It’s Record Store Day on Saturday. To celebrate we asked the author and photographer of London’s Record Shops to choose their favourites
The past 14 months have been brutal for all retailers, but independent record shops have had it tougher than most. Not only were shops closed for much of the past year but, since reopening, the lack of tourists and offices workers has kept footfall worryingly low.
Are their customers now resigned to shopping online? Has Discogs – the huge US record resale website – siphoned off those who used to love digging through crates of LPs and boxes of 45s? London favourites Rough Trade and Honest Jon’s found their online orders booming, but many other shops were left stranded. Neither Camden Town’s All Ages – London’s last punk rock record shop – nor longstanding Black music vendor Maestro Records in Peckham has an online presence. With no clubs open, dance music shops like Soho’s Phonica and Brixton’s Container Records have found a void of sorts to fill. Continue reading...
