SAVE OUR RECORD SHOPS: Rooster Records, Exeter
As part of our Save Our Record Shops feature, and with National Record Store Day coming up later this month, we’ve collected some info on some of the best record stores in the region…
Rooster Records, 98 Fore Street, Exeter, Devon, EX4 3HY
01392 272009 // www.vinylera.co.uk
Hey Jaimie, how long has your shop been open?
We’ve been open for nearly 15 years. Our first shop was in Taunton, Somerset but we sold it on when we expanded into Exeter in 2006.
Do you specialise in any particular kind of music?
Not really. We do a bit of everything from jazz to reggae, metal to folk, country to blues and soul to hip hop although I guess there’s a slight bias towards the sixties and seventies psychedelic and progressive rock kinda thang.
What has been the most memorable thing that has happened in the shop over the years?
That’s a tough one. Lots of great memories. I remember the day I was playing a CD by the Byrds when by pure coincidence Gene Parsons from the group walked through the door! He couldn’t believe it and neither could I!
How have the changes in the music industry (downloading etc) affected your shop?
We’ve seen a huge rise in the demand for vinyl over the past five years or so. CD sales are still fairly constant but I think that once people decide to download they often don’t require the same music on CD. But because people are born collectors they will often buy the vinyl in addition to the download to have something tangible. Our sales are still on an upward curve year on year so I guess it hasn’t really affected us.
Has your clientele or the music/products you sell changed since downloading became more popular?
Our clientele hasn’t really changed. Certain genres don’t sell as well on CD as they used to, like the indie stuff. I think the downloading has affected those areas because it’s primarily a younger market and they are the ones who are downloading and don’t have so much disposable income to spend on CDs. We stock a lot of imports and hard to find items on vinyl and CD which are more attractive to customers, as it’s not the sort of stuff they’ll generally find in HMV or think to download. There’s also the huge increase in brand new vinyl being pressed over the last few years. At the end of the day, downloading produces a compressed inferior sound and all you have are digits in your ipod. Convenient but not very exciting and it can’t compete with some of the lavish packages that are being pressed on high quality vinyl.
How have you tried to address the changes that you have witnessed in the industry – what are you doing that’s new?
We have a website (www.vinylera.co.uk) which deals solely in the sale of brand new vinyl and we also sell collectable vinyl and CDs on ebay and other sites. We are happy to embrace new technology and use it to our advantage rather than see it as sounding the death knell for record shops.
Where do you see things going in the next four or five years? Will you still be open as a shop?
There will always be people that want to buy physical music so I think that those record shops that are left will continue to flourish as long as they diversify and go with the changes. Rare and collectable vinyl seems to keep increasing in value and the resurgence in interest in vinyl as a whole can only be a positive note for the future. CD sales may drop off a bit more but the industry is making them more attractive and cheaper so I think they’ll be around for years yet. Long live the record shop!
