There’s a social side to running a record shop

A Day In The Life: Record Shop Owner

Sum up your job in 3 words: 1 Exciting

2 Exhausting

3 Satisfying

I WAS fifteen when I started buying records. My friends and I were all into different kinds of music, like Depeche Mode, Madonna and Duran Duran, and I would listen to all of it.

I did a paper round that earned me £4.50 a week, so I could go into Woolies and buy a picture disc by Madonna for £3.49!

I was always seduced by picture discs and coloured vinyl, and initially got into buying and selling records to fund my own collection.

When I was seventeen, I realised that records I bought two years before were worth twice what I’d paid for them.

For most of my life I traded online or at record fairs. I went all over, from London to Manchester, Scotland and Sweden, but I always wanted to have a record shop.

It’s nice to put down roots and have somewhere where people can come and browse.

There’s a social side to running a record shop. In fact, it’s a place to come and say hello to someone.

We have a little stage, and local bands have come in to launch their albums.

Bands like Stone Broken and Those Damn Crows have done acoustic sets and album signings, and packed the place out.

Record collecting is a very male-dominated business, and there aren’t many female record shop owners.

Every week someone will come in and ask me if the boss is in, because they assume I just work here.

But there are many more women buying records now, ranging from youngsters who’ll come in and buy a music magazine and a CD to women my age who are getting nostalgic for the music they used to listen to.

Very often a husband and wife will come in and she’ll be picking her records, too.

I’m open from 10 a.m. to 4.30 p.m., Tuesday through Saturday, and I’ll often spend all day on Sunday or Monday pricing up stock.

It’s important to always