Rough Trade to open in Nottingham

Rough Trade is to open a music retail outlet in Nottingham this autumn, its first UK store outside of London.

The record label already has shops in Shoreditch and Ladbroke Grove in London – Rough Trade East and Rough Trade West – as well as in Brooklyn, New York, but they will be branching out to Nottingham’s Independant Creative Quarter, setting up what they say will be, “our finest store, yet.”, with the new expansion being announced via Twitter, teasing the move as potentially the ‘first of many’.

Nottingham-based film-maker Jeanie Finlay, who made a documentary about the last record shop in Teeside, said the arrival of Rough Trade is good news for the city.

“People love Rough Trade – it’s more than just a record shop. It’s very much about vinyl and it shows – like I tried to in my film – that buying music at a record shops gives you memories you can’t get from clicking download.” – Jeanie Finlay

However one must not forget that such establishments exist already, for example ‘The Music Exchange’ in Stoney Street, Hockley which sell vinyls instore and online, promote local talent through gigs and are part of a community orientated social enterprise supporting vulnerable and homeless people. They have also been a finalist for the last 2 years in the Music Week Awards, Independent Retailer of the Year.

Nevertheless, the independant retailer scene in Nottingham will be getting a reinvigorating boost, with our friends at MiMM, (a creative store which strives to combine the worlds of fashion, music and art through providing premium menswear, audio and visual events, our art collective and record label.”) welcoming the new store with open arms, stating in their recent blog post.

‘…heads up to people, apparently they will be a few doors down from Mimm this autumn, we welcome with open arms.’ – Mimm

In other good news for music retail, two new independent record stores have recently announced their opening in London.

Love Vinyl in Shoreditch and Yam Records in Peckham are two new additions to the capital’s independent scene.