Vinyl store spun into success story

Chris McGranaghan went to Rugeley's indoor market last year to buy a chicken and left an hour later with a shop.

Since then the place has trebled in size and is visited on a weekly basis by dealers from Russia, Japan and all over Europe.

He had been selling off parts of his own huge record collection for six years on ebay when he popped into the Brewery Street shopping centre to buy a bird for dinner.

"I saw the empty unit and thought 'I'll have that'," he says. "Since then I've added two more, and I could do with a fourth."

In January this year music chain HMV announced it would close 40 UK stores over the next 12 months because of declining sales.

Independents are also feeling the pinch with the number of shops falling across the country, from 2,000 some 20 years ago to just 269 at the last count three months ago.

But it's a very different story for vinyl retailers with a huge resurgence in interest in black plastic.

Chris, an IT manager with the RAC for 25 years before taking early retirement, sells everything from rock 'n' roll 78s to the latest Lady Gaga on vinyl.

The 55-year-old said: "Vinyl sounds better, you get a depth and warmth that just isn't there on CD. There's also the artwork and the sleeve notes, and there's the history. When you're buying a Beatles album on vinyl, you're buying the actual record that was made in 1963."

The shop stocks around 6,000 mint and second-hand LPs and singles.

His biggest deal for a single album was £500 for Beginnings by Ambrose Slade, former name of Wolverhampton's own Slade before they shot to stardom.

On Saturday the shopping centre is taking part in the Record Store Day, launched in 2007 with bands — Influx, Chloe and her Bob Cats, The Lean Yellow and Spam — taking up residence in the cafe next to Chris's shop.