Rare groove shops facing extinction (UK Diggas )

interesting read

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/6707255.stm

normally my resonse would that its a shame they are disappearing but TBH, and i'm talking with over 25 years of digging experiance....... The day many of these shops starting to bump the prices I lost much respect for them, I know they had a business to run but seriously I used to pick up JB's albums in soho for like £10 then the minute hip hop smashed the sample game wide open those same albums were £75 - £100 each!!! I even had a chat with one of the shop owners in the mid 90's and he was complaining that he had these ultra rare records but no one was touching them.... Derrrrr £20 for california soul 45 no surprise bud!!!!!

eventually any business that try's to milk the moment will fall off the edge and they only have themselves to blame IMO. Even Soul Jazz sucks, they overprice all their goods, granted much of it is rare but then again once you know what you are looking for you'll find that its all out there, take for example the thread on here somewhere with someone asking about the nas is like sample... part of the mystery is simply the secrecy but if i dropped you what it was you'd realise how its not actually that hard to come by. I used to listen to so much stuff in SJ and then go scooting off to Mr 45'S OR The Movie Store round the corner and even to the old guys at camden basement to find the same tracks at a quarter of the price.

as I say its a shame that any business goes by the wayside but these guys didn't pioneer things for us, they simply made some of it available at a high cost.


Blaming 9/11 don't wash either, thats just low.. and why do they think people went to the internet for downloads or buying on ebay n such??? could the easy answer be real cost and availability.


can you tell I aint got no time for many of these LOL

dacrates wrote:normally my resonse would that its a shame they are disappearing but TBH, and i'm talking with over 25 years of digging experiance....... The day many of these shops starting to bump the prices I lost much respect for them, I know they had a business to run but seriously I used to pick up JB's albums in soho for like £10 then the minute hip hop smashed the sample game wide open those same albums were £75 - £100 each!!! I even had a chat with one of the shop owners in the mid 90's and he was complaining that he had these ultra rare records but no one was touching them.... Derrrrr £20 for california soul 45 no surprise bud!!!!!

eventually any business that try's to milk the moment will fall off the edge and they only have themselves to blame IMO. Even Soul Jazz sucks, they overprice all their goods, granted much of it is rare but then again once you know what you are looking for you'll find that its all out there, take for example the thread on here somewhere with someone asking about the nas is like sample... part of the mystery is simply the secrecy but if i dropped you what it was you'd realise how its not actually that hard to come by. I used to listen to so much stuff in SJ and then go scooting off to Mr 45'S OR The Movie Store round the corner and even to the old guys at camden basement to find the same tracks at a quarter of the price.

as I say its a shame that any business goes by the wayside but these guys didn't pioneer things for us, they simply made some of it available at a high cost.


Blaming 9/11 don't wash either, thats just low.. and why do they think people went to the internet for downloads or buying on ebay n such??? could the easy answer be real cost and availability.


can you tell I aint got no time for many of these LOL

totally agree with that. i cant remember the last time i went into a propa record store here in england. prices are so high. i could go and dig around charity shops and still find good ish to sample at 50p a record

Totally agree with you drcrates
you people in the US don't know how lucky you are. Any vinyl spot in the UK is stupid prices, and i mean stupid - ish went crazy after ebay got invented! my local spot (which i used to love) now has the fuking hair soundtrack at £15 (around 25 bucks)

most charity shops are ish too, one gem in about 20 shops of james last and sound of music soundtracks

rant over

It isn't much different anywhere else. In Canada and the US we've experienced the exact same phenomenon. I've resorted to digging at goodwills and salvation army cause the actual record shops are way too expensive now. But it does sound more extreme in the UK.

Where I'm at it was hard to find good stuff to sample to begin with because most people around here are conservative or redneck whitefolk. Meaning it's mostly very commercial rock records that are used. The record shops here have clued in to sampling and the want for soul/jazz etc. so they try to cash in by getting re-issues. It's cool to an extent, but they are more expensive than CD's and they are albums that are well known and have been raped for samples since the 80's and 90's. Re-issues just aren't worth it in most cases.

As time goes on I find it harder and harder to dig. Lately because of this I've been doing more E-digging. I burn the stuff to mp3 disc and sample off my cdj 800. For right now it does the trick somewhat, but most stuff on the internet isn't all that rare or great either.

Regardless I do my best to adapt to the changing climate of digging. I just get better at looking for dopeness in sh!t records. You gotta listen and go through a lot more rubbish to find the gems nowadays.

Totally agree with u Dacrates.

Down the Northern Quarter route in Manchester as well everything is getting v pricey. King Bee records down Chorlton is good though.


I mean i seen the f*cking 'Sound of Music' soundtrack for £3.00 in one charity shop?! People should know that sh*t just doesn't sell. In Barnsley as well i seen a charity shop selling a not rare at all Grover Washington record for £15. WTF? They think they gonna get a load of record Collector magazine twats flocking round the shop? Im well against paying £15 for one record in a charity shop.

I been e-baying a lot which is sad really cos theres nothing like getting your fingers dusty

tusk wrote:Totally agree with you drcrates
you people in the US don't know how lucky you are. Any vinyl spot in the UK is stupid prices, and i mean stupid - ish went crazy after ebay got invented! my local spot (which i used to love) now has the fuking hair soundtrack at £15 (around 25 bucks)

most charity shops are ish too, one gem in about 20 shops of james last and sound of music soundtracks

rant over

i got three different versions of hair all for like 2 dollars each

Things are still OK up north? I'm always impressed by the beebs facillity to cover a london story and then feed it out as a 'UK' story.
London-centric, nationaly funded!, media really gets on my tits.