Vinyl revival is music to the ears as record store plans to expand
Digital downloads fail to kill off old-style retailer
A RECORD store in a Yorkshire city is relocating as the vinyl revival has meant it needs a bigger shop to accommodate its growing stock.
Jumbo Records in Leeds is set for a return the Merrion Centre after nearly 30 years at the nearby St Johns Centre due to the growing demand for vinyl from customers. Shop manager Adam Gillison said vinyl sales have increased by about 50 per cent in recent years and they need larger new unit to create a long-term home.
Jumbo Records first opened in Queens Arcade in Leeds in 1971 before moving to the Merrion Centre in 1974. The business moved over the road to the newlybuilt St John’s Centre in 1988 and now shop staff are preparing to move back to a unit at the Merrion Centre on March 29.
Ten years ago, the future of record stores across the nation looked grim with the arrival of digital downloads as customers began to turn their backs on the High Street to buy their music online. But Jumbo Records is among independent record stores benefiting from the revival in vinyl.
Shop manager Adam Gillison, who has worked at Jumbo Records for 20 years, said: “This past two or three years it has been amazing with the number of people returning to vinyl or starting out with it for the first time.
“I would say we have seen around a 50 per cent increase in vinyl sales over the last few years.”
He added: “We will have more space in the new shop, allowing us to maintain more vinyl and CDs. We will also be serving coffee and will have somewhere for people to relax and listen to music in a space that doubles as a small stage for in-store appearances from bands.
“The first scheduled in-store we have for the new location will be an acoustic set by Haley Bonar on April 2. There certainly won’t be any winding-down process in the run-up to the move, quite the opposite in fact as we build up our stock for the new shop and prepare for Record Store Day. We are really excited to be about to start this exciting new chapter for Jumbo Records.”
Industry figures have shown that between 2009 and 2014, vinyl sales have seen a five-fold increase and doubling again the year after. Record sales in 2015 year hit a 21-year high of 2.1 million units.
The renaissance in vinyl, which has been attributed to music aficionados wanting to hear a purity of sound as well as a desire to have a tangible record in their collection rather than tracks stored on
There won’t be any windingdown in the run-up to the move. Adam Gillison, manager of Jumbo Records
a computer hard-drive, has seen major supermarkets and high street chains jump on the bandwagon. Tesco, Sainsbury’s and Urban Outfitters all now stock vinyl records.
David Bowie tops the list of the best selling vinyl albums at Jumbo Records in Leeds over the past 12 months. His swansong album, Blackstar, which won Best British Album at last week’s 2017 Brit Awards, was the number one selling vinyl LP at Jumbo. Second best selling vinyl album at Jumbo over the last 12 months was Who... Are The Arctic Monkeys by Sheffield band Arctic Monkeys.
Third was Radiohead’s A Moon Shaped Pool and fourth was Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours. The fifth best-selling vinyl album was PJ Harvey’s Hope Six Demolition Project.