Record shops in Bristol (UK)

Looks like I might be popping over the bridge n' border into Bristol tomorrow and was after a bit of local knowledge from any Bristol dwellers. I've been to a couple of stores on previous visits (Rise springs to mind) but I'm particularly keen to check out some good shops selling used vinyl.

As I'm going via train, ideally they'd be located centrally - any suggestions?

 

Plastic Wax on Cheltenham Rd sells quite a bit of used vinyl. If you continue on Cheltenham Road up to Gloucester Road there are several other retro or charity shops selling used vinyl.

Rise is probably your best bet for new vinyl - Fopp on College Green is also worth a look for newer stuff.

 

Thanks!

I ended up visiting a good number of places: there are certainly more shops than in Cardiff but they're also noticeably more expensive. Whereas I'm used to 'standard' used vinyl being £5-£8 (admittedly more for more rare items) it seemed like £10/£12/£15 was the norm in Bristol. I thought that at least Wanted Records (and the other couple of stalls) in St Nicholas Market may have been a bit cheaper for lower overheads but not so. Sadly, I ended up leaving empty-handed....

 

I visited Bristol again yesterday. Again I was struck by how overpriced (IMHO) a lot of the shops were. It's one thing slapping high prices on 40+ year old vinyl but when it's not even great condition People in Bristol must be even more affluent than I thought to pay these prices!

My favourite shop in Bristol is The Centre For Better Grooves: more reasonably priced, a nice clean layout and a good jazz/jazz fusion section. Also picked up a record from a street market stall called Uncle Punkster who was also much more reasonably priced.

 

I guess you've never shopped in London then, Bristol is most definitely not overpriced, you should see the European and Japanese dealers spent thousands a time when they visit, yes there are shops with four figure records on their walls, (Wanted), but their pricing is usually pretty much spot on and their stock sells, Gordon in Centre For Better Grooves sells a lot of new reissues and has £10, £15, £20 price bands so his pricing is pretty much what you'd expect, if you were planning to make regular trips it would be worthwhile getting a Plastic Wax discount card for a fiver, it would get you 10% off every visit and 20% off on the second Tuesday and last Sunday of each month. There are one or two genuinely expensive and badly graded shops in Bristol, I won't name them, but I don't think you've found them yet either. Incidentally I suspect rents and rates, along with housing costs and what they pay for stock are somewhat higher in Bristol than in Cardiff, I know no record shop owners are getting rich, that's for sure, I don't know any affluent buyers either.

 

You're right, I've never gone (used) record shopping in London, but if Bristol is cheap by comparison I'll probably give it a miss

From my point of view, one of the (numerous) reasons for shopping for used records is potentially discovering hitherto unheard of delights. The trouble is, at much of this pricing it removes my willingness to have a punt, especially when I look at the vinyl and see it's not in particularly great condition. Rents/rates doubtless play a big role in prices in retail as a whole although I can't imagine they could be *that* much higher in Bristol. Perhaps you could PM me the names of the places you were unwilling to name above: it would be interesting to see if I have visited...

In any case, Gordon's shop is cool: I really like it and wish there was an equivalent here. There was also another stall in the St Nicholas Market that was reasonably priced (bloke has a vintage Sansui receiver and Dual turntable) but I can't remember its name.

 

Gordon is the man who originally started Fopp so he's been doing it a long time, he's also a Jazz fan, as you may have guessed. I have to admit I usually only go to Wanted in St. Nicks, I'm guessing you are talking about Tony, (Before The Dawn), just opposite Wanted, but there's also Paul, (Payback), with lots of Reggae reissues and the Rock Shop, I think that's it currently.

I can tell you that stock pretty much flies out from Wanted, Plastic Wax etc., the vinyl revival is very much alive and well in Bristol, so lots of things that used to be £3, £4, £5 are now £10 and more, I think everyone has trouble getting their head around some of those price rises including the shops themselves. Anything in Plastic Wax that is £10 or more should be in excellent condition or labeled to indicate otherwise, the cheaper Soul and Reggae is generally pretty marked and the other sub £10 titles are either going to be marked or just things that are really common and have little demand, most things in Wanted are in excellent condition, likewise I think Gordon's used stock is pretty clean. I won't name names, because to be fair I don't go in them and things may have changed, but other shops including the relatively new one across the river were less fussy in my experience although my advice in any shop is always check the condition.

Apart from Gloucester Road and St. Nick's there are many other dedicated and not so dedicated shops selling records though the fact I've either visited them the once or not bothered may be a clue that they aren't all worth the effort. For new records it's HMV, Fopp and Rise, I do miss Head, I think you still have a Head, so you are probably sorted for new.

Finally I can say from experience that both Plastic Wax and Wanted pay very fair prices for the right stock and their margins are probably much less than you'd imagine.

I ought to get paid by the Council for these tourist information posts.

 

Also, almost every 3rd month there's a huge Record Fair that comes to the Colston Hall and is spread over all 4 floors. It's on tomorrow in fact!