How a classical record shop survives in a North London niche

How a classical record shop survives in a North London niche

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norman lebrecht

December 10, 2016

Linda Grant writes beautifully about her local record store:

When I turned up last Saturday, composer Thomas Hewitt Jones and pianist Charles Owen had dropped in to give short recitals from their new CDs among the free mince pies and Quality Street chocolates. Serving behind the counter was surely one of Britain’s most knowledgeable classical music shop assistants, Radio 3 presenter Petroc Trelawny, whose last stint in sales was as a teenager in Cornwall, knocking out coffees and croissants. The customers ranged from…

Read on here.

Comments

  • Neil Thompson Shade says:

    Lovely article. The key to these establishments surviving will be adding diversity of related trade to their business model and offering a personalized service.

    I try to avoid intent sales where possible, but when I am forced to do so I have a personal ban on Amazon. Yes, I pay more, but I think the likes of Amazon and other large online retailers have done enough damage by putting out of business the small shops. Yes this is capitalism, but often it is not on a fair playing field. In the US, most states do not collect sales taxes from internet sales. This not only hurts the local government coffers but provides further incentive not to buy locally, a decided disadvantage to the small retailer. And when states try to enforce the sales tax on internet sales, the large internet sellers send their army of lobbyists to protest.

    Where I live in Baltimore, Maryland the last remaining CD retailer expanded into concert promotion to keep the doors open.

  • Sue says:

    Gramola on Graben, Vienna, is another excellent shop which keeps going despite threats from online retailing. And they have very knowledgeable staff. Highly recommended.

    You can pop just up the road to Julius Meinl for a coffee when you’ve made your purchase/s.

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