08/09/2026
A little update on all things Record Culture after a chaotic and strange sort of week.
Last Saturday was our last proper day in our current format. The permanent space on Market Street is for the most part now closed. Importantly, however, the shop IS open this coming Saturday as the Stourbridge Record & Music Fair is on as it'd be a bit daft not to try and get some trade from that. So please do pop in if you're in for the fair.
Speaking of the fair, we're there too, with a couple of tables of high-quality records and CDs.
Record Culture, the business, isn't closed - not by a long shot. You can still get your records via our website and, like so many of our longstanding customers do today, simply via our WhatsApp service or e-mail. From this week any orders placed can be collected from The Hop Vault (previously our next door neighbours), delivered to you using our doorstep delivery service, or the usual postal network if further afield.
We can also hold items for you til we see you at the next event, combine postage, and all sorts of stuff.
We are now working on our program of solo events for the remainder of this year and early 2027, so stay tuned for all the info on those as they develop and announce. It can be hard to see the future at the moment, I know, but there is a genuine excitement about some of these plans and doing things a little differently. In time I hope most of you get to feel that too. I know a physical shop is hard to replace but if there's ever an idiot restless enough to do as much as possible to make sure it gets as close to it, you're probably looking at him.
In the meantime, thank you to everyone for the outpouring of love and support since we announced closing the permanent space right up until the 'last day' this weekend. We've had everything from all-out grief and disbelief to total and complete understanding.
Folk have asked me a lot of questions. Has the vinyl bubble burst? Would things be different if you'd been somewhere else? Is this decision permanent? Is online destroying physical record shops for good?
When the dust settles maybe I'll put something together to answer some of these things in detail. Some of it is probably quite useful to know.
I hope the place bought you much joy, whether you were in as a one-off, semi-regular or basically part of the furniture. I hope you stick around to be part of what we're doing next. It's hard to see now, I know, but I promise RC will be around more than you think.
Thanks to the staff across the years who I couldn't have managed the shop without. A special thanks needs to go to Imogen, who had been my deputy for a long time now. I know many of you will be familiar with her and wish her well (incidentally she'll be on shop duty this Saturday!)
A final apology to anyone who caught me on one of my bad days behind that counter. Apart from those who definitely deserved it. I swear there is a genuine reason why record shop owners have the reputation. As much as there is excitement, happiness, elation and joy going on behind that counter at a record shop, there has also been plenty of frustration, boredom, and restlessness. I am hunted by a five-year cycle of change that has followed me forever 😄
The business wasn't pushed out, liquidated or forced to close but it was harder at times than it should have been and the reasons behind that are many. Whatever happens with the future version of Record Culture, this was unequivocally the right decision for the business and for me.
And remember: physical shop closed. Business not closed. You want the records, I'll give you the records. 90% of what I actually do as Record Culture remains the same, it's just that little wedge at the end that changes.
Until we meet again (in four days' time at the record fair, obviously...)
LOVE
Lee
xx
