Great Record Shops - Concorde in Perth


Concorde Music        *The shop named after a plane, but which has lasted longer*

15 Scott Street, Perth, Perthshire PH1 5EJ
01738 621818
concordemusic.com; info@concordemusic.com
Monday-Saturday 9am-5.30pm
Established 1967
Stock: Vinyl, CD, Pre-owned, DVD, Merchandise, Turntables.

If it was in the USA, Concorde Music would be known as a Mom and Pop record shop. A family business, the shop is owned by Garry and Hazel Smith with their son Craig working there too, and caters for everything a music fan could want.



The shop was purchased by Garry’s parents Rena and Norman from Sir Jimmy Shand, who owned it with his family. Jimmy, an accordion player, was known as The King of Scottish Dance Music. His most famous composition was “The Bluebell Polka”. Richard Thompson, the English folk musician who wrote “Don’t Sit on my Jimmy Shands” on his 1991 album Rumor and Sigh, was a big fan. Under the Shand family’s ownership, The Music Shop, as it was then known, was primarily a musical instrument shop. Rena and Norman transformed it into a record shop. They renamed the shop Concorde, after the supersonic aeroplane, which was deemed the future of travel. If you named a record shop on the same principle today, it might be called Driverless Car Records. Or maybe not. It is ironic that Concorde Music has lasted longer than the then-futuristic plane it was named after.

With the retirement of his parents, Garry took over the running of the shop. He attributes Concorde Music’s survival to the family’s willingness to diversify and try something different. During the punk era, they stocked bondage gear and converted part of the shop into a changing room. It could be a bit of a shock for some of their more conventional customers, coming in to buy a classical record, to be confronted by a spikey-haired punk, emerging from behind a curtain, trying on his tartan bondage trousers.


Garry recalls the golden age of record retailing in the 1980s when, for winning a sales-based competition with the record label Pye Records, he and Hazel were flown out to Cannes where they stayed in The Carlton for a luxury weekend. In those days, he might have up to seven sales reps from the record companies in his shop on a Thursday afternoon, all vying for business. How times change. In the last two years, according to Garry, only one rep from a record company has ventured up to Perth: yours truly, as part of my day job for Proper Music Distribution.



Over the years, Garry and Hazel have had plenty of competition in Perth, but have managed to outlast HMV, Our Price, MVC, Virgin, Goldrush, Menzies and The Poparound. They can be proud of being, literally, the last record shop standing in Perth.




Over 220 independent record shops featured in The Vinyl Revival and the Shops That Made it Happen



The books of Graham Jones are available in record shops or online. The latest book The Vinyl Revival and the Shops that Made it Happen has been turned in to a film. It has just been released on DVD and is available in record shops or online. Distributed by Proper Music.

Each week I record The Vinyl Revival Record Shop Podcast. It contains lots of funny tales from the crazy world of record retailing. It is also available on Spotify.

Twitter: @Revival_Vinyl

My blog has over 100 features on record shops and vinyl.

grahamjonesvinylrevival.blogspot.com

For film screenings and talks contact Graham. 


As the person who has visited more record shops than any other human, I often get asked my advice on buying turntables. I always say do not purchase a budget model. What is the point of buying one that costs the price of a few albums? The sound will not do the recordings justice. For a long time, I have recommended
Rega Turntables as they are superb quality at great prices. They got more brownie points for sponsoring 'Record Store Day' and manufacturing limited editions just for record shops. 

 



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