Great Record Shops - Dales Tenby - Do look up when you enter to view the astonishing ceiling.


Dales Music

High Street, Tenby, Pembrokeshire SA7 OHD
01384 842285
laurence.dale@tiscali.co.uk
Monday-Saturday 9am-5.30pm
Established 1947
Stock: Vinyl, CD, Pre-owned, Badges, Cassettes, DVDs, Merchandise, Videos

Dales Music has been trading for more than 70 years in the Welsh holiday resort of Tenby. The store started off as a piano retailer run by the current owner Laurie Dale’s father. As a teenager, Laurie was always spending his pocket money on 78rpm records, so he persuaded his father to start stocking them in the shop to compliment the piano sales.

Laurie and the shop manager Richie Westmacott are colourful characters who are well-known to locals. Laurie is a singer and actor while Richie is guitarist in one of Wales’s premier blues bands Elephant Gerald. The band has played with Dr Feelgood and Albert Lee among others. Richie always looks as if he is about to go on stage, as you never see him without his beloved bandana on his head.


Laurie and Richie are like a double act bouncing banter off each other and their sheer enthusiasm for music creates a happy atmosphere. In the summer months, Laurie can often be found sitting, shirtless, on a stool outside the store. He engages holidaymakers in conversation, encouraging them in to look through this treasure trove of a store. The decor is old-fashioned, and the racks are jammed with too much stock, but this adds to the character of the store. When entering the store, look up at the ceiling which resembles a rock & roll version of Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel.

Strange Requests and Comic Tales from Record Shops tells the tale of the customer  who threatened to blow the shop up as his Julie Andrews record had not arrived.


There are literally thousands of CDs and DVDs displayed above head height, reaching right up to the ceiling, and it is impossible from floor level to see all the titles. Richie and his customers are constantly climbing a stepladder to view them.

Laurie takes great pride in having many customers who first visited the store as teenagers in the 1960s, who now visit the shop with their own children and grandchildren. It is satisfying to see three generations of Dales Music customers all in the shop at the same time.



The shop has an interesting in-store music policy. Six days a week, the shop features the choices of Richie, which tend to be rock and blues, while Sunday is designated Easy Listening Day and there is a much more relaxed feel to the store as Laurie chooses records by his favourite crooners. Laurie is now aged 89 (despite looking 20 years younger). He is the oldest record retailer in the UK and loves the business so much that retirement is still a faraway prospect.




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
Over 100 record shop articles on this blog - Check them out
The story of this record shop can be heard in The Vinyl Revival Record Shop Podcast. Sign up here. Each week features comic tales from the crazy world of record retailing.
https://soundcloud.com/recordshoppodcast


Comments

  1. Jono RoseveareApril 14, 2022 at 4:25 AM

    Visited yesterday. A nice little record store sat amongst the food joints and surf shops. Enjoyed your blog too, keep up the good work.

    ReplyDelete

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