Saturday 28 May 2011

Campaign for real record shops


A while back I wrote of my joy at discovering a cafe in Kingston (the Eden Cafe, sadly now defunct). Fantastic though that experience was it was as nothing compared to finding, in the same town today, the Collectors Record Centre. A proper second hand record shop. It's been there twenty years apparently. I've been coming into Kingston for ages and had absolutely no idea. There ought to be a little directory or something.

8 comments:

  1. In true Goodnight Sweetheart tradition, do you have to walk down a little alleyway to find it? And does it have listening booths?

    Just for the record, do they have their own bags?

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  2. I just had to walk down a street I'd never bothered with before (must try it more often). No booths I'm afraid and the bags were just plain old boring white ones. Still, a prize find.

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  3. I must have been but yards from it hundreds of times and never knew: top tip Tog, ta.

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  4. Nice alliterative sign off there Davy. As the only one of our mutual friends who (to my knowledge) frequents Kingston I wondered if you knew about it. A reasonably hefty jazz section, though (speaking as a lay person) I couldn't comment on the quality.

    John - Bag News! On an expedition into the attics at my parents last weekend I found an old Ray's Jazz Shop bag, it's lovely. I'll tweet a picture of it later if I can get to grips with the technology.

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  5. I kept a Ray's bag for years - used to use it to transport LPs to parties, discos, weddings, etc. Gone now, like the old shop. And Ray too, sadly.

    Will heft myself Kingston way soon as I can.

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  6. Update: popped in there last Friday - what a place. I especially admired those packed shelves of painstakingly alphabetised singles behind his counter. And big bins of LPs for a quid. He could do with more soul, reggae and jazz in my humble, but I'll def be back.

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  7. Nice one Davy, I agree on the variety point. He's very strong on Herman's Hermits though isn't he?

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  8. Ha! I didn't register that! But yes, quite a lot of very mainstream things...but also a lorra love in the place, clearly, so bless him. I think his name is Keith.

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