Freehold, NJ | People are excited about this new record shop opening in Freehold, NJ: Vinyl records are making a big comeback right now. People are fed up with streaming services increasing their prices year after year while still making you sit through commercials, and also not paying artists for their music, and streaming music at a lower quality than it was recorded at. …This shop seems like it’s going to be really neat; it’s a small, little mom-and-pop record store that’s just getting ready to open in Freehold. They feature records from all sorts of different genres, and their merch is really fun-looking. On top of that, they buy old vinyls, cassettes, and CDs so if you’re looking to clear out some room in your attic or basement, Boro Record can probably help you out. Boro Records also runs a pretty detailed online shop, and they ship across the United States, so if you have an vinyl head in your life, this is a great local shop to check out.
Poole, UK | Red Rock Records thriving in Poole with young customers: Young people are keeping cassettes and video tapes alive, says a Poole record shop owner. After running Red Rock Records for nearly three decades, Wayne Hopkins said it is an “ever changing business” and that shops must adapt to survive. “It’s sink or swim, you have no choice, you just have to get on with it,” said Wayne. He took over the shop, just off Poole High Street on North Street, 27 years ago after the founder returned to the building trade. “In those days it was just a different world. “Now there’s online and ordering, but back then if it was a quiet day he would just be sat around bored.” Wayne said he started buying and selling his own items in the 1980s, adding “it was the glory days before the internet.”
Worcester, UK | How record shop reopened after owner’s six month Covid battle: The one-man band owner of a record shop has reopened after a six-month health battle which put him in hospital as he fights to get back into the groove. Mick Bishop reopened Market Hall Records in The Shambles in Worcester yesterday (Wednesday) for the first time since last November. He was forced to close the business for six months because he developed health problems which led to him being hospitalised three times. The 60-year-old said he was now looking forward to welcoming back his loyal customers but confessed he was ‘still suffering.’ He said: “I’ve just got to get some strength back. The main issue was long term Covid.” After becoming ill in November, Mr Bishop said he had been in Worcestershire Royal Hospital for stays of one, two and three weeks and had also suffered from bronchitis and other respiratory problems, delaying his return to the job he loves.
Tarpon Springs, FL | Stay Tuned Records in Tarpon Springs is a fun, funky tribute to glorious vinyl: Open 7 days a week, the shop is a perfect fit on eclectic Tarpon Avenue. Whether you love Sabrina Carpenter or dig Ozzy Osbourne, the new Stay Tuned Records in Tarpon Springs has what you’re grooving for. This charming tribute to glorious vinyl and delicious album art is open 7 days a week on fun, funky Tarpon Avenue in the downtown district. It’s owned by Doug Lanza and Aimee Brigmond, a young couple with music in their blood. “Whatever you like, we’re trying to get it for you,” says Doug. “We want punk in here. We want pop. We want jazz, blues, rock.” They also sell new and used vinyl and offer great, affordable deals. They have CDs, cassettes, T-shirts, and more.
Tokyo, JP | Tune into the rhythm of Tokyo’s most ambitious record shop: Vinyl Delivery Service in east Tokyo’s Skwat Kameari Art Centre is spinning a new narrative for the traditional record store model. Kameari, in Tokyo’s east, is not one of the city’s most well-known districts, but the Skwat Kameari Art Centre (SKAC), led by architect Keisuke Nakamura, is hoping to rewrite this narrative. At its heart is Vinyl Delivery Service (VDS), a record store founded by Rintaro Sekizuka, whose interest in music, sustainability and community is reshaping vinyl culture as a vehicle for local renewal and ecological consciousness. When Sekizuka opened VDS in its former central location at Shinjuku Gyoen in 2018, he envisioned a space that went beyond the traditional record store model. ‘I wanted to make something different. I wanted a store that was more free, with more crossing of cultures,’ he says.
Sheffield, UK | Sheffield retro: 14 pictures to bring back fond memories Sheffield’s great record shops over the years. Vinyl records may have seen a surge in popularity recently. But for many in Sheffield, there was a golden age of record shops, when the city had plenty of places selling vinyl and CD, where you could nip out and buy the latest single or LP from your favourite groups or singers. We have put together a gallery showing some of the most loved record shops over the ages, covering the 60s, 70s, 80s, 90s and even the early 2000s. They were just the place to buy the latest from the favourites, be that the Bay City Rollers, Blondie, or whoever else! Some of them have long closed—but one of them is still going strong in this era of digital downloads and streaming. We have dug out pictures of as many of the city’s iconic shops as we could.
Marquette, MI | Vinyl, trivia, and community: Geoff and Jon’s Record Show returns to Marquette Memorial Day weekend. A conversation with organizer Jon Teichman. If you’re looking to fill a gap in your music collection, you may want to head to the second floor of the Ore Dock Brewing Company this Memorial Day weekend. Geoff and Jon’s Record Show returns May 22–25, offering a four-day celebration of music, media, and community organized by the NMU Vinyl Record Club and longtime collectors Geoff Walker and Jon Teichman. “This is our twelfth year,” said Teichman, who recently stopped by Public Radio 90’s studios. “It’s a four-day, 50-plus-hour odyssey—vinyl records, CDs, cassette tapes, eight tracks, t-shirts, posters, stickers, postcards… a little bit of everything for everybody.” More than just a marketplace, the event has evolved into a multimedia experience.
Oasis / Time Flies reissue: 4LP vinyl with remastered audio. Oasis will reissue their 2009 best of Time Flies… 1994 – 2009 next month. The collection features all 26 singles and was originally released as a 2CD set, a 2/3CD+DVD package and a 5LP vinyl box set. The vinyl now commands very high prices on the secondary marketplace. The new reissues feature remastered audio and on vinyl the audio is squeezed onto four LPs, this time, not five. This will feature the ‘hidden’ track ‘Sunday Morning Call’ and it should be pointed out that this quadruple LP set is good value, priced similarly to the 2LP reissue of George Harrison’s Let It Roll best of (on some shops). The 4LP black vinyl box comes with a limited edition print. The other format is 2CD the original of which is still very easy to pick up cheaply, so all you’re really getting this time around is the remastered audio which is no longer in a jewel case.
Edinburgh, UK | Record companies are pushing their luck over rising prices: I was surprised to see at the start of the month that our mid-price CDs from Universal Music had gone up in price by over a third. Universal are our biggest supplier for the lower priced CDs responsible for everything from Nirvana to Taylor Swift. It turned out there had been one email informing shops about the price rise in April which I had missed and then rather oddly, given we are normally sent the same emails over and over again, it had not been mentioned again. My first thought was to check the prices from other shops as the increase meant that our CDs normally priced at £6 would now be £8. I needn’t have worried as their prices ranged from £9.99 to £10.99. What I have not been able to find out is why the prices have increased. With vinyl, the original increased pricing was blamed on a shortage of pressing plants and ever rising costs, but now that things have stabilised vinyl prices are still regularly sky high compared to the cost of manufacture.
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