THE JOY (DIVISION) OF SHOPPING

With interest I read the letter from Nick Banks (RC 370) about record shops. Whenever I visit a new town I find that one of the highlights is finding a local record shop. Despatching the wife to the nearest shoe shop, I venture inside where one of two scenarios unfold:

One: You enter a poorly-lit room with rack upon rack of sleeves jammed together like some disgorged accordion. The records are gathered in an unsorted collection of ‘genres’. Am I the only person who hates this method of arranging records?

Are The Jam 70s punk or 80s new wave? Pink Floyd: 60s psychedelia, 70s progressive, or 80s AOR? Will Oasis be under Britpop, Indie, or Beatles Related? After a few perfunctory attempts to peek at the top two inches of a few sleeves, I leave and join my wife before she’s had the chance to get onto a second pair of shoes.

Two: The records are arranged in alphabetized rows with sufficient room to flick through the covers and in sufficient light. Flicking through the As, you reach The Arrows - that reminds me, I’m still looking for that obscure Joan Jett album. A quick trip to J and I stumble across a previously unpurchased Joy Division. This then leads me to N... Half an hour later, with shoe boxes and albums under our respective arms my wife and I walk off into the sunset as satisfied shoppers.

by Charlie Cook
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