The Shopkeeper
Forty years behind the same counter, and a firm belief that a record shop is really in the business of time.
The shop has not changed much in forty years, and neither, its owner insists, has the reason people come in. We talked among the crates about what a shop is really for.
What keeps people coming back?
It is not the records, not really — you can find records anywhere now. It is the time. People come in to spend an hour not being sold to, flipping through bins, talking to someone who cares. That is the actual product.
How do you decide what to stock?
I stock what I would defend. If someone brings a record to the counter and asks me about it, I want to have something honest to say. That rules out a lot.
Has the vinyl revival changed things?
It brought new faces in, which I love. But the ones who stay are the ones who slow down. The rest drift back to their phones. The shop is a filter, in a way.