Great Record Shops of Wales

You can have an action-packed vinyl weekend in Wales as so many shops are situated within a few miles of the M4. Day One would be a chance to visit the long-established music retailers including Diverse in Newport, Spillers in Cardiff and Derricks in Swansea.

Opportunities for opening a new shop are limited though Bridgend along with the seaside towns of Barry and Llandudno are worth considering.

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Derricks Music                        *The unluckiest record shop owner in the world*

221 Oxford Street, Swansea SA1 38Q

01792 654226

derricksmusic.co.uk; info@derricksmusic.co.uk; @DerricksMusic

Monday-Saturday 9am-5.30pm

Sunday 11am-4pm

Established 1956

Stock: Vinyl, CD, Tickets

Derricks Music was started in Port Talbot by Derrick, the uncle of current owner Chris Stylinaou, as an electrical store that stocked a few LPs. Like other shops in the 1950s and 1960s, they found that selling records was more lucrative than selling electrical goods, so the family opened a second shop in Port Talbot selling only records, which was said to be the first record shop dedicated to pop and rock music in Wales.

In 1968, Port Talbot was being re-developed and one of the Derricks shops was due to be demolished, prompting the family to move their record retailing business to Swansea. Like many stores which have survived the recent downturn, a fundamental reason why they are still standing is that Chris owns the building which they trade from. One of his shrewdest moves was to rent out space for a cash machine, which is neatly embedded in Derricks front window, making it super-convenient for customers who have just acquired a bunch of crisp new notes to spend some of them in the shop. 

Derricks is also kept in business thanks to sales of concert tickets and the success of Swansea Live, an event organised by Chris which takes place in the city centre every August. With more than 20 bands playing across three stages, it attracts large crowds to the city and gives up-and-coming local bands the chance to play to a large audience. This is what record shops do: they support the local music community.

Chris inherited the record shop after Derrick passed away in 1985. He has been ably assisted over the years by his longtime assistant Sian. It is worth a visit to Derricks to hear the banter between the two of them, even if you have no plans to make a purchase. Chris has several claims to fame including being Welsh Junior Surf Champion. He can often be seen surfing the waves off the Gower Peninsula. Many years ago, Elizabeth Taylor cooked him chips one evening when he visited his friends Alan and Richard, the sons of the late Graham Jenkins who was Richard Burton’s brother. Richard and Elizabeth were visiting, and the Oscar-winning actress cooked the evening meal.

One claim to fame Chris wishes he did not have is that of being the unluckiest record shop owner in the world. His run of bad luck started in 1998 when he was the victim of a violent robbery. At 8.00am he was preparing the shop for opening when he heard a knock on the back door. When he opened the door Chris was confronted by two men brandishing a gun. They attacked Chris, tied him up and then cleared out what money he had in the till. They then dragged him up the stairs which resulted in a serious wound to his leg as a metal strip ripped open his shin. The burglars threatened to shoot Chris unless he revealed the code to access the safe. After emptying the safe they locked him in the cupboard. With blood pouring from his wound Chris knew that he needed to get to a hospital soon. The cupboard he was locked in was where he kept his tools. He managed pick up his saw and cut through his ties. He then used his hammer to smash his way out of the cupboard and called the police.

After visiting the hospital, Chris spent the next day being questioned by the police about the break in. His leg-wound took a long time to heal leaving him with a large scar that reminds him of the awful experience. Sian demonstrated her supreme sales skills, even under such troubling circumstances. While the shop was shut that day, she sold CDs to the police investigating the crime, some of whom still come in to the shop to this day.

  

More bad luck occurred not long after. During a heavy storm the drains blocked, and the shop was flooded. The floor was ruined along with the vinyl kept in boxes under the racking.

On another occasion, when scaffolding had been erected to enable repairs to the building, another gang of burglars gained access to the shop by climbing up and smashing the upstairs window.

Disaster struck again when Chris became violently ill after eating a meal of prawns. He was sick for weeks and lost all the hair on his body except for a small patch on the back of his head which turned from black to white. He had suffered mercury poisoning and is still being treated for the effects of it to this day.

Things could hardly get any worse. Or could they? In 2014 Chris’s neighbours started building an extension on their house. When their builders dug into the ground it caused the foundations of Chris’s house to drop, making the whole structure unstable. Huge cracks appeared in the walls and ceilings. The council, fearing that the house could collapse at any point, ordered Chris and his family to leave immediately. For the last few years, they have lived in temporary accommodation while builders are trying to secure his house. He is beginning to wish they had knocked it down and he could start again.

In January 2018, I wrote to Chris to ask if he minded me referring to him as “the unluckiest record shop owner in the world.” I did not hear back for a week. He finally called to apologise for the delay in replying. He had been laid up in hospital, following a heart attack.

A week later there was an earthquake in the UK. The epicenter was in Swansea. My immediate thought was that it was bound to have struck underneath Derricks. Thankfully, the shop had been left unscathed – by the earthquake, at least. However, the builders had left a tap running over the weekend and the house had flooded. And his wife Vicky had just written off her car in a crash.

I am glad to report Vicky was unhurt. And that Chris has made a full recovery from his heart attack. Through all this misfortune, Chris remains philosophical and has never lost his enthusiasm for running the shop as it evolves with the times. “Music is not life and death,” he says. “It is here to make the bad times better - and the good times even better.”

This hard-working man deserves some good fortune. Fingers crossed for the future, Chris.

Diverse Vinyl *The record shop that featured in an episode of Dr Who*

10 Charles Street, Newport, NP20 1JU

01633 259661

diversevinyl.com; orders@diversevinyl.com; @diversevinyl

Monday-Friday 9.30am-5.30pm

Established 1988

Stock: Vinyl, CD, Pre-owned, In-stores

Diverse Vinyl is a record shop side which is housed with two sister companies at the same address: Diverse Vinyl, a mail order company; and Diverse Records a vinyl-only record label. The business is owned by Paul Hawkins and Matt Jarrett.

Diverse Vinyl is a record shop which is housed with two sister companies at the same address: Diverse Vinyl, a mail order company; and Diverse Records a vinyl-only record label. The business is owned by Paul Hawkins and Matt Jarrett.

Matt spent many years working at WH Smith. Dissatisfied with the range of music stocked there, he would spend his lunch breaks hanging out and buying records at Diverse. Eventually, Paul persuaded him to join him at Diverse.

The mail order department was set up in 1995, at a time when vinyl was in its darkest days. Many major new album releases were on CD only, and import pressings were thin on the ground as many independent record stores stopped stocking the format. Contrary to popular belief however, vinyl was still alive, and Diverse continued to stock all new releases on vinyl.  As the company’s reputation grew, they started to receive phone calls from customers all over the UK, desperately searching for new vinyl releases which their local stores were not stocking. With the launch of the internet, the stock became readily available to vinyl junkies all over the world, and their site becoming a major portal for analogue fans worldwide.

Meanwhile their own vinyl label, Diverse Records, went from strength to strength, and now numbers many fine albums by Alison Krauss, Richard Thompson, Rickie Lee Jones, Frank Black, Dr John and others among its catalogue.

Now that the rest of the world has caught up with the vinyl revival, Diverse are reaping the rewards of being a longtime vinyl specialist. In 2013 the company launched their own limited-edition turntable to celebrate the 25^th anniversary of the shop. 

Further celebrations for the quarter century milestone saw them taking over Newport’s Le Pub venue for a weekend of live music. They brewed their own beer for the occasion in collaboration with local comedy rappers Goldie Lookin Chain.  Goldie Lookin Ale proved so popular that it completely sold out and continues to do so whenever the brewers, Tiny Rebel, stick a barrel on.

In 2006, the shop was invaded by a BBC crew for an episode of Doctor Who. They hired the shop for three days. The whole of Charles Street got an enormous lift with the visit of the Doctor played by David Tennant. He turned out to be a music fan, particularly of Scottish bands the Proclaimers and Franz Ferdinand.

While the shop is a window for the vinyl mail-order business, it still sells CDs and remains passionate about supporting Newport bands. Diverse has lived up to its name by stocking a varied range and establishing a database of worldwide vinyl fans. They also sell at specialist Hi-Fi shows, recognising that anybody in the market for new stereo equipment is also likely to want to purchase vinyl.

Have a look at the walls when you visit the shop. They are covered in cult posters and cartoons about record shops. On the right, you will see a collection of framed and signed album sleeves by indie darlings Laura Marling, Cowboy Junkies, Idlewild, Gretchen Peters and others. On the opposite wall, are framed album sleeves by artists of a more traditional bearing, including Isla St Clair, Lionel Blair and Mary O’Hara.One wall is decorated with albums released by the label and all signed whilst it is fair to say the other is of cult comedy and easy listening.

The shop does exceptionally well with its Staff Picks section of releases recommended by the staff. One trusting customer comes in each week and buys nearly every title on the list - a pile of vinyl that usually costs him around £120. He seldom complains of buying anything that he has not enjoyed.

Another trusting customer is Mr. Any. He always asks for an album by a particular artist – Led Zeppelin, for example. When Matt asks him which particular album by Led Zeppelin he would like, he invariably replies “Any.” Matt reckons he is replacing his CD collection with vinyl, and nowadays as soon as Mr. Any announces the name of the band he is looking for; Matt will dig out the album he thinks he will enjoy most.

Paul and Matt have been joined behind the counter at Diverse Music by Vaughan, who covers them for days off, when he is not touring the seedier pubs of South Wales and beyond with his glam punk band the Sick Livers.

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Spillers Records                     *The oldest record shop in the world*

27 Morgan Arcade, Cardiff, CF10 1AF

02920 224 905

www.spillersrecords.com; info@spillersrecords.com; @spillersrecords

Monday-Saturday 10am-6pm

Established 1894

Stock: Vinyl, CD, In-stores, Merchandise, Tickets

Spillers is no ordinary shop. A two-part documentary, The Oldest Record Shop in The World, broadcast on ITV in 2008, told the incredible story of this legendary retailer and its latterday battle to keep trading after a huge redevelopment in the Cardiff area led to colossal rent hikes.

The shop opened in Queens Arcade in 1894. It was founded by Henry Spiller and Joe Gregory, who were quick to recognise that there was money to be made in the recorded music business. Originally, they sold wax phonograph cylinders and shellac phonograph discs. In the late 1920s they added musical instruments to the range of stock and in the 1940s the shop relocated to its longest-lasting premises (so far) on The Hayes.  It remained in the Spiller family until 1962 when they sold the shop to a consortium of local businessmen. The shop changed hands again in 1986 when it was bought by Nick Todd, who had been its manager since 1975.

Nick’s daughter Ashli now owns the shop, working seven days a week, not for the money, but for the joy of introducing people to music they have not heard. “Even though everything is supposedly accessible on a computer at the end of your fingertips, nothing beats the buzz of meeting somebody face to face across the counter and saying ‘Hey, have you heard this?’” Ashli says. “A real-life recommendation beats any algorithm! We’re really just sharing happiness all day. You can’t get sick of it. Sick of music, sick of life.”

As well as its longevity, the store is famous for its iconic T-shirts. If you attend any music festival you are bound to see someone wearing the distinctive design with the red vinyl disc on a black background. Customers are encouraged to send in photos of themselves wearing the T-shirt from the most obscure parts of the globe. 

In the early days of their career the Manic Street Preachers seemed to spend half their leisure time at Spillers. If they were not in the shop buying records, they would be outside busking in the street.  Their singer, James Dean Bradfield, included the Spillers Records logo as part of the sleeve artwork of his 2006 album The Great Western.

In 2006, the shop faced a review of its lease after a major new development, St David 2, was built on the site opposite. Spillers could not absorb the substantial increase in rent that was being demanded, but Nick Todd wasn’t prepared to let the shop fold.  With the help of Hywel Thomas, a loyal customer who happened to be Plaid Cymru’s press officer for the Welsh Assembly, he organised a petition to save Spillers.

The response from the public was amazing. More than 20,000 people signed the petition, including stars such as Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, Justin Timberlake, Beyonce and, of course, the Manic Street Preachers. The petition attracted publicity from all over the world in the music and national press, and earned the store a reprieve.

In 2016, Spillers made a remarkable gesture, after hearing of the plight of a man called Geoffrey Harris from Neath in Port Talbot, about 40 miles away, who suffered from depression and panic attacks that had left him unable to visit Cardiff  for many years.  Inspired by the PM programme’s “Take a Leap” feature on BBC Radio 4, Geoffrey had made great progress in overcoming his condition, but getting from Cardiff train station to Spillers was beyond him at that time.  Through the offices of PM, Spillers let Geoffrey know that if he ever felt up to making a visit to the shop, they would come and meet him from the station.  It wasn’t long before PM were arranging for the presenter Eddie Mair to bring Geoffrey to Spillers, where they were welcomed with tea and Welsh cakes.  Now Geoffrey makes a few trips each year to the Welsh capital to partake in a spot of lunch and, of course, a stop off for tea and records in the shop.

Spillers is now located in the exquisite Morgan Arcade adjacent to The Hayes. For Ashli who is now the sole owner, the business is full on as she spends all of her waking hours working on its demands. Her motivation and inspiration is the joy of introducing people to music they have not heard before and the special place Spillers has earned among the music community of South Wales and beyond during its unrivalled tenure.

One of her proudest memories from her 22 years behind the Spillers counter was the undying gratitude she received from Terry, a regular customer for several decades, after she noticed his sudden weight loss and urged him to see his GP. He reported back a few months later that he had been diagnosed with diabetes. After suffering serious complications, Terry now manages his condition and is still a frequent face at the counter.

Spillers has proudly participated in every Record Store Day, but the 2018 celebrations will last in the memory for many years to come.  To celebrate the occasion, Lauren Lavern showed up to broadcast her BBC 6 Music show from the Spillers counter the day before.  With a staff and customer base who are all avid 6 Music devotees, the event was an enormous honor.

Ashli has joked that one day she would like to open a record shop in a warmer climate. It would be a great loss for Cardiff, but no music fan in Wales would begrudge one of the most-hard working women in the music industry a life in the sun. She took the shop on during the most difficult period in music retailing and has battled hard to keep Spillers as one of the best record shops in the UK. Wherever Spillers is based in the future it will never lose its charm and character and remains the first port of call for music fans visiting Wales.

Tangled Parrot         *The original Apple store now selling parrotphernalia*

32 King Street, Carmarthen, Dyfed SA31 1BS

01554 890231

tangledparrot.com; tangledparrot@gmail.com; @tangledparrot

Monday-Saturday 10am-5pm

Stock: Vinyl, CD, Pre-owned, Badges, Clothing, In-stores, Parrotphernalia

Also, at Lion Street, Hay-on-Wye, HR3 5AA.

Matt Davies was so short of money when he opened Tangled Parrot, that after purchasing his initial stock he had no money left for racking. A local orchard solved the problem by selling him crates that had previously been used to store apples. Many customers enjoyed the aroma of the new shop, but the problem was that any record that did not sell quickly soon picked up the smell of apples from the boxes. It was funny for Matt to sell records on the Apple label which smelled of the fruit.

The shop picked up its unusual name through a frustrating Christmas present Matt bought for his daughter Maia. It was a parrot constructed of wood and fishing wire which 5-year-old Maia loved. By pulling on the wire the parrot flapped its wings. The problem was that Maia constantly snagged the wire up resulting in Matt repeatedly having to disentangle it. When his friend called around and asked if Maia was enjoying the present, Matt explained that she was, but he had christened it the tangled parrot. His friend commented that it would make a great name for a band. As Matt was opening a record shop and not joining a band he thought it would be the perfect name for his new business.

Matt deployed his daughter’s talents to draw the shop’s mascot, a tiny, colourful parrot that is still festooned all over the shop’s racking. You will also find lots of “parrotphernalia” for sale. They have stuffed plastic and wooden parrots as well as T-shirts, badges, beer mats, harmonicas with parrots on, and even parrot food (not a great seller). I am pleased to say that the original tangled parrot still hangs from the shop’s ceiling, with Matt willing to demonstrate the curious device to any customer that asks.

Matt has always been a great supporter of the Carmarthen music scene but was disappointed when two local venues closed. When a local pub was put up for sale Matt mortgaged himself to the hilt to purchase it. He turned the downstairs into a café and bar which hosted bands and comedians during the evenings, and moved his record shop upstairs.

He called the business The Parrot. It soon became the social hub of the town with events taking place there at least three days every week. Unfortunately, music retailing was going through a difficult period. With the added pressures of the interest on his loan, Matt was struggling to keep the business afloat.

In 2011, he reluctantly took the decision to close the business - but the story did not end there. After hearing the news of Matt’s impending closure, a group of artists and musicians formed the West Wales Music Collective. The aim was to keep the project open. They approached Matt and informed him that they had started a crowdfunding campaign to raise enough money to keep him going. Through fundraising events and pledges they had soon raised £2,000. They crashed through the £5,000 barrier soon after, thanks to an anonymous benefactor who donated £3,000 to the fund. A rumour spread that it was the comedian Rhod Gilbert who was born in the town. When approached by the BBC and asked if he was the mystery benefactor, Rhod dryly replied “I am not the mystery benefactor anymore.”

Thanks to the publicity generated by Rhod’s generosity, the fund topped £11,000.

Matt was so touched by the warmth of the town towards him that he had no choice but to re-open and has not looked back. The shop is the thriving centre of the Carmarthen community. Try and combine your visit with seeing a band playing and enjoy some of the local craft beer sold in the bar. Matt, a man who has done so much to bring good music, culture and art to South Wales, deserves your support.

VOD Music                   *The UK’s smallest record shop*

28 Newton Street, Mold, Flintshire CH17 1NZ

07904 688739

vodmusic.co.uk; enquiries@vodmusic.co.uk; @VODMusic1

Wednesday-Saturday 10.30am-4pm

Established 2009

Stock: Vinyl, CD, Pre-owned, Merchandise

VOD (Vinyl On Deck) Records is owned by Colin Trueman, who has spent many years organising record fairs around North Wales. Formerly an ice cream parlour and measuring just 67 square feet, VOD Music is the UK’s smallest record shop. Colin has converted the serving hatch into a counter and created the record shop equivalent of the Tardis. 

Big isn’t always best and VOD Music is worth a visit if only to marvel at how much Colin has managed to cram into such a small space. He has had great support from the local community and runs the shop while continuing to organise record fairs.

Due to Covid their is a brand new record shop opened in Cardiff which I have not yet visited. It is called Flipside Records and it is a must visit. Owner Nick manages to combine his work with the NHS with running a record shop. A top man.

Flipside

64a Glenroy Street

Cardiff

CF24 3JY

 

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.