FOND MEMORIES OF REMAINS A BIG HIT

TRACY QUINN has been a huge rock music fan since she was in her teens. It’s a love affair which began back in the mid-1990s, when she’d walk down Newport’s Commercial Street into Hitman Music and flick through the dusty racks of cassettes and tapes, frantic to find something she’d heard that week on Steve Lamacq’s Radio One show.

Now 37 and living in Stoke, the Newport native’s tastes have not changed, and she remembers a record shop which influenced a generation of music lovers in Newport.

“You’d go in at half 11 on a Saturday morning and you wouldn’t be able to move with all the people in there.

“I was a teenager and only getting into rock and metal, and I remember noticing the shop walking past one day.

“The other record shops in Newport seemed to stock the major label stuff, whereas Hitman seemed to get in a lot of newer stuff that was less well known. I’d found somewhere to hang out.”

Originally tucked away in Newport’s former “in-shops” under the Kingsway, Hitman was opened by owners Richard and Janet Hogg in the early 1990s, quickly gaining a reputation as a reliable haunt for rock fans looking for something slightly outside the mainstream.

“I was just getting into bands like Green Day and The Offspring, and the guys in there were so knowledgeable, and were always recommending you other stuff based on what you came in for,” Tracy said.

“I came in for one or two singles and ended up spending a small fortune.”

Jonny Mathers moved from Cumbria to Newport for college in the early 1990s – “I’d heard it had a great music scene,” he says – and quickly discovered a world of music he’d never had the chance to buy in his small village.

“Where I was from you were about 10 miles from a Woolworths or Our Price, and even then they only had the major releases.

“I’ll never forget going around town and going into Hitman. The first thing you noticed is it wasn’t like a normal high street shop – there was stuff everywhere, all the genres laid out. There always seemed to be about 10 people behind the counter, on one side you had the new releases, I think on the wall, and on the left then you went down to another side part where the punk and metal was.

“I had all these bands I’d heard or read about but had never been able to buy, and all of a sudden here they were in front of me. Having all this on your doorstep was mind-blowing.”

A few years after opening, Hitman moved onto the then-bustling Commercial Street, and it was here where it built its reputation with its knowledgeable staff – always primed for a natter – and keenness to take a chance on something that mightn’t sell.

Marc Davies worked at Hitman for 10 years, and fondly remembers the afternoons spent chatting to the customers. But, he said, it wasn’t always that way. “Richard the owner didn’t get me at first – he was very business-oriented and expected me to be at the till making sales.

“One weekend Richard and his family went away for a few days, and I took it upon myself to do something I’d seen when I was at Diverse, another record store in the city. There, they sorted all the stock by genre rather than alphabetically, which we did in Hitman.

“Like any job, you learn the tools of the trade as you go, so I spent a few hours resorting the whole shop by genre.”

“When they came back from holiday they noticed the change after maybe 20 minutes, and they were fuming.

“Richard called me upstairs and, not really fired me, but sort of implied that I shouldn’t come back.

“I left and, a while later, Jan called me. She’d obviously had a look at the takings while they’d been away and seen it had made a difference. So she said ‘see you in the morning’ and that was that.”

While Hitman prided itself on stocking the unusual, its cheap prices found favour in a crowded market where, if you could buy a CD for less somewhere else, you would.

“Janet used to go over to Diverse on a Friday when the new releases were out and see how much they were selling them for, and then we’d sell them for maybe a pound cheaper,” Marc remembered.

“There was a bit of competition, especially on pricing, but there was camaraderie too, because it was a community thing. Empty your pockets on the way home from school and you’d more often than not be able to afford a reduced album, or at least a single, for £7 or £8.

“It’s not like today, where most LPs cost at least £20.”

Jonny said Marc and the other staff’s knowledge and uncanny ability to make a great recommendation, no matter what your taste was, was the reason many returned to Hitman so often.

However, the onset of the digital age, downloading and streaming, coupled with the arrival of retail giant HMV in Newport, sounded the death knell for the traditional record store model, and Hitman sadly closed its doors in 2005.

Marc said Richard, who has since passed away, was an “incredibly generous” person despite his reputation for being competitive.

Steve Eyers, who worked at Hitman during its early years, recalled Richard’s love for Simple Minds, saying he would put on the Glasgow band’s greatest hits every afternoon in the store: “That was always my cue to go and find a job to do out the back!”

Marc said he still meets people he used to serve in the shop today.

“You bump into them, stand there, and reminisce about the old days. Nine times out of 10 I remember the names.

“We always used to try and chat to whoever came in. It might have gotten too hectic on a Saturday, but it was never taken for granted.

“It was a lovely part of my life.”

Steve added: “I made so many friends there, I even met my ex-fiancee when I was working there. Through working at the shop I ended up living in the flat above, which was my first flat, so I really appreciated what Richard gave me. It was a golden era of sorts.”

Tracy said she hasn’t found a local shop like Hitman since moving from Newport, adding: “They were local, very personable and nobody was judged. For me and a lot of others like me, it was a big part of our teens.”