From Orkney to Brighton, independent stores are treasure troves for vinyl hunters and a great way to while away a holiday afternoon
I still remember the excitement of buying my first vinyl aged 11, Duane Eddy’s great 1962 single (Dance With the) Guitar Man, and that bug has been with me ever since. There’s nothing quite like the thrill of digging through the racks and finding that elusive wishlist record. When I retired, I made it my mission to visit as many record shops as I could across the globe, from Amsterdam to Warsaw, via Berlin, Budapest, Madrid, Paris, Stockholm and Vienna and even as far as Australia and New Zealand. But lately my focus has been on visiting every record shop across the UK – and to buy something at every stop.
Established shops close and new ones open on a regular basis and, according to the Entertainment Retailers Association (ERA), the number of independent record stores in the UK has reached a 10-year high. Last year there were 461, compared with 339 in 2014.
