Vinyl boom is 'lifeline' says music shop owner

Raymond Stewart has seen the trends in music sales come and go in the shop's 50 years

A music shop owner has said the surge in people buying physical-format music like vinyl has a been "lifeline".

Raymond Stewart, of Stewart's Music Shop in Dungannon in County Tyrone, said they had "thrown out our LP stands" only to have to search for them again, when demand started to rocket.

Twenty years ago, telling someone you had just bought a vinyl record might have prompted a raised eyebrow, and a decade later, the same might have been the case for a CD.

But a revival of physical-format music has seen sales reach their highest levels in 30 years.

In 2024 the number of independents hit a 10-year high in the UK, at the same time that the total number of shops selling music - such as record stores chains and supermarkets - fell.

This has contributed to a renaissance for another part of the music business which was on the decline just a few years ago - independent record shops.

Northern Ireland is very much part of the trend, with new record shops thriving and established businesses finding new customers.

Mr Stewart, whose shop has just celebrated its 50th anniversary, said CDs still represented the biggest chunk of his sales.

"Around the late 1980s, early 90s vinyl sales would have dropped off, people were buying CDs for their convenience," he said.

"But vinyl is very strong in recent years.

"It's been great, it's been a real lifeline and lift to all of us."

'Destination shopping'

At a challenging time for high streets, Mr Stewart said part of the success for record shops was about becoming "destination businesses".

"We're very blessed to be a destination shop for Irish country music, as well as all the pop stuff as well, but we're lucky to have found that little niche in the market where people travel from England and from their holidays," he said.

Big crowds turned out to see Daniel O'Donnell

The shop was packed on Saturday when Irish country legend Daniel O'Donnell dropped by, with hundreds of people keen to get their hands on his new album.

"It's amazing, it just goes to show you that the physical product is still what people want," O'Donnell said.

"These shops are just invaluable to the music industry."

'You'll remember buying it.. but not if you click and buy online'

Nico Devito started Vanilla Records in 2018

Up the road in Cookstown, Nico Devito's Vanilla Records is a newer addition to the scene.

He set up in Magherafelt in 2018 before moving above an ice cream parlour in the County Tyrone town.

He agreed with Mr Stewart that a key part of independent record shops' appeal was their specialist nature.

"It's something that people will seek out, because there's things that you can get in the records shop you can't just find online," he said.

"You can get anything at one click, but I think people are starting to appreciate the beauty of being able to walk into a shop and have that experience of lifting the thing and checking it out.

"You'll remember where you bought it, you'll not remember the time you clicked and bought something online."

Mr Devito added that record shops benefited from the wide range of people interested in buying physical-format music.

"I get a whole range of people coming in here, from guys that have always been buying physical format - they never stopped," he said.

"Even when there was hardly any records being produced, they were still collecting it.

"Then you've got a great surge of new fans that have come along, started collecting, sort of buying records for the first time.

"Every week I see new people coming into the shop who are buying their first or second record."

Why do people still want to buy vinyl records?

Mr Stewart says there's nothing like the physical product

Despite the popularity of streaming, there are various reasons why people are still attracted to buying vinyl, tapes and CDs.

BBC Radio Ulster broadcaster and vinyl aficionado Ralph McLean said there was a more intimate feel to a physical product.

"People love to be able to hold the record and read the sleeve notes. They love to be able to look at the art of the record sleeve," he said.

"These are things you can't do with streaming. I always feel you don't really own stuff with streaming.

"It always feels like it's somebody else's and you're having a wee sneaky listen to it."

He added that independent record shops had something which made them stand out.

"The bigger commercial stores will always have the new releases and the big name albums that everybody knows and loves," he said.

"If you're looking for something a little bit different, something perhaps you've been seeking for long time, you cannot beat the thrill of a really good little independent record store and you're getting the knowledge and advice of the people who work there as well.

McLean said many people also feel that listening to music on vinyl is the way the artist intended it, due to its warmth and analogue sound.

It is a sentiment echoed by Mr Stewart.

"People are realising that there's nothing like the sound of the needle on the vinyl," he said.

"People, although they do a lot of streaming, they still discover that there's nothing like an actual physical product."