Friday and Saturday are the days that count at Circular Sound. Twice a week the shutters go up at the city-centre end of St Benedicts Street, inside the Norwich Lanes, and diggers get their run at one of the densest second-hand stocks in the city. The name runs in tall lettering across a traditional timber shopfront, above windows crowded with sleeves, posters and handwritten notices, and behind the door is a shop built up over three decades by one person who still buys with his own ear.
Background / History
Circular Sound started in 1988, and not in a shop. Owner Martin Webb was made redundant that year and went down to his local Norfolk market the very next day with the records, CDs and tapes he had gathered over the years, set up a stall and began selling. The stall worked, the stock grew, and in time the business took premises in Norwich itself. It has been part of St Benedicts Street ever since, trading from Kirby House at number 5, and it still carries the line printed on its own round logo: much more than just a CD shop.
What You’ll Find
The stock is overwhelmingly second-hand and deliberately broad. LPs and 7-inch singles fill the racks alongside CDs, DVDs and Blu-rays, music books, back issues of magazines and collectable merchandise from the UK and abroad. Soul runs deep here. Motown, Northern Soul, 50s and 60s R&B and 70s disco are all properly represented, which is no accident given Martin’s other life as a DJ. Around that core sits an eclectic spread across rock, pop, jazz, reggae and electronic music, with condition taken seriously and prices kept sensible. If something is not on the shelves it is worth asking, because special orders often land the next day, and mail order reaches buyers well beyond Norfolk.
Experience / Atmosphere
The shop is compact and very full, but it is organised, so a proper dig here rewards patience rather than punishing it. Martin is usually behind the counter and happy to talk, whether that means a recommendation, the story behind a pressing or a heads-up on what has just come in. Regulars treat the two-day week as a fixture, and there is steady traffic of people who came in for one thing and left with three. Martin also DJs themed R&B, Motown and soul nights around Norwich, so records pulled from these racks often end up on a dancefloor soon after.
Why Visit
- Trading since 1988 under the same owner, with decades of buying knowledge behind the counter
- Deep second-hand stock of vinyl, CDs, DVDs, books, magazines and memorabilia under one roof
- Genuine strength in Motown, Northern Soul, 50s and 60s R&B and 70s disco
- Special orders for anything not on the shelves, usually turned around quickly
- Worldwide mail order alongside the shop counter
- A central spot in the Norwich Lanes, easy to build into a day on St Benedicts Street
Summary
Circular Sound rewards people who like to look properly. Decades of trading have left it stocked with the kind of second-hand vinyl, CDs and music ephemera that only accumulate when one person has been paying attention that long, and the soul racks alone justify the trip. Open Fridays and Saturdays only, it is a shop to plan a Norwich visit around rather than stumble into.
