London, ON | Dream of owning a record shop? This owner is looking for his successor: Robert Charles-Dunne has been dealing in vinyl for more than 2 decades. Robert Charles-Dunne has sourced and sold the coolest, the newest and the most prized vinyl to countless Ontario music lovers for the last 23 years. Now, the owner of the Village Idiot in London, Ont., says it’s time to hang up the 45s and retire. The trouble is, Charles-Dunne wants to find a successor who loves the business and the music as much as he does. “When somebody comes up with a record in their hands and they’re kind of trembling a bit and saying, ‘Do you know how long I’ve been looking for this?’ There’s nothing sweeter,” Charles-Dunne said. His store isn’t big. In fact, it’s squeezed into a corner building behind a restaurant and a massage therapy clinic in the south-end of the city. But it’s a fixture and because of another, fictional record store, it earned a reputation with Canadians…
Huntsville, AL | This new Huntsville record store is small but awesome: Black Rose Records’ first day open was April 22, but owner Sean Hale has been working towards having his own store for at least 10 years. Whenever Hale, a longtime vinyl collector and a Florida native, would find a good deal on a cool record he’d buy it even if he already had a copy. For a while, he sold vinyl online via eBay and Discogs. Along the way, Hale got experience working at Gainesville’s Arrow’s Aim Records. In 2020, Hale and his wife, Sarah Carey, relocated to Huntsville after Carey, a genomicist, got a job at the HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology. At first, Hale worked at Gold Sprint Coffee. Looking to open a record store, Hale considered retail space in Five Points, but it was way overbudget there. Then a space opened up at Village Center, a U-shaped strip mall at 7914 Memorial Parkway S.W. in South Huntsville. Village Center was already home to a nifty array of local businesses…
Arlington, MA | Robbins Library in Arlington to begin selling vinyl records: Who doesn’t love a good record? The Robbins Library in Arlington has 3-thousand vinyl records for sale. It’s an eclectic mix, to say the least. Lovingly borrowed and returned to the Robbins Library in Arlington for decades, more than 3,000 vinyl albums are going on sale this weekend. “Over the years, as the rise of CDs came about, our vinyl collection got moved into storage. We needed. We only have so much room in the library for everything,” says Assistant library director Amanda Troha says it’s part of the natural evolution of the library. Jazz, classical, pop, and everything in between, volunteers with the Friends of the Library unboxed, cleaned, and priced each of the albums. “I think I think it took six evenings for three people and we gradually went through all of them,” says Andrew Fischer, one of the friends of the Library. There were some surprising finds, including the box sets of Keith Jarrett. Ten records in one box.
Bury, UK | The new Elvis-obsessed record shop on Bury Market selling old-school rock and indie favourites: A new record shop has opened on Bury Market selling old-school indie favourites – but according to its owners, nothing they have sells better than Elvis. The brilliantly-named Off The Record has been a fixture at the market for several years, first popping up as a stall in the market’s open area before moving into its very own permanent shop front earlier this year. Owners Bobby Horrocks and Angie Bessaad have a passion for music themselves and spend their free time scouring car boots and charity shops to build up their collection of 7, 10 and 12″ records. They also buy collections of records from others and tell us they often have people come into the store to do just that. In boxes at the front of the shop, you can pick up 7″ singles for as little as £1 each, whilst inside there are rows on rows of boxes housing albums for £6 a pop. Elsewhere, a vintage-looking old radiogram and radio set are tucked into a corner, surrounded by stacks of records on all sides, a landline, and a CD and tape casette player.
Reading, UK | Reading Vinyl Record Fair: UK’s Biggest Record Fair with 200 Tables to Take Place on May 29: The Rivermead Leisure Complex and Gym will host the UK’s biggest record fair. The Reading Vinyl Record Fair will feature 200 tables and is expected to attract a large number of visitors. The event is perfect for record enthusiasts and collectors looking to find rare and unique vinyl. Entry is £4, and the event runs from 9am to 3pm on the May bank holiday Monday. For more details, log on to: https://www.facebook.com/VinylRecordCollectorsFair
St. Catherine, JA | Vinyl Record Collectors weekend gets JTB support: Having seen the forward bookings for the 26th annual Memorial Weekend Sit-In being staged by the Vinyl Record Collectors Association (VRCA), it was only natural that the Jamaica Tourist Board (JTB) would put its marketing and promotions strength behind the event. Additionally, the JTB’s acting director of marketing, Peter Mullings sees the May 26-29 weekend as another opportunity to promote the island’s rich culture — a point he made during the event’s recent media launch at Jamaica Pegasus hotel in New Kingston. “Vinyl records have become a movement of cultural expression that bring people together, and that’s what this event will do,” Mullings said. “For the Jamaica Tourist Board, that augurs well for the promotion of one of our major pillars — music and musical experiences. The way we see it, people travel for music and culture, and this Memorial Weekend celebration that will be held in Jamaica will attract music aficionados, practitioners, and collectors alike,” he said.
Billboard’s New ‘Fan Pack’ Rules Means Longevity for Vinyl: For the past decade, vinyls have made a comeback for the ages for the music industry and fans alike. What once was considered an acquired taste has become a born-again staple continuing to grow. Diehard fans and even resellers are hawking record stores for new releases, with the colorful or special edition vinyls becoming as difficult as copping Jordan retros for retail. If you think I’m kidding, there’s literally an entire vinyl section on StockX. The numbers back up the hype as Billboard reported that US vinyl sales have grown for its 17th consecutive year. Just two years ago, vinyls outsold CDs for the first time in nearly three decades. MusicWeek that 2023 sales are up 15% year-to-year and vinyl are currently “at its highest level in units since 1990”. So it’s become clear that its taken the crown as the top-selling physical album form.
Phoenix, AZ | Bemused and a bit bereaved on behalf of the B side: Opinion: A great B side on a 45 rpm record was a way of learning the difference between something that DOES well and something that is DONE well. I was in a store that sells vinyl record albums this week and overheard two men talking. One had a few 45-rpm records in his hand and said to his friend, “Do you know what the B side to Creedence Clearwater Revival’s ‘Proud Mary’ was?” “No,” he friend said. “It was ‘Born on the Bayou.’ That’s the better song.” “Right?” his friend said. Certain aspects of life got worse when technology got better and vinyl records went out of style, particularly 45s. That’s when we lost the B side. A 45 had two songs, an A side — the song that got played on the radio — and a B side. The B side of a record was all about serendipity. It was anticipation. It was exhilaration. It was hope. All of which lead to something even better: Optimism.
Why a Small-Town Record Store in Rural Pennsylvania Was My First Library: Jolene McIlwain on Rural America, Songwriting, and Oral Storytelling. At Gene’s Music City, albums covered in sagging plastic wrap lined three walls. Behind the counter 45s hung on a massive peg board and hundreds more LPs seemed to be waiting on the shelves, readying to be flipped through. …Though my blue-collar family struggled between layoffs, we owned a stereo console cabinet with good solid speakers. We might not have been a reading family with shelves of books, but we had a modest yet amazing collection of records. We were a music family. I spent hours memorizing lyrics of my dad’s favorites, “Boy Named Sue” from Johnny Cash’s At San Quentin album, all of Hank William’s hits, Patsy Cline’s. After I learned to read, I pored over liner notes, transcribing lyrics, gingerly lifting the needle to replay and replay until I got the words just right as this was important work, learning this kind of storytelling. I knew it then, and in countless ways I’m sure of it now.
