Broomhill’s shopping parade has turned over many times since the late seventies, but the hand-painted red and yellow fascia partway along Fulwood Road has stayed exactly where it is. Record Collector is the longest-serving record shop in Sheffield, and it now spreads across two adjoining units, one given over to vinyl and the other to CDs.
Background / History
Barry Everard opened the doors in July 1978, having managed Virgin’s Sheffield branch before striking out on his own. Broomhill was a deliberate choice, close to the universities and busy with students walking past the window. The shop kept buying and selling vinyl straight through the decades when the major labels had written the format off, which is a large part of why it is still trading. It has grown to roughly four times its original size, and the CD shop next door opened once the stock outgrew a single room. Sheffield’s own musicians have passed through from the beginning, from Def Leppard, ABC and The Human League to Pulp and Richard Hawley, and Barry has long called the place a meeting point and a crossroads for the city’s bands and the people who follow them.
What You’ll Find
Roughly 50,000 vinyl records and 25,000 CDs sit between the two rooms, making this the largest independent vinyl and CD shop in South Yorkshire. The vinyl runs through rock, pop, indie, metal, jazz, blues, soul, reggae, rock and roll and soundtracks, in new pressings alongside a deep second-hand stock that keeps turning over. The CD side widens further into classical, folk, world, country and rockabilly, and there are more than 3,000 second-hand DVDs priced between 49p and £2, with plenty of music documentaries and concert films among them. Records and CDs are bought, sold and part exchanged across the counter, and stock also moves through Discogs and eBay, so a phone call ahead is worth it if you are chasing one particular title.
Experience / Atmosphere
Almost everything here is hand-lettered, from the sign writing across the shopfront to the yellow strips above the racks marking out Second Hand Rock and Pop. Racks run full to the ceiling with boxes stacked beneath them, which is rather the point: this is a shop built for a dig rather than a quick look. Staff know what is in the building and will talk about it for as long as you like without steering you anywhere. Record Store Day each April brings queues several hundred deep along the pavement and live music outside the door. Signings over the years have included Drenge and, memorably, Public Enemy in December 2015, when a local photographer ended up running the group to their gig across town in his Ford Focus.
Why Visit
- Sheffield’s longest-running record shop, trading continuously since July 1978
- Two adjoining shops, vinyl in one and CDs in the other, with around 75,000 titles between them
- Second-hand stock with real depth, refreshed constantly through buying and part exchange
- Cheap second-hand DVDs, including music documentaries and live concert films
- One of the great Record Store Day mornings in the north of England
- An easy walk from the universities, on the main road out through Broomhill
Summary
Few shops carry this much of a city’s musical memory and still work as a proper, well-stocked record shop rather than a museum piece. Record Collector has outlasted the format wars, the download years and most of its competition by holding on to good stock and knowing what to do with it. Give yourself longer than you planned, work through the boxes as well as the racks, and do not leave without looking in next door.
