Great Record Shops - Europa Music in Stirling


Europa Music    *The shop saved by the generosity of Scotland’s vinyl buyers*

10 Friars Street, Stirling, Stirlingshire FK8 1HA
01786 448623
europamusic@btinternet.com; @Europa_Music
Monday-Saturday 9.30am-5.30pm
Sunday 12-5pm
Established 1976
Stock: Vinyl, CD, Pre-owned, Merchandise, In-stores

Europa Music was originally opened by Adrian Wightman at the height of the 1970s punk boom, when it was one of seven music retailers in the small town of Alloa, Clackmannanshire. Adrian named the shop after his Lotus Europa car. The current owner, Ewen Duncan, acquired the shop in 1982.

Ewen is one of music retailing’s great survivors. When he took on the shop, business had already started to decline due to the impact of the miners’ strike of 1974. The Central Lowlands of Scotland depended on the coal industry and the pit closures had a devastating effect on the local economy, which suffered a further blow with the closure of the nearby Carsebridge Distillery in 1983. In 1992, Ewen moved Europa Music eight miles west to the much bigger town of Stirling.  



Ewen was ahead of his time. While hundreds of record shops were reducing the space given to vinyl at this time, he opened a specialist vinyl room attached to the back of the shop. In October 1995, Ewen was awoken in the night by a phone call from the police, informing him that the shop was on fire. The front of the shop survived, but the vinyl room was destroyed. The insurance did not cover the stock, a significant omission, given that its retail value was £250,000.

Arson was suspected, but nobody was arrested for it. The people of Stirling rallied round, and a campaign was launched to save the town’s record shop. With the help of local builders, family and friends, the vinyl room was rebuilt and an appeal went out through local media for donations of vinyl. Dozens of people called in to donate their vinyl records, including one gentleman who drove up from Edinburgh with a magnificent collection which included an original copy of the White Album by the Beatles. Ewen was incredibly touched by such support, which showed how much a record shop can be appreciated as part of the local community.

By 2006, business had improved so much that Ewen advertised for an extra person to work in the shop. More than 200 local youngsters applied. Ewen whittled it down to a shortlist of 10 who were then all entered in a music quiz to decide who should get the job. Ewen included one trick question: Name the members of Girls Aloud. Anybody who got all five correct had their application automatically turned down! The standard of the candidates was higher than Ewen had expected, and he ended up taking on three of the applicants, two of which, Alastair and Ali, still work In Europa Music today.



The shop has made the most of the vinyl revival. “On Record Store Day, we took more money than during the whole month of December,” Ewen says.

With more than 10,000 pieces of vinyl on sale in the vinyl room, Europa Music should be the first shop on your list, if you are a vinyl fan in Scotland. This wonderful shop does not get the publicity it deserves. You can take a virtual tour of the shop via a video on YouTube: type in “Europa Record Store Walking Tour 24”.




This piece is taken from the book The Vinyl Revival and the Shops That Made it Happen
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 is released on 13 April on DVD and is available in record shops. Distributed by Proper Music.
 www.thevinylrevivalfilm.com
@Revival_Vinyl
For film screenings and talks contact Graham at graham@lastshopstanding.co.uk




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