Song, by Toad

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