Rough Trade opens massive record shop to fight internet

By Geneviève Roberts

Published: 26 March 2007 Independent

 

It was the label that launched The Smiths and, in the 1980s, became synonymous with gritty musical authenticity. Now Rough Trade, which had its origins in a pokey music store on Kensington Park Road in London, is to open Britain's biggest music-only shop in a direct challenge to the all-conquering power of the internet.

 

Set to open its doors to the public in the next two months, the store will occupy 5,000 sq ft of floorspace, sell CDs and vinyl, and be used as a venue for gigs. It will open near Brick Lane in the East End in the summer and, according to those behind the project, the megastore will "reflect the public appetite for exciting new music".

 

Stephen Godfroy, a director of Rough Trade music stores, said he could not confirm any specifics surrounding the opening of the new store, but said: "We are looking to make an official announcement in the next few weeks. Our aim is to deliver something we feel has been missing in this country for far too long - an environment that celebrates music as an exciting art form, not just another commercial commodity - but on a scale that is a departure from the traditional perception of an independent record shop.

 

"The music industry seems to have a lot of doom and gloom about it at the moment, despite people's passion for music being as strong as ever. We certainly hope to put some smiles back on faces with something that reflects the true public appetite for exciting new music."

 

Rough Trade has two record stores, one in Neal's Yard in Covent Garden and the other in Talbot Road, near Portobello.

 

Geoff Travis founded the original Rough Trade shop on Kensington Park Road in 1976. From there, the music label that signed bands including The Smiths, Parisian punk band Metal Urbain, Stiff Little Fingers and Cabaret Voltaire was launched.

 

Though the label and the stores split around 1983, Mr Travis said: "This is an absolutely brilliant thing for music, and for the East End of London. This will be a place where you can learn about new music, and is the opposite to the Wimpy bar approach to selling music."

 

Mr Travis said that although he no longer worked at the shop, he still felt "a great deal of kinship with it" and as the label and the shop still shared the name, they reflected on each other. "It is the right thing to evolve and lead the way, and a great opportunity to open a shop like this at a time when the media outlets as owned by the mainstream become ever more conservative," he said. "It will also become a performance space, another rallying point for independent music."

 

Mr Travis, who bought back the Rough Trade name in 1999 and has since put out records by leading bands such as Arcade Fire, The Libertines and The Strokes, said that if the new Rough Trade store took up the challenge of rivalling the world-famous Amoeba store in San Francisco he would be "very happy".

 

On the record

 

* 1976: Geoff Travis (left) founds the first Rough Trade shop, in Portobello in London.

 

* 1978: As the punk scene burgeons, Travis founds the Rough Trade label, signing the French band Metal Urbain, then Stiff Little Fingers, The Raincoats and Cabaret Voltaire.

 

* 1982: Shop separates from label, which becomes home to bands including The Smiths and The Strokes.

 

* 1987: Second shop opens in Neal's Yard, Covent Garden. More shops later launched in San Francisco, Tokyo and Paris but none thrive and all close.

 

* January 2003: The Rough Trade store releases its first annual Counter Culture compilation, its staff's pick of the best music from the previous year on the label.

 

* 2006: The shop celebrates 30 years of trade with an anniversary compilation.

 

* 2007: Planned opening of largest store yet in east London is announced

5,000 square feet "megastore"?... some Virgin Megastores are literally 10 times that size, the music section occupying at least 1/3 to half of the space, I'd guess.

Edited March 30, 200718 yr by Consie

5,000 square feet "megastore"?... some Virgin Megastores are literally 10 times that size, the music section occupying at least 1/3 to half of the space, I'd guess.

 

and how much of that Virgin space will be taken up with pop stuff like James Morrison and James Blunt?