Record shop

Ireland's largest record shop, Tower Records in Dublin, Nov. 2015

A record shop in The Hague, Netherlands

A stand-alone record shop in Houston, Texas

Record shops also hosted musical performances: Magnapop are pictured here playing at an American store in 1994, with flyers for their album Hot Boxing visible in the background

A record shop or record store is a retail outlet that sells recorded music. In the late 19th century and the early 20th century, record shops only sold gramophone records, but over the 20th century, record shops sold the new formats that were developed, such as eight track tapes, compact cassettes and compact discs. In 2015, record stores sell CDs, vinyl records and, in some cases DVDs of movies, TV shows and music concerts. Some record stores also sell music-related items such as posters of bands or singers. Even in the heyday of the CD during the 1990s, people in English-speaking countries still used the term "record shop" to describe a shop selling sound recordings such as CDs. During much of the 20th century, record stores only sold records, until the availability of tape-based recordings and then, in the late 1980s, CDs.

Prior to the 2000s, more record shops were privately run, independent businesses, meaning that prices could differ from town to town and store to store. In the 2000s, record shops are largely chain-owned and thus prices are fairly similar in different towns. In the United Kingdom the national chain style of selling records and tapes developed with Our Price, itself originally a small independent business founded in the early 1970s that expanded nationwide.

Current major chains around the world include HMV, Fopp, Rough Trade, Free Record Shop, Virgin Megastores, Tower Records, FYE, Sam Goody, Velvet Music, Plato, Amoeba Music and Rasputin Music. Traditional record stores (chain or independent) are still suffering from mail order and Internet selling, as well as supermarkets and box stores selling recorded music at prices way below the recommended dealer price as a loss leader, thus devaluing the product to a damaging degree. In the 2000s, digital downloads and streaming, both illegal and legal, have reduced sales of CDs. The increase in sales of vinyl records in the 2000s has provided an opportunity for growth in some sectors. The flagship HMV store at 363 Oxford Street, London, for example, has a whole department for new vinyl LPs and singles.

History

Spillers Records in Cardiff, Wales, founded in 1894 by Henry Spiller, is reputed to be the oldest record shop in the world. It originally specialised in the sale of phonographs, cylinders and shellac discs. Despite the recent reemergence of some major chains around the world, the above factors have caused all major chains in the UK and North America to close or downsize in recent years. Our Price, Zavvi, The Wherehouse, Andys Records, Music and Video Club and Media Play have ceased trading. Virgin has closed all stores in America and Europe. Tower Records has closed all stores in North America. Rough Trade is, however, currently expanding, with two shops in London, one in Cambridge, one Megastore in New York and plans to further expand. The only record shop chains in Europe are now HMV (UK, Ireland), Tower Records (Ireland), Free Record shop (Luxembourg: complete stores, Netherlands: shop-in shop), Velvet Music, Plato, (both Netherlands) and Golden Discs (Ireland). Record shop chains still present in North America include HMV (Canada), FYE, Sam Goody and Rough Trade (both USA). Outside of Europe and North America, the current record store chains include Virgin Megastores, HMV and Tower Records.

HMV in Oxford Street, London, England claims to be the world's largest record shop. The store was originally opened in 1921 by the composer Sir Edward Elgar and has four floors of CDs, LPs, singles and DVDs. The revamped store was reopened in 2013 attended by many of the world's biggest stars including Paul McCartney, Robbie Williams and Elton John. The largest record shop in Ireland is Tower Records in Dublin, the largest in Asia is Tower Records, Shibuya Tokio, and the largest in the USA is Amoeba Records in Los Angeles. The largest record shop in the Nordic countries is Bengans in Goteborg, Sweden, which opened in 1974.

In some countries, electronics stores and department store chains have very large, comprehensive CD departments. Some also sell vinyl records. These include Saturn, Media Markt and FNAC (Europe), Dixons / Vroom & Dreesman (Netherlands), and Corte Inglés (Spain). Media Markt in Cologne, Germany claims to now have the world's largest selection of records.

Record stores played a vital role in African American communities for many decades. In the 1960s and 1970s, between 500 and 1,000 black-owned record stores operated in the American South, and probably twice as many in the United States as a whole. African American entrepreneurs embraced record stores as key vehicles for economic empowerment and critical public spaces for black consumers at a time that many black-owned businesses were closing amid desegregation.

Used market

In addition to shops that sell new products, many record shops specialize in second hand, vintage or used collectible records, which they purchase from the public or other dealers, and sell for a profit. Some used record stores also sell used CDs and DVD movies. It is not uncommon for such shops to contain several items priced in the hundreds or thousands of US dollars (or local equivalent) due to their rarity, as well as items that are fairly common for much less. This type of record shop has also faced fierce competition from Internet sites like eBay, where people can sell their own records and avoid "the middle man". Some pawnshops sell used CDs.

Independent stores

Rinehart's Music & Video in Kirksville, Missouri holds the title of oldest record store in America. They have been selling music recordings since 1897, when Edwin S. Rinehart started selling wax cylinders and Edison Phonographs. The store remains in the family in the 2000s. In the 2000s, the store began selling DVD movies and video games to stay commercially viable.

Independent record store numbers are dwindling with many major cities limited to just a handful of stores. For example, Plugd Records in Cork is the only independent store left in Ireland's second largest city. In the U.S. however, Specialty Record Store Business is booming with hundreds opening from 2013-2015. The County of Los Angeles currently has more Independent record stores than any other county in America with over 50 stores ranging from Amoeba Music in Hollywood (which bills itself as the "world's largest independent record store") to The Record Parlour, the only record store where patrons can purchase, produce and perform music.

Further Reading

• Joshua Clark Davis, "For the Records: How African American Consumers and Music Retailers Created Commercial Public Space in the 1960s and 1970s South," Southern Cultures, Winter 2011

See also

• Online music store
• Record Store Day
• Worldwide record store directory