Record Store Day Shops- Day 15 - Phonica- Soho, London


Phonica

51 Poland Street, Soho, London W1F 7LZ
0207 025 6070
phonicarecords.com; customerservice@phonica.com; @phonicarecords
Monday-Saturday 11.30am-7.30pm
Thursday-Friday 11.30am-8pm
Established 2003
Stock: Vinyl, CD, Accessories, Books, Bags, T-shirts
Nearest station - Tottenham Court Road

“Fads come and go but we still always sell good dance music.” Simon Rigg - Phonica

Phonica has been at the heart of the vinyl revival and has been a huge boost to record shopping in the Soho area. To many observers it seemed a crazy idea to open a record shop in the middle of London in 2003 when vinyl sales had reached an all-time low. But time has shown that they were ahead of the game and Phonica has since influenced a new generation of record shops.

Founder Simon Rigg, who started his music career as a dance music buyer at Virgin, had a vision for a different type of record shop, stocking product that you could not get in the mainstream stores. In collaboration with FACT magazine and Vinyl Factory (who also had a pressing plant), Simon opened the shop in 2003 with Heidi (later to become a Radio1 DJ) and Tom Relleen (now part of the band Tomaga).

Phonica quickly gathered a reputation for carrying a particular kind of dance music that was becoming popular in the early 2000s, namely the German minimal sound embodied by the Kompakt & Playhouse labels, which nobody else was stocking at the time. Phonica captured this niche market and the later electro house movement, thereby establishing itself as the go-to shop for dance music, not only in the UK but worldwide. A large percentage of customers are DJs. The shop stocks all varieties of dance music: rare soul 7-inches, library soundtracks, big room house, techno 12-inch singles, and much more besides. 



The customer can listen to records on one of the 10 Technics record decks in the shop before deciding what to purchase. The three-seater sofa at the front of the shop looking out on to a busy Poland Street is an ideal place for people watching. Another popular feature is tables that display the new CDs. Each CD is accompanied by an in-depth review, providing background information about potential purchases.

In 2008, Phonica started its own record label. With three out of the first four releases being by staff members, it soon became an important part of the business. In 2014, they released a triple-disc compilation, Ten Years of Phonica, featuring exclusive material from established DJs and producers. They now have five labels connected to the shop. The store is also renowned for its events, including its annual birthday party in such places as Fabric, Corsica Studios or XOYO. Such success is hardly surprising when ex-staff members include such notable DJs as Heidi, Hector, Anthea, Palms Trax (aka Jay Donaldson) and Nic Tasker (who runs the record label Whities and DJs on NTS radio). 

 Available at your local record shop or online at http://smarturl.it/vinylrevival

Look out for the film based on the book. The Vinyl Revival'  which is released on Record Store Day  April 13th

Check out the trailer




https://youtu.be/dDYrd0N2cIA



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