Nuneaton, UK | Former Nuneaton beauty salon taken over by very different business: A former Nuneaton beauty salon has been given very different future – as a record shop. For almost a decade Beauty and Co was based on Church Road. The salon closed but a new business has opened up in the building, which is located opposite the Lamb and Flag pub. Reaper Records, according to its Link Tree page, is ‘bringing vinyl back from the dead‘. The independent store officially opened at the weekend and prides itself on buying and selling vinyl records and music memorabilia. The store is the new ‘HQ’ for the business, which also sells and buys on Instagram, eBay and Link Tree. Nuneaton is no stranger to playing home to independent record stores. For years, generations shopped in What Records in the town centre.
Columbia, SC | This legendary Columbia record shop has debuted renovations and upgrades. Take a look. The legend has returned home. Papa Jazz Record Shoppe, a staple in Columbia’s Five Points neighborhood for more than four decades, has officially reopened its longtime storefront at 2014 Greene St. The return to that address comes after roughly five months of renovations to the space. Papa Jazz had been operating out of a temporary space at 747 Saluda Ave. since July while the remodeling was going on. The return to 2014 Greene St. was marked Tuesday by a ceremony at the store that was attended by shop owner Tim Smith and his staff, Columbia Mayor Daniel Rickenmann, City Councilman Will Brennan and a host of other city luminaries.
Washington, DC | Spin Time Records Has Opened a Physical Store: The Capitol Hill record store specializes in music from DC-area artists. Jon Lottman, who launched the virtual record store Spin Time Records in 2021, has opened a brick-and-mortar location to sell his well-curated selection of vinyl—a stock that heavily favors local musicians. Spin Time started as a pandemic-inspired career shift—Lottman used to work as a videographer and documentary filmmaker who focused on environmental issues. The idea was a way to combine the love he has for his hometown and his interest in record collecting. The Capitol Hill native says he believes that if record stores specialize in something, they bring a better experience to the customer. “People will ask, ‘Is this any good?’ If it’s in here, that means it’s at least pretty good,” he says. While the virtual business blossomed, Lottman spent years looking for a store location and jumping through bureaucratic hoops.
Dalston, UK | Vinyl Bitch: Dalston-based collective tackling turntablism inequality. …For the past year, Vinyl Bitch has been hosting monthly open decks at the queer venue Dalston Superstore on Kingsland High Street, but also workshops, record shop crawls and parties. Since they started, vinyl sales in the UK have hit the highest levels since 1990, and with over 15 record shops, their home borough Hackney is something of a hotspot for what’s now commonly referred to as the “vinyl revival”. Against this backdrop, Vinyl Bitch’s efforts to democratise vinyl DJ scene is riding the zeitgeist. “I think the timing of the resurgence of vinyl, and also the MeToo movement and kind of these continued discussions on making spaces more inclusive, and you know, FLINTA-focused spaces, I think just like… it’s time!” says founder Madison True, also known by her DJ alias MADDØG.
A pop icon, but also a pop idol in his youth, Frank Sinatra had the kids screaming. And one barometer of 20th century pop icon/idol status is that those on the list didn’t just cut records, they made movies. Bing Crosby, Frank, Elvis Presley, The Beatles (notably, the only band in the bunch), and Michael Jackson: they all interacted to varying extents with the film industry, as the careers of all but Jackson hit their high points in the pre-music video era (and Jackson was arguably the defining artist across the short heyday of music video).
Columbia, SC | Columbia celebrates the grand re-opening of Papa Jazz Record Shoppe: Papa Jazz Record Shoppe in Columbia is celebrating its grand re-opening with a ribbon-cutting ceremony at 2014 Greene Street. Five Points Association and owner of Papa Jazz Record Shoppe, Tim Smith, has owned the record store since 1982. The record store remains the last of several that once lined the city’s Five Points district. …Papa Jazz offers a wide selection of records across all music genres, providing 
Edinburgh, UK | 25-year record: Inside the Edinburgh hi-fi business embracing the vinyl revival and streaming: Twenty-five years is a very long time in the rapidly-changing world of audio. Back in 1999, compact discs and cassettes dominated the music consumption market, the vinyl record appeared to be in terminal decline, a minority of people were downloading tunes and the file-sharing start-up Napster had only just begun disrupting the status quo. Fast forward to the dying days of 2024 and digital streaming services such as Spotify, Apple Music and Tidal now account for well over four-fifths of our music consumption in the UK, the CD has almost gone the way of the dodo, despite talk of a mini revival, and the (original) Napster is but a faded memory. And, to the delight of those who still value the physical, the 12-inch long-player is 
Glasgow, UK | We visit Blitzkrieg record shop which has moved to a new premise across from the Barrowlands: From live music to rare records to special prints Blitzkrieg is an artistic hub in Glasgow’s East End. All of Glasgow’s independent record shops have adopted their own unique positioning in the structure of the city’s social fabric, each driven by a passion for analogue music, specialised genres and an ambition to immerse in community. Individually they are an expression of a person’s creative interests, reflected in design and stock, and because of the healthy offering there is a hub suitable to almost every taste. It is commonly believed that Glasgow punches above its weight when it comes to musical offering and the demand for these stores is proof of that. Along the Gallowgate, directly across from the Barrowland Ballroom is Blitzkrieg—recently relocated from a smaller premise on London Road. At its core 
Fullerton, CA | OC’s punk legacy lives on at Fullerton record store: Being a punkhead himself, William Evans, owner of Black Hole Records and guitarist of SoCal punk band Naughty Women, was looking for better ways to make a living while still being in the music industry. He had worked many different jobs throughout his life, at one point working in a newspaper mailroom, but he was always in bands and the world of music always found its way into his life. Evans figured working at a record store would help him fulfill his wishes. However, with many store owners he worked with being incompetent by his standards, he decided to use the connections he made during that time to open his own record store. Born out of the Orange County punk scene, Black Hole Records has been serving Fullerton’s community of individuals looking to escape mainstream media since 1986. The store originally got its name from the notorious Black Hole, a flophouse and hangout for punk and LGBTQIA+ youth that was also considered 
