'We’ve built an incredible music community' - Stourbridge vinyl shop to close its doors later this year
Record Culture will close its physical shop by the end of September.
A Stourbridge record shop will close its doors later this year after seven years, its owner has announced.
Record Culture, the independent vinyl record shop on Market Street, is set to close by the end of September.
Owner Lee Newman announced the decision on social media calling it the "right time" to move on as the shop's lease comes to an end.
However, it will be the physical shop that will close, with Record Culture continuing to operate through pop-ups, fairs and other events, community selling, and its online store.
Lee said: "After seven years in Stourbridge I have taken the hard decision to close our physical shop.
“As our lease ends this year, it feels like the right time to let the physical shop come to its natural end too.
“Exact shop closure date is TBC but will be no later than the end of September.
“To be clear: Record Culture is not closing as a business. But there are also no immediate plans to relocate the physical shop anywhere else.
“Reasons? Loads, too many; some business, some personal. The long and short of it is I simply no longer feel it is the best thing either for me or the business to have a permanent, physical shop with all its complexities.
“Both me and the business need a change. The business needs change that reflects the shift in how people are shopping and what today’s town centre retailer has to come to terms with.
“On a personal level I’ve reached the stage where I just want to do things differently.
“This is very much my decision, though it would be disingenuous of me not to acknowledge that if town centre retail carries on as it is, I may not have that luxury. Instead of the traditional town centre base, Record Culture will instead focus on ‘pop-ups’, fairs and other events, community selling, and online.
“Incidentally we already do all of these things, so we’re just building on a lot of what we already do quite well.”
He added: “More info will come out in good time about all our plans – today isn’t the day to go big on this. The permanent base will disappear from Stourbridge – but we won’t.
“I intend to keep Record Culture as much a part of Stourbridge as I can. This thing was made in Stourbridge; we’ve built an incredible music community here and in whatever form we’re selling records, we’ll be in Stourbridge.
“Thank you to everyone who has supported us for seven years and to those who I know will continue to do so in whatever way we’re selling records. Record Culture isn’t going away – it just needs to change.
“For now, we roll on as we have done for seven mostly fun years.”
Customers responded to the message with an outpouring of support.
One said: “The best shop in Stourbridge by a mile. Not just for the records, but record of the year night, the link up with other indie shops and just trying to make the town feel a bit more vibrant, positive and rich in culture.
“While I respect Lee’s decision completely I can’t pretend not to be gutted by the news.”
Another said: “Understandable but you will be missed.
“The places for like-minded souls are disappearing and in a sea of charity shops, vape shops and coffee shops you were the last post for what used to make Stourbridge a hive of creativity.
“You're not going away but you will be missed.”
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