Comic Tales from Rapture in Witney

Rapture12 Market Square

Witney

OX28 6AP

01993 700567

rapturewitney.co.uk

@RaptureWitney

 Rapture is typical of the independents that have survived the drastic changes in the industry . The shop is like a community centre, with many customers calling in several times a week, often just to chat.

Owner Gary ‘Smith’s first job in the music industry was at the appallingly named

R.E.Cords in Burton-on-Trent. He noticed an advert for shop staff and

instinctively knew that it was the job for him.

The advert stated that you had to include your five favourite artists on your application. Gary’s were Theatre Of Hate, The Jam, Japan, Bruce Springsteen and Orange Juice.

Although Springsteen wasn’t actually one of his favourite five, he said he

was because he had seen the guy behind the counter wearing Springsteen

badges. It was a shrewd move. The interview went well, with Gary taking

every opportunity to tell the owner how magnificent Bruce Springsteen

was. The tactic worked and Gary was given the job. For a school leaver in

1982, this was a dream job.

The shop sold tickets for Rock City in Nottingham and in return Gary

was on the guest list for any band he wanted. He found himself with many

new friends and attended gigs several times a week. In 1985 he saw an

advert for Our Price. It was opening a store in town and was recruiting.

In its early days it kept chart prices cheap and had a customer service

policy that extended beyond pointing and grunting (the traditional response

from many independent stores at that time).

This led to rapid expansion in London and the South East. Our Price floated on the stock market, which showed its approval by providing lots of capital for expansion.

Gary told me of Our Price’s commitment to customer service. Once a

year new managers would meet up with Our Price founders Gary Nesbit,

Barry Hartog and Mike Isaacs. Gary Nesbit would tell the tale of how he was

in an independent shop one day when a man came up to the counter and

asked where the Van Morrison albums were. The assistant didn’t even look

up from reading his copy of NME. He grunted at the customer, “Over there,”

pointing in a general direction. The man walked out. A couple of hours later

he spotted the man again. Another record shop in the town had their logo on

clear, see-through bags, and as he passed the man, he noticed some Van

Morrison albums in his bag. That is why Our Price drummed it into staff that

if a customer asked for something, they had to take them to the section.

Gary joined Our Price the week before Live Aid, and it was an exciting

time for the industry. The new Midlands’ stores represented the first time

Our Price had ventured north of Watford, and there were lots of job

opportunities. Within a short time Gary was managing Our Price stores

around the Midlands.

The mid-80s was not a difficult time to sell music. Most market towns

had an independent store and an Our Price – and most customers would

frequent both. WHSmith bought Our Price for £46 m in 1986. At its peak

there were 330 Our Price stores.

The Oxford Our Price, on Cornmarket Street, was a who’s who of the

exciting Oxford music scene, with members of Radiohead (Colin

Greenwood), Ride (Steve Queralt), The Egg (Dave Gaydon), Tallula Gosh

(Amelia Fletcher), and The Jennifers (Nic Goffey, who became a video

director and who’s brother Danny formed Supergrass) all working there at

some time. Mark has fond memories of working with Amelia Fletcher,

who worked at the shop by day and sang with Tallulah Gosh in the evening.

Whilst working at Virgin, he had bought all of her records and was now

overawed to be working with her. Michael Eavis called in one day and

asked who they thought he should book for Glastonbury. Gary still cringes

when he remembers all of the fantastic bands around the Oxford scene, and

yet the shop suggested Jesus Jones.

During this period a man called Mike McGinley was the operations

manager for Our Price. It is fair to say that he terrified most of the staff. He

was a perfectionist for cleanliness. If they knew he was coming, they often

spent the whole day cleaning the shop, as Mike was the type of guy who

would wet his finger and run it down the racks – if he found dust, he would

explode with anger.

On the day of one of his visits the Our Price manager was confident the

shop was spick and span and the shop looked good, as it was full of

customers. He noticed one toddler being admonished by his mum, who

then dragged the youngster out of the shop. At that moment, Mike

marched in. The manager noticed a little pile where the toddler had been.

Sure enough, the toddler had deposited something on the carpet. There

was only one thing for it. The manager rushed to the pile of poo, and with

a kick Gary Lineker himself would have been proud of, he deposited the

deposition under the rack. After greeting Mike, the manager rushed to the

toilet to clean the poo from his shoe.

After working for an independent and Our Price in its many guises and in

many roles, Gary hooked up with friend and previous colleague Mark Sharman.

Mark and Gary first met whilst running rival Our Price stores in Oxford in the

early 90s. For a while there were four Our Price stores in the city.

Mark’s journey in the music industry started when he was given a

temporary job over Christmas at Virgin in Peterborough. His sister had just

left on the first leg of a world tour starting in Holland, and the idea was for

Mark to earn some money over the next couple of months and then fly out

to join her in some exotic location. When Christmas ended the management

at Virgin had been really impressed with his enthusiasm and asked

him to stay on. It was a tough decision, as he loved working there, but he

was also determined to see the world. In those days there were no mobile

phones, so he had to delay his decision until his sister contacted him to let

him know what exotic location she was at. When his sister called and told

him she was still in Holland picking tomatoes, it made Mark’s choice easy.

Mark lived in Spalding and commuted into Peterborough each day. He

felt like the coolest kid in town. Whenever he went out in Spalding he kept

his Virgin uniform on, as it was a great talking point with his friends. In

fact, working at Virgin was like being one step down from being a pop star.

After a fantastic year at Virgin, what happened next seemed like a calamity.

In 1987 the Virgin shops were taken over by Our Price.

Mark had some friends in Oxford and he made it known that if there

where any jobs going in that area, he would be keen to move there. Our

Price immediately transferred him to one of their Oxford branches. He

will never forget his first day, because when he arrived the manager, a girl

called Jackie Baker, informed him that he would be in charge of hoovering,

so he spent his first morning vacuuming the carpets. Mark really felt he was

on the way down, as Virgin had their own professional cleaner.

He will never forget an incident when a large, but tired-looking, Labrador

lobbed into the store. Mark found it amusing that, after looking around the

store, the dog took residence under the CD racking, where he promptly fell

asleep. The shop was busy and nobody could be bothered to wake the dog

from its slumber. Come closing time, Jackie gave the dog a shake to wake him

up before letting out a shriek: “The dogs dead!” As she was manager and Mark

was new, he felt it best that she handle the situation. Jackie phoned the council

to ask them to collect the dog, who was now residing in a black plastic bin

liner in the stockroom. The council told her that they would not be able to

collect the dead dog for a couple of days. Jackie felt that they couldn’t wait

that long, so the poor Labrador was thrown out with the rubbish.

At Virgin, Mark’s role was rock CD buyer. Now, when his friends

enquired what his role was at Our Price, he was reluctant to admit he was

chief hooverer. Mark pestered Jackie for more responsibility and eventually

he was given the job of ordering Pinnacle product.

At this time Mark was a huge rock and metal fan and was the first to

admit that he had not latched on to the emerging Madchester scene. When

Pinnacle called for his first order, he played it safe and ordered just one

copy of the debut Stone Roses album. On the day of release the shop

opened at 9am. By 30 seconds past 9am the shop had sold out of all Stone

Roses product. Mark worked on the counter with Jackie that day and it

seemed as if every minute somebody wanted to buy a Stone Roses album.

Mark just wished the ground would swallow him up.

After that episode Mark knew that he was never going to make a name

for himself in Oxford, and when the chance of a transfer to High Wycombe

came up, he jumped at the opportunity. He did a great job there and was

offered the chance to manage his own shop. Mark was delighted, but

disaster soon struck. Mark had been living in Oxford and commuting to

High Wycombe by bus. One week into his job as manager the bus service

was scrapped. There was only one thing for it – Mark stuck out his thumb

and hitch-hiked to work and back every day. This went on for months

before a member of staff took pity on him and informed the area manager,

who transferred him to the Reading branch. There was a train service to

Reading, and it was a bigger shop and, therefore, more exciting.

1990 was World Cup year and Our Price entered into the spirit of things

by offering World Cup tickets as prizes in some of their larger stores. To

qualify for the competition customers needed to purchase a World Cup

video. On the run-up to the prize draw the shop sold hundreds of videos.

On the day of the draw one of England’s greatest footballers, Gary

Lineker, was to do a personal appearance and draw out the winning ticket.

When the big moment arrived, hundreds of people with their draw

tickets where in the shop. Gary drew the winning number and the lad who

won was overwhelmed with joy when he came to the counter to collect his

prize. The feeling of euphoria didn’t last long when he was informed of his

prize. The poor lad was probably expecting a ticket for an England match,

if not maybe Scotland or even Ireland. Would it be the quarter-final the

semi-final or even the World Cup final itself? Unfortunately, not. The prize

was a single ticket, without transport, to Italy for a first-round match

between Austria and the United States.

By the mid-90s Our Price was struggling after being sold to Sanity.

Gary and Mark decided to do their own thing and opened Rapture in June 2004.

They will never forget their first day. The first customer called in and asked for the new Peter Andre single ‘Insania’. They told her that she was the very first customer.

She asked if there was a prize. Gary offered a free Peter Andre single. The

next customer came in and they, too, asked for ‘Insania’. Suddenly there

was a huge panic at Rapture. It was their first day of trading, the shop had

only been open five minutes, and they had already sold out of Peter Andre’s

‘Insania’. Mark got on the phone straight away and asked how quickly the

record company could get twenty copies to them. The good news was that

they would have the CD delivered the next day. Mark told Gary not to panic

and to promise the customers it would be back in stock the next day. They

need not have worried, because they never got asked for ‘Insania’ ever

again, and six months later twenty copies still sat on the shelves of Rapture,

before they took the decision to clear them out for 10p each (rumour has it

they still have nineteen left).

Whenever they walked the streets of Witney, the boys were always

proud to see people carrying Rapture bags. However, although they spent

most of their social life in Oxford, the shop had been open for months and

they had yet to see anybody carrying one of their bags. Gary commented

that he would feel they had ‘arrived’ when they noticed somebody carrying

one. Not long after, Gary was driving in Oxford when he noticed a lady

carrying a Rapture bag. He was ecstatic and couldn’t wait to tell Mark. Just

then, the lady reached into the Rapture bag, picked out her pooper scooper

and scooped up the mess her dog had just made.

Gary and Mark had some great anecdotes. One day a guy with a thick

Northern accent came to the counter and asked for turps. Despite the

customer walking past 3000 CDs, here he was expecting a record shop to

have turps. Gary politely explained that the customer needed a hardware

store and pointed him in the right direction. The customer looked puzzled

before replying with, “No, I want turps to play on my turp recorder”.

On another occasion a customer had asked for The Sound of Bread, the

popular compilation album from the band fronted by David Gates. They

lost the sale, because despite searching through all of the ‘B’s, the sleeve

was nowhere to be found. During a routine sleeve check days later it was

found – in the Sound Effects section, sitting alongside Sounds of Horror,

Sounds of Nature and Sounds of Sci-fi. This was not a careless customer, but a

new colleague who genuinely thought he was doing the right thing! What

sound does bread make?

One connection the boys are proud of is their association with

Radiohead. On the day of the release of the album Pablo Honey the band

launched it with a personal appearance at Our Price in Oxford. It was

through Colin Greenwood, the bass player, that the PA was arranged.

Colin had worked with both Gary and Mark at Our Price, and they still

regard him as a friend. When working there, Colin pestered Gary and Mark

to come and see his band play at the Jericho Tavern in town. Working at Our

Price, Gary and Mark had seen lots of bands that featured store members, so

they went along not expecting much. To say the boys were blown away was

an understatement. The band, who at the time where called On A Friday,

played many of the tracks that later became Pablo Honey. From that day on the

boys spread the word about this exciting new band.

It was through working at Our Price that the band was signed. The EMI

rep at the time, a guy called Keith Wozencroft, told the staff that he had a

new job at EMI working in A&R (artist and repertoire). This role involved

him signing up new bands. On hearing this news, Colin gave Keith a tape of

the bands songs, and the rest, as they say, is history. Keith had the Midas

touch, as he also signed Supergrass.

Gary was standing next to Colin when Thom Yorke phoned up to say that

EMI had offered Radiohead a deal. He remembers the bear hug that Colin

gave him upon hearing the news. To this day, one of Gary and Mark’s most

valued possessions is a cassette of the band’s first demo tape with the

artwork drawn by Thom Yorke. Both Colin and Thom have since shopped

at Rapture.

Mark and Gary would like me to thank their customers, many of whom

have become friends. They would also like to say a massive thank you to

their wives, as the girls both earn more than they do, which allows them to

indulge in their time-consuming hobby, Rapture.

Truck Records

101 Cowley Road, Oxford, OX4 1HU

01865 793866

truckmusicstore.co.uk

info@truckmusicstore.co.uk

@TruckMusicStore

Established 2014

Stock: Vinyl, CD, Pre-owned, Cake, Coffee, In-stores, Tickets

Gary Smith is the owner of this excellent shop as well as Rapture in Witney. Truck has had a complete transformation in recent years. Both shops installing ‘Mostro Coffee perfect for connoisseurs of our favourite hot drink.

On a blackboard, they not only write down the name of the coffee they are using that day, they also list the producer, the process used to roast it and the variety of bean.

Oxford has long been a city which punches way above its weight in terms of its local music scene. Radiohead, Supergrass, Foals, Ride and Stornoway are merely the surface of a vibrant and varied music 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, which many consider to be the first “boutique festival”. All Oxford lacked was a great independent record store, 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 converted 101 Cowley Road, then 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 the store a permanent fixture, taking the name Truck Store in recognition of the festival’s ethos.

Under manager Carl Smithson’s leadership, the store has grown to 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 at deciphering the strange requests he gets. One such case involved the request for the CD by Soul singer Phil Willis. With some skilled deduction, he worked out that the man was after Pharrell Williams - 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, the Wedding Present, James Vincent McMorrow, Guillemots, Willy Mason, Augustines, Johnny Flynn and countless local acts. They also host regular exhibitions of local artists’ work. Truck Store can be very proud of their achievement in creating such an exciting store.

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