a few years ago, British indie-label owner Jonny Trunk grew nostalgic for his vinyl-shopping days: “You come across records you bought that might still have the stickers on them, but the shop’s gone.” He began collecting the bags that stores handed out with purchases — ending up with the 560 examples in his new book, A-Z of Record Shop Bags: 1940s to 1990s, each one recalling the days when record stores had their own aesthetics and personalities. “The bags conjure up very fond moments,” Trunk says. “People see bags from shops where they bought their first record, where they first heard a certain artist, met their girlfriend or boyfriend, first saw their first town punk or a local goth, or first got ripped off buying a reissue, not an original.” Now where’s a U.S. companion?
RUSHWORTH’S
This legendary Liverpool shop sold discs as well as musical instruments — including guitars picked out by Paul McCartney, John Lennon, and George Harrison.
ONE STOP
Before closing in 1975, this small London chain specialized in hard-to-find discs. Mick Jagger and Jimi Hendrix are both said to have been among the customers of One Stop’s distinctivelooking shops.
WOOLWORTH
Well into the Eighties, the departmentstore chain was the U.K.’s leading record retailer — even selling LPs of cover versions of hits, as the bags imply. “They look like pop stars, but probably for legal reasons couldn’t look like anyone you knew,” says Trunk.
HMV
This chain offered a chance to immerse oneself in multiple floors of music. “The salon was a place where you could buy high-end pressings,” Trunk says. “There were probably two or three sofas in there.”
MUSICWISE
“I like bags with characters on them,” Trunk says of this bag. He also chose this one since, he says,
“my dad was called an owl because he wore glasses.”
A-Z of Record Shop Bags Fuel, $34.95