TALKING SHOP
FOR THE RECORD
In our new, regular Talking Shop feature, we visit local businesses that add colour and creativity to our city. Here, we roam around The Record Shop on Inverness Place Photography and words by Sin Mei Lam
A
vinyl and CD collector’s dream, The Record Shop in Roath is to music fans what sweet shops are to kids. Owner Paul took over the operation of the business from his wife, Pat, and the store, which literally groans with records, has been established for over 30 years. Pat originally worked for another record shop in Cardiff but she later started her own – Hippo Records, on Albany Road – which used to sell current music, but as chain record stores such as HMV became popular, her business was unable to directly compete. Pat switched up her business model to selling second-hand vinyls, CDs, tapes and VHSs. As rent started to increase on Albany Road, and the current space became available, Pat took the opportunity to move the business to their current premises on Inverness Place and rebrand it as The Record Shop.
36 I CARDIFF LIFE I www.mediaclash.co.uk
To say The Record Shop is full of character would be an understatement, what with its postercollaged ceiling, disc-decked walls, and there is a gargantuan variety of music-related products here, thousands of items for customers to choose from. Paul says one of his customers even travels from Japan just to visit the store, and you’ll find the occasional rock star rifling through the racks here, too. The quality of sound from a vinyl is thought to be far superior than that of a CD as it records all the details from a piece of music while CDs compress it. Paul says that vinyls have always been in demand and now the younger generation have come to appreciate them as much as the previous generations did. Paul says crate-digging customers would spend hours in the store; he would often hear them say things like, “This is the song that I heard when I
met my wife” or “This is the first album that I ever bought”. Itʼs as if time would stand still as they walk down their own memory lanes. A difficulty faced by The Record Shop in recent times is that supermarkets have started selling reissue vinyls as the market grows. But Paul says you can pick up original, vintage copies at his store for much less than the supermarkets sell them. You can own a piece of history, support a small business as well as shop more sustainably. We must champion the individuality and celebrate the independence of our community. Local businesses are the heart and soul of our city and we should try to support them in any way that we can so that they are here to be enjoyed by generations to come. With thanks to Cardiff-based photographer and blogger Sin Mei Lam; www.cardifflocal.co; @cardifflocal
