very small shop, it was hugely rare for them not to have what I came in for, although my taste back then included less truly obscure stuff than it does now. They have, however, successfully cemented a relationship with the ‘mainstream alternative’ type. They do sell a lot of chart stuff, but the stuff they display is generally much more alternative than any other shop. They do excellent deals on rarities and classics and have consistently low prices for new release stuff. And they let you return things you don’t like.
So far so obvious, to an extent, although perhaps this wouldn’t be quite as obvious as we think without Fopp there to serve as an example. Ultimately though, indie chart CDs are cheaper on the internet or just free if, like so many, you have no scruples about using naughty file-sharing sites. Worse, to have the kind of obscurities back catalogue to compete with the likes of Amazon, iTunes, or even just anyone with access to Google, would require a phenomenal warehouse.
Now, for Fopp, this is increasingly less of an issue as they grow – they can afford this kind of stock volume – but most can’t even come close. Fopp are also making forays into both mail order services and online digital downloads but how, if the point of your business is an actual shop, do you generate genuine footfall? Well Fopp generally have very well-designed shops – light, friendly and full of nice natural materials that differentiate them from the shiny media behemoths like Virgin and HMV. Most small record shops simply do not have this kind of attention to decor.
So, apart from the actual choice and number of records, how do they differentiate their store as an actual physical destination. Some have experimented with cafes and bars, although I have yet to see much evidence of this working so far. Some, like Andrew Tully of Avalanche Records in Edinburgh get involved in the local music community quite heavily, doing DJ sets and working with local record labels. Others, perhaps most famously Beggars Banquet, got into the record themselves.
Ultimately, this may be the way forward. Individual personalities are driving so much these days that maybe just being a shop is no longer enough. Maybe you need to become a ‘curator’ of music instead (fuck me, I hate that word) and organise small gigs, host club nights, have your personal taste strongly in evidence in the shop, write blogs, form connections with local radio stations and record labels. As long as you’re not dogmatic or perverse about it, your shop could become a visit to your personal world of music.
This sounds like a massive amount of work and energy doesn’t it, when I write it down like that. And who really knows if it would work? I mean, become too specialised and you’re buggered – too populist and you’ve lost your character. And in terms of sheer energy, could any one person really spread themselves that thinly? But at the end of the day I think there’s a very real possibility the small independent record shop might be no more than another doomed anachronism: you can get more, cheaper online, including access to knowledgeable chat and interaction; and unless you provide a friendly physical environment to come and poke around, with accompanying depth of back catalogue, you can easily lose the browsers too. So where does that leave you? Well I’m not sure, but maybe a plan like the one I mentioned might work. Maybe.
Willie Nelson – Mr Record Man
The Squirrel Nut Zippers – Bad Businessman
The Zincs – Finished in This Business
Yo La Tengo – Something to Do
Sid Vicious – My Way
Thoughtful words Mr. Toad. I dreamed of working for Fopp for many years, and indeed I did before going off to pursue one of my other dreams (teaching; better paid, though not given to giving good discounts to staff on music). They do know what they are doing, and though there are those who will grumble that they have lost their character, they are staffed by well-informed people who know their music and are passionate about it.
Although many independent shops may appear to be doomed, I like to think not, but there has to be enough (and it pains me to write this) business sense as well. i remember in Glasgow that there was another shop across the road from the Byres Rd one, the name of which escapes me, but it seemed to be full of crap, and closed a few years ago. I was gutted when Missing on Great Western Road closed though.
What Fopp and Avalanche in this beloved city of ours point out is that if you know your music and your market and have enough business sense to keep yourself above water you can keep going, and in Fopp’s case, growing.
Yeah, it’s possible to download stuff like that in this day and age, but to me, there’s just something far, far nicer about flicking through racks of vinyl than browsing in an online store. I can’t be the only one who still feels like this.
personally, one of my dreams has always been to own and run a shop that would be a mixture of record, book and coffee shop (no, nothing like Borders!). One day, one day…*sigh*
I know what you mean, Ed. I wrote this post and then sat back and tried to figure out if I was making even vaguely sensible business suggestions or just simply describing the kind of record shop I might secretly want to run.
Are you talking about Echo opposite Fopp? That might have been the one.
I still think the flicking through records (CDs in my case though) is a very relaxing experience, but very few independent record shops seem to actively cater to making that a experience as pleasant as possible.
It was Echo! Senior moment… ; )
Missing now has a small shop under the main Central Station railway bridge on Argyle Street – and it is more and more specialising in 2nd hand vinyl (I spent a lot of money in there about six weeks ago but picked up a few bargains).
Every one of us who does this blog malarkey must have at one time (or indeed still have) dreams of owning a record store.
I’m always disappointed to find anyone from Glasgow or Edinburgh who claims to be a music fan and yet doesn’t make Avalanche or Fopp the first point of call when buying CDs or vinyl.
It was pay-day today, so as usual it was a trip round to Avalanche and I ended up with 8 x 7″ singles, 1 new CD and three second-hand CDs of stuff that I’ve learned to like through blogging. I walked out feeling ten feet tall….
totally agree about the relaxing vibe looking thru racks of CDs..i was once in Saturn in Cologne and had never come across such a huge selection of world and european music anywhere…my ideal holiday would to be locked in there for 2weeks…in edinburgh i always make for Fopp and Avalanche and no saturday trip up town is complete without a look and usually a purchase. i find virgin and hmv really souless and also overwhelming in the sheer volume of chart material. Their sales are never up to much and I have found very few genuine bargains over the years. Fopp on the other hand have a huge selection of CDs DVDs and books at knock down prices, why just last weekend i bought ‘ray’ and ‘the dirty dozen’ both spanking new and only £3 a piece…there is a good shop now on leith walk called elvis shakespeare http://www.elvisshakespeare.com that are keeping up the tradition of a veritable treasure trove of goodies for anyone into finding lost nuggets.
my favorite thing about my local record shop is the used section. actually, any record shop’s used section is the place i head first. also, they buy back my cds and give me store credit, which is handy.
there used to be a fellow who worked there who introduced me to mr. bungle, and as it took my daughter and me a while to learn his name, we always referred to him as mr. bungle. sadly for us, he’s moved on to bigger and better things. : )
Well one of the reasons I wrote this post is that I find myself going into record shops far less than I used to and it worries me. If people who like them, such as myself, are going less, then what about the casual, indifferent punters.
Countrygrrl – I know Elvis Shakespeare, it’s an absolutely lovely place. Somewhere you can’t help but walk out of with new things.
I think record stores will be alright in the end as an institution, although many have and will be lost along the way.
But, just take a look at porn (not literally, unless you’re inclined). Completely free pretty much anywhere you click, or available very cheaply through paysites (so I’m told). Doesn’t seem to slow down adult bookstores. And apart from the obvious differences, it’s sort of the same customer in many ways – obsessive, extra cash, trades regularly, likes obscure stuff…
The legendary Rough Trade record shop in Covent Garden is going to close at the end of the month, because rents are just getting too high. So even the hippy haven of Neal’s Yard in Covent Garden is probably going to look like Reading soon. And even though RT is not going completely – they’re moving to a much bigger shop off Brick Lane – it’s still bloody annoying.
I don’t know, Liz. I’d like to think so, but I am unconvinced – businesses that size just don’t seem all that viable a lot of the time.
Oxfam are taking up a lot of the slack with excellent music shops, bookshops and vintage clothing, but they seem to rely on their charitable status to help them do this. If this is the way forward though, then it’s not a bad one.
Tim – Neal’s Yard was always going to price out something like Rough Trade, it’s such an exclusive postcode. I would hope that London is big enough that some of the less central locations can provide enough of a market to keep some of these places alive, whilst still being out of the way enough to keep rent manageable.
Banquet Records in Kingston (all that remains, I think, of the split between the shops and Beggar’s Banquet the record label) springs to mind, although that’s a bit too out of it. Nice little shop though.
[...] be missed, particularly on suspects by bloggers. Ironically there was a discussion recently over at Song By Toad on what makes a successful shop in today’s climate and FOPP was held up as a success [...]
[...] don’t know if the news that Fopp are shutting down makes my earlier post about small record shops complete nonsense or all the more poignant. It’s bloody shit, whatever it is. Bye Fopp, [...]