Vinyl revival

The vinyl revival is hitting all the right notes for Kent’s music lovers. We speak to some passionate independent record store owners

- Caroline Read

Second-hand record stores have always had a place in our hearts and on our high streets, with keen collectors keeping small numbers of them in business, despite the CD revolution of the early 2000s. But with new independent record stores popping up across the country, it’s safe to say it’s a booming trade once more.

So just what is it that keeps music fans coming back to the scratchy sound of vinyl, 90 years after the introduction of the first long-player record? Boosted every year by the national Record Store Day (18 April this year), the once-outdated format has come back from the brink of extinction.

Its constant growth over recent years meant that new vinyl records outsold CDs last year, for the first time since 1986. We take a look inside some of Kent’s independent record stores.

VINCE MONTICELLI

The Record Store, Ashford We opened four years ago now. It started really because I’m a collector myself. I moved to Ashford due to illness – I was diagnosed with cancer five years ago – so I downsized the house, moved down here, recovered from the ops and opened the shop.

Mostly it was on the basis that I, as a record collector, couldn’t buy a record in the town at that time. I sampled it first, with a smaller store to establish if there was any interest. Very quickly it became apparent there was and we moved to a bigger unit in Park Mall after six months.

Most of the people I know who have record shops started them because they love music and they love vinyl. The resurgence of vinyl has meant there’s much more interest now in the medium that I prefer to listen to music on.

It’s the whole experience of vinyl. Picking up a vinyl album, you can’t just flick through it.