Ode to the Independent Record Store
Written by Sophie Abbott
This holiday season, it’s tempting to hop on the Internet to shop for your loved ones. There’s a reason online shopping rose to astonishing popularity in the first place -- gone are the days of fighting traffic for a parking spot at the mall, lining up at the doors of a Macy’s or Dillard’s at 1 A.M. on Black Friday and cursing yourself for waiting until the last minute. The holidays make gift-giving inconvenient: suddenly, the pleasure of shopping for someone you love is vacuumed out of the air and replaced with Mariah Carey’s whistle notes, the general public more frantic and impatient than ever before under the pressure of an impending deadline. Consumerism reaches its peak -- if I hear one more mention of the Starbucks“ Bearista” cup, I might pass out -- and we’re all left scrambling to spend money at establishments that don’t really give a damn about us. Scrolling through the aisles in the comfort of your own home is a necessary reprieve, don’t get me wrong. But if there is any kind of music/film/art/comic/antique/literature/culture appreciator in your life, allow me to introduce the hottest place to shop this Christmas: Your Local Indie Record Store.
I was fifteen when I watched Almost Famous (2000) for the first time, and Kate Hudson as Penny Lane was the most chic and captivating person I had ever seen. Wild curls, cool shades, iconic fur-lined coat -- she was a culmination of everything I wanted to be. Free-spirited and untouchable and a proponent of music at every turn. What might be her most seminal line from the film goes like this:“ I always tell the girls, never take it seriously. If you never take it seriously, you never get hurt. You never get hurt, you always have fun, and if you ever get lonely, just go to the record store and visit your friends.” I visited the sole record store in my small town the very next day and bought a second-edition pressing of Joni Mitchell’s Blue. It cost almost the entire paycheck from my first job as a grocery bagger, and I had never felt more grown up. That record store has long since closed, and the small strip of shops it belonged to now sit in the shadow of an enormous parking deck (You could say they paved paradise and put up a parking lot).
Nonetheless, the spirit of the independent record store lives on. The aesthetic alone is cemented in pop culture as a movie moment waiting to happen, whether it be Ghost World or 500 Days of Summer or either iteration of High Fidelity. Digging through crates of vinyl or shelves of CDs is a distinctly human experience that I urge you to explore this year -- shut up and be the main character for an afternoon; it’s worth it. And don’t just take it from me! I got in touch with two of my favorite independent record stores to gather some expert advice for first-time record store patrons.
Flashback Records boasts three locations across London, but I’m partial to their Shoreditch storefront, tucked away at the crest of Brick Lane. It’s already an iconic street, bursting at the seams with guerilla art, international food, and vintage clothing meccas: Flashback is the cherry on top of East London’s delightfully chaotic cake.
“ Flashback’s special because we’re not trying to be,” Kieron, their social media manager, tells me.“ We’re just a bunch of people who really love music. Everyone who works here is completely obsessed. We just care about good records and creating a space where people feel welcome to flick through the racks at their own pace.”
If you’re intimidated by the world of vinyl, or don’t quite know where to start, Kieron’s advice is the same as Penny Lane’s: “ Don’t overthink it. Put on a record you already love and see how it hits. If it grabs you, brilliant. If not, no worries. It doesn’t need to be a statement or a lifestyle. It’s simply a very physical, very human way to connect with music. Start with one record that means something to you and see if it opens a door. That’s really all there is to it. You own the record; it’s yours. Plus there’s so much music that never makes it to streaming, and buying a record actually supports the artist.”
“Don’t overthink it. Put on a record you already love and see how it hits. If it grabs you, brilliant. If not, no worries. It doesn’t need to be a statement or a lifestyle. It’s simply a very physical, very human way to connect with music.”
The shop is no stranger to star power -- everyone from Thurston Moore to Finn Wolfhard has wandered through its doors -- but that’s not what keeps things interesting for Flashback’s patrons. “Honestly, everyone gets treated the same,” Kieron says.“ In here, the regulars are just as much the heart of the place as any famous face. Putting on small gigs for bands who later get big is always a buzz, but the real joy is when you discover a record [you] didn’t know existed and it ends up becoming a favorite. Those little moments are what keep it exciting.”
Flashback Records is the definition of a treasure trove. Like most independent record stores, even if vinyl isn’t what you’re looking for, they have racks upon racks of DVDs, CDs, books, cassettes, and band merch to choose from. My days browsing their selection sometimes ended not with a record, but with a Spice Girls mug, or a Stevie Wonder poster, and always with a sense of accomplishment. When you visit a record store, you’re participating in something larger than yourself, something made powerful solely by the passion of its participants.
The real beauty, though, is how different each shop can be. This past June, on the hottest day of the year, I was halfway through a 72-hour trip to New York City and wound up at Limited to One Records. Hidden below street level in the East Village, a small staircase led me down to a limited selection of carefully-curated, rare vinyl. When I was greeted by Kristian, the husband of the husband-wife duo who run the store, neither of us knew I’d be calling him up five months later to discuss my visit. Instead, we briefly chatted about the album he was playing over the shop’s speakers -- Die in Love by Greet Death. The record wasn’t yet available to the general public, and Kristian could have easily kept it some inaccessible secret, but he shared it with me instead.
“ I think Limited to One is worth a visit for a few reasons,” he explains now.“ First, we specialize in hard-to-find vinyl and rare pieces, so there’s always an element of discovery when you walk in. We curate our inventory with intention, focusing on LPs and media you won’t easily stumble upon online or in most other shops, which keeps the experience fresh and genuinely exciting for collectors.”
In short, if you’re a hardcore collector, Limited to One is the spot for you. But don’t be fooled: newcomers are equally welcome.“ I want the store to feel welcoming and community-driven,” Kristian tells me.“ My goal is to build a space where record lovers -- whether they’re deep dive collectors like me or people simply looking for a friendly‘ third place’ -- can connect, talk music, and feel at home while they browse.”
You don’t have to wonder whether you’re“ into it” enough: you belong at the record store because it’s just as integral to community-building as a library, or a public park. Stop by for a conversation, or a change of scenery, and you might walk away with a new obsession.
Even from the other side of the pond, Kristian’s advice for anyone buying a turntable rings with the same ethos as Kieron’s.“ Focus on what feels most fun and meaningful to you. Think about the type of collector you want to be: Do you want every album you’ve ever loved? Are you drawn to rare vinyl as an investment? Are you an audiophile chasing the best possible sound? Or are you more of a casual collector who simply enjoys discovering new music and artists? Once you have a sense of that, you can choose equipment and build a collection that fits your style.”
Limited to One deconstructs the idea that collecting is esoteric because its main focus is connecting people to music they love, one step at a time. During the pandemic, they started a“ blind box” service on Patreon -- each box is personalized to the individual customer’s taste, and you can choose from three affordable price points. Along with the hand-picked records also come totes or prints, which make a subscription the perfect gift for that hard-to-shop-for music fanatic in your life.
At the end of the day, Kristian’s not in it for the wax alone -- uplifting local art is the shop’s main priority.“ What I really love about owning Limited to One is getting to collaborate with artists, musicians, labels, and other genuinely creative people,” he says.“ We work with local artists to design our totes and shirts, and we partner with labels on our store exclusives featuring special artwork or unique vinyl variants available only at the store. And even though we’re a tiny space, we host in-store performances, which has been such a fun way to connect with bands and bring music directly into the shop.”
