Last Shop Standing: Whatever Happened To Record Shops?

Book excerpt: Last Shop Standing: Whatever Happened To Record Shops? documents the sad disappearance of a cultural icon from our high streets. Once a thriving industry, the UK has gone from having over 2000 independent record shops in the 1980s to just 269 in 2009. Written by Graham Jones, who has worked in the distribution industry for over 25 years as a record company salesman, this book presents a snapshot of a business that is under threat of going the same way as the stamp shop, the coin shop and the candlestick maker. Jones’ speaks to 50 record shop owners to see why they have survived while nearly two thousand others have closed. These interviews form the basis of the book, which celebrates the rich social history in which the record shop is steeped. In 2012 Last Shop Standing was made into an award winning 50 minute film, featuring interviews with Johnny Marr, Norman Cook, Richard Hawley, Paul Weller and Billy Bragg, alongside many of the record shop owners featured in the book. Given a new tagline – ‘the rise, fall and rebirth of the independent record shop’, the film has been screened around the globe and was an official selection at the Chicago International Movies & Music Festival in 2013.