Tell us a little bit about your store? What's the vibe?

The music fans of Lincolnshire travel from all over the county to visit the town and to shop with us. We like to champion music from all different genres. Louth (and the wider area) has a good live music scene.
A positive thing about our new premises, as well as being bigger and closer to the town centre, is that we now have more room for in-store live music, so we are looking forward to inviting local bands and artists in for that very soon.
We have a very supportive customer base built up over 18 years, many of who are now friends, some even helped us with our recent shop move. We're also chuffed that new people have also just discovered us since relocating to our new shop.
One of our favourite moments in the shop was when a customer came in to buy a DVD and was very bemused to find the shop rammed, not realising it was Record Store Day. Whilst waiting in the queue to be served she was getting more & more exasperated on the phone to her friend who was waiting to meet her in town, shouting to the whole shop, 'I don't know what's going on, it's normally dead in here'!
Although we try, we can't please everyone of course... there was a time when a guy brought in a bag of punk singles hoping to sell them to us. Though they were great titles they were completely scratched and unplayable. He was so unhappy that we weren't interested that he took the singles and smashed them all over the entrance to the shop. It was a shocking and properly punk thing to do!
We've had lots of positive experiences of course. After being tipped off by a friend online about the Beatles records, we had in store a guy from Florida who booked a holiday in Lincolnshire several years running so he could come and shop with us.

Can you remember the first record you sold in the shop? And the last?

The first item we ever sold was a second-hand Beatles red compilation double cassette for £4 to a lovely pensioner called June who continued to come in every single day for many years.
The last item we sold was the DJ Fresh Gold Dust RSD22 release to a very excited teenager at closing time on Saturday.

Do you remember the first record shop you went to? And you do you remember the first record you bought?

The first record shop that Lee visited was 'Sounds Electric' in Market Rasen, Lincs in the 80s. At that time, it was full of racks of cassettes and ghetto blasters. Her dad bought Abba and Bee Gees Best of tapes from there for her when she was 5 years old.
The first records that Mark bought were from WHSmith’s in Manchester – 2 classics from 1982... Phil Collins You Can't Hurry Love and Modern Romance Best Years of Our Lives.
As a student in Leicester in the 90s Mark fell in love with Timebox Records, which was like a labyrinth with a great array of second-hand records run by a friendly, knowledgeable owner.
Lee was a student in Norwich in the 90s and fondly remembers Soundclash which has just celebrated its 30th birthday.

What is your favourite record shop (apart from your own!) and why?

Rockaboom in Leicester, which when we first visited in the early 90s felt like the coolest place on earth with fantastic new release displays. Shopped in there for many years including going to a signing with Billy Bragg. We're very happy to see it's still going.

What’s your most memorable record store experience?

Mark remembers Rockaboom playing Suede's Coming Up in the store a few days before it was released, hanging around to listen to whole album, desperate to buy a copy for himself.

What's the best gig you've ever been to?

Mark: Anoushka Shankar at Womad in 2002
Lee: Lamb at Glastonbury in 1999

What's your all-time favourite book?

Mark: Revolution In The Head – Ian MacDonald
Lee: The English Patient – Michael Ondaatje

What's your all-time favourite film?

Mark: The Wicker Man
Lee: Don't Look Now

What would make up your desert island discs?

Mark: Mental Health – Bombastic Mind, This Is The Kit – Two Wooden Spoons, Laura Groves – Pale Shadows, Steve Mason – Never Be Alone, Animals That Swim – Faded Glamour, McAlmont & Butler – You Do, Boo Radleys – Lazarus, Dinosaur Jr – Start Choppin, Stereolab – French Disko, Future Sound Of London – Papua New Guinea, Terry Callier – Dancing Queen, Lal & Mike Waterson – The Scarecrow, Davy Graham – Maajun
Lee: Bob Marley – Sun Is Shining, Nirvana – About A Girl, Radiohead – Jigsaw Falling Into Place, This Is The Kit – Spinney, Depeche Mode – Policy Of Truth, Midlake – Roscoe, Nick Kershaw – I Won't Let The Sun Go Down On Me, John Frusciante – Song To Sing When I'm Lonely, Billie Holiday – Blue Moon, Lamb - Gorecki

Who would form your all-time Festival line-up? (past & present)

Mark: Beatles, Neil Young, Gil Scott Heron, Prince, Morning Star, Pulp, Sebadoh, Kruder & Dorfmeister, Cornershop, Fleetwood Mac, Big Thief, Sunflower Bean, Liane La Havas, Rozi Plain, Rachael Dadd
Lee: This Is The Kit, George Harrison, Father John Misty, Animals That Swim, Radiohead, Jimi Hendrix, Kate Bush, Billie Eilish, David Bowie, The Lemonheads, Blur, Wet Leg, Dan Le Sac vs Scroobius Pip, Otis Redding, Orbital

What's your all-time favourite record?

Mark: The Beatles - Revolver
Lee: Radiohead – In Rainbows

OTHER RECORD STORES