Wakefield, UK | Getting Wakefield hooked as Vinyl revival heads for the city: A student is hoping to get Wakefield hooked on the vinyl revival by setting up a regular record fair in the city centre. Jason Firth, 30, is busy organising the first event for a week on Saturday in which thousands of LPs will on sale for music fans. If successful, he is hoping to make it a regular event, and hopes to introduce live bands to play during the fair in future. Physical album sales have nose dived in recent years thanks to the advent of digital downloads and has led to the loss of HMV on Kirkgate and more recently, That’s entertainment, in The Ridings. But vinyl records have undergone somewhat of a resurgence and Jason, who is originally from Altofts, is hoping to capitalise on the trend.
Salt Lake City, UT | After 40 years, Randy’s Record Shop is thriving in the vinyl revival: Walking through the doors at Randy’s Record Shop is like stepping into the past — back to a time when vinyl was king and CDs, let alone Spotify, didn’t exist. The modest-looking store at 157 E. Harvey Milk Blvd. (900 South) in Salt Lake City is stuffed with tens of thousands of records — albums, 45s, even some 78s. It’s staffed by people who are, if possible, even more enthusiastic about music than the customers, led by founder/owner Randy Stinson, who opened for business in October 1978. He credits the store with giving him focus after his service in Vietnam, where his brother had sent him the latest releases and homesick soldiers crowded around to hear them. He worried about closing in the 1980s: CDs were suddenly being sold everywhere, from new music shops to grocery stores, and Rhino Records stopped reissuing classic albums on records.
Toronto, CA | The secret resilience of Toronto’s video stores: Intent on weathering the digital storm, the city’s remaining stores are seeing customers come back. …Granted, the onslaught of digital content and rapid gentrification has cut deep into Toronto’s once-robust video store scene, knocking out places like Mirvish Village’s Suspect Video and Film Buff in Parkdale and Leslieville. Still, there are hopeful signs, like the re-opening of North York’s Videoflicks under new owner Billy Bougadis. Previously a Videoflicks customer, Bougadis built his own film collection until he had 25,000 titles packed into two storage lockers. When the longtime owners closed up shop after 37 years, he took the plunge into ownership. Bougadis says it’s “malarkey” that video stores aren’t necessary anymore, concluding that people crave being together to pick entertainment.
Manchester, UK | The world’s best record shops #128: Eastern Bloc, Manchester: Mancunians don’t need any encouragement to speak about their music heritage, but the city that brought us A Guy Called Gerald and New Order wouldn’t be the same without Eastern Bloc. Opened in 1985 by John Berry & Martin Price of 808 State, owned by Berry solely today, Eastern Bloc “was opened as a means to provide the people of Manchester with the new and exciting dance music emerging at the time,” says Eastern Bloc’s vinyl encyclopaedia Tom Houghton. Now, Eastern Bloc is part record store, part coffee shop and bar, and all-round Mancunian institution. Tough stuff from Tessela, dubbed out electronica, DnB, funk, soul and experimental fare are Eastern Bloc’s cornerstones.
