Tuesday, March 17, 2009

Record shop of horrors: Selectadisc closes

Not exactly first with the news on this one - apologies to Peter D who emailed me with the story at the end of last month and got stuck on the pending pile.

And it's not good news, either: Nottingham's Selectadisc has closed, taking with it the third most successful independent record shop in the country. And one of the best ones, although not a profitable store:

The store’s owner Phil Barton says the shop has been unprofitable for many years and he had no more money to put into the business.

“Everyone here has crawled across the field of broken glass to keep this open, but in the end it didn’t work,” he explains.

“I think it is one of the top three independent stores in Britain. But that doesn’t stop it being uneconomic. Everyone here is aware of tough things have been for the last two years.”

I have really fond memories of Selectadisc, a visit to which could always soothe the soul before embarking into the beer-soaked-carpets of hell that were Rock City; not least the day my friend spotted a copy of the Revolving Paint Dream album for a tenner there one day. Which was a steal, although I don't think the undervaluing could have contributed to the collapse of the store. This was a bit back in the past.

Music Week suggests there are now 305 indie stores left in the UK, which is better than I'd have guessed at, but a quarter down on the number last year.


5 comments:

Anonymous said...

RIP selectadisc, i used to frequent there as well back in my halcyon student days, how i miss dear nottz...

a sad day indeed for independent music

Anonymous said...

norock! youve started delaying comments until you approve them! RIP flaming in the norock comment section..

Anonymous said...

I might have a little cry about that. Selectadisc was "my" record shop (even if it was a forty minutes train journey away), and a huge chunk of my CDs are from there. I loved the handwritten recommendations, and the vigour with which staff swooped on a misplaced record. Of course, I haven't bought a CD in over a year...

Simon Hayes Budgen said...

@anonymous

Sorry about the moderation - it's solely to try and stop spam appearing (there were a couple of times when sixty or seventy spams in a row turned up). Rest assured, I'm only kicking out spam, though.

Maybe I'll try loosening the reins slightly and see if we can avoid the spammers...

Olive said...

The last if the great independant record shops in the East Midlands. Nottingham now has 2 HMV's, a Fopp (who are owned by HMV), and a Zavvi, which may already have been reopened by... HMV. Awesome.

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