Record Store Day Shops - Day 48 Truck in Oxford and Rapture in Witney
Two fine Oxfordshire shops under the same ownership
Truck Store *The shop that had a Prime Minister and a Jedi as customers*
101
Cowley Road, Oxford, OX4 1HU
01865
793866
Monday-Friday
9.30am-6.30pm
Saturday
10am-7pm
Sunday
11am-6pm
Established
2014
Stock:
Vinyl, CD, Pre-owned, Cake, Coffee, In-stores, Tickets
Gary
Smith (of Rapture in Witney) is also the owner of Truck Records, which has
undergone a transformation in recent years. Oxford has long punched above its
weight in terms of local music. Radiohead, Supergrass, Foals, Ride and
Stornoway are the standard bearers of a
vibrant and varied scene based around several great venues. The city is home to
many independent record labels, promoters, and a monthly music magazine called Nightshift. The annual Truck Festival
was considered by many to be the first boutique festival. All Oxford lacked was
a great independent record store, and Truck filled the gap, though initially as
a pop-up shop. They were the official festival ticket outlet for the festival and
ran the on-site merchandise stall. They then converted 101 Cowley Road, a
recently-closed video rental store, into a temporary record store and were met
with such a great response from Oxford music lovers that in February 2011 they
made it a permanent fixture, taking
the name Truck Store in recognition of the festival’s ethos.
Under
manager Carl Smithson’s leadership, the shop has become a cultural hub for
Oxford’s music scene and beyond. The vinyl revolution is alive and well in
Oxford. As with most record store staff Carl feels he could be a detective if
he did not work in a record shop, due to his skill in deciphering the strange
requests he gets. One such case involved a request for a CD by the soul singer
“Phil Willis”. Carl worked out that the man wanted Pharrell Williams’s “Happy”.
Live
music is also an integral part of the store, with its tiny stage hosting more
than 250 acts to date, including Beth Orton, Wedding Present, James Vincent
McMorrow, Guillemots, Willy Mason, Augustines, Johnny Flynn and countless local
acts. They also host regular exhibitions of work by local artists.
It is
probably the only shop to have had a Prime Minister (David Cameron) and a Jedi
(Daisy Ridley) as customers, although not at the same time.
Just 13 miles away you will find their sister shop
Rapture
Woolgate
Centre, Witney, Oxfordshire OX28 6AP
01993
700567
Monday-Saturday
9am-6pm
Sunday
10.30am-4.30pm
Established
2004
Stock:
Vinyl, CD, DVD, Coffee, In-stores
Owned
by ex-Our Price manager Gary Smith, Rapture is typical of the independents that
have survived the drastic changes in the industry over the last 20 years. Gary is an experienced
retailer, who comments below on the changes he has witnessed and his thoughts
about the future:
“After 14 years owning record shops and selling
rock‘n’roll to the masses, what has changed?
Am I jaded? Have I gone from being a new kid on the block to
curmudgeonly old fart? Well a lot has
changed, and nothing has changed. It is still the best job in the world – that
is certain.
I’ll admit that the sheer excitement of
running a business has levelled off somewhat, but my enthusiasm for new music
and seeing new releases arrive in store is undimmed. How RSD has saved us has, I’m sure, been
written about extensively elsewhere. But a mention should also go to the rise
of DAB radio and particularly BBC Radio 6 Music for helping keep our customers
enthused about new stuff.
So, the resurgence of vinyl has saved
the industry? Well it’s certainly kept
many independent shops in business, although it’s still not easy. Retail in
general is in the doldrums. At the time of writing, there are a dozen or more
household names that are facing severe restructuring or in some cases
extinction. On top of the normal threats
to retail, we face the occasional hostile action from the very people who are
helping keep us alive.
The music retailer and record company
relationship has always been a slightly awkward one. I was buying for a chain in the early 2000s
and one of the contributors to the awkwardness was the importing of cheaper
chart CDs from Europe. We had to do this
to stay in the game because of the supermarkets taking chunks of the
business. I remember being at a leading
record company bash and the sales director making a speech about how delighted
he was that their latest new act’s album had gone straight to number one. The problem was, he said, that the chart
sales for the first week were more than the UK record company had shipped – cue
an audience of slightly sheepish retailers.
In recent years, the relationship has
been much better with us all working together to keep up interest in the
physical product. The relationship has
been more open and honest from both sides.
Although I do think there is a danger that we are heading for the old
days – for example one of the major record companies has its own website
selling exclusives. If we return to the
dark days this time, there will be no format resurgence to save us.”
Gary’s
last point is so important. Record companies have two choices. Work with the
the shops by supporting them with
exclusive product. The alternative is what is beginning to happen now. Selling
the exclusives through their own or artists’ websites. If they choose the
latter, then I believe the independent record shop is facing another long,
steady decline. It is time for the industry to wake up and see the damage it is
inflicting on independent record shops. This time there is no vinyl safety net.
The
record companies have a network of more than 200 record shops that are
potentially an all year-round marketing machine for them. These shops are hubs
where music fans meet and discuss, with loads of wall space and ear space to promote
whatever they like. So, it’s strange
that a lot of exclusives are produced to sell direct themselves or via artists’
websites where solitary purchases are made. You’re not going to discover a new
artist on the U2 website.
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
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. The film comes free with the album The Vinyl Revival. Only available in independent record shops on RSD
Check out the trailer
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