'It’s a very important day': Four of Cork's music shop managers talk Record Store Day
Cork record store managers, from top left, Ray O'Brien of Music Zone; Erwin Morales and Claudia Hernandez of l, 33RPM; John Dwyer of Bunker Viny; David O’Donovan, Golden Discs. Pictures: Chani Anderson
When Ireland succumbed to government mandates and closed during the 2020 pandemic, national record store owners found themselves in unfamiliar territory. Even though vinyl sales had surpassed CDs for the first time since the 1980s, one downtrodden thought dominated above all else: would record shops survive?
For Ray O’Brien, owner of Music Zone in Togher, the challenge presented itself as an opportunity. “It was a tricky enough time alright,” he says. “But the positive that came from it, from our point of view, was that it gave us the push to really go for it with our website. That grew exponentially during Covid, having not done much business before. Suddenly, our online sales jumped to become about 30% of all of our sales, from about 10% pre-Covid.”
O’Brien founded Music Zone in 2001 as the final step in a lifelong dream. “I remember buying my first cassette in 1985, Bruce Springsteen's Born In The USA, and being given U2 records every Christmas.”
Having worked in record stores for nearly seven years before that, an opportunity arose in Carrigaline Shopping Mall, which encouraged him to take a punt. “I saw some brochure and decided to go for it,” he says. “I had the experience, but that didn’t mean it didn’t feel like a shot in the dark.”
Music Zone boasts the largest selection of records in Cork and Munster, and is now run by O’Brien and his son Cormac, as well as two musicians Shane Healy and Adam Walsh. Together, the staff boast the kind of knowledge and in-store camaraderie you dream of from a local music store. They also prioritise local artists and put on in-store performances for local fans.
Music Zone’s demographic generally skews male, “but it is changing,” O’Brien says. “We see kids and teenagers come in regularly today,” he says. “Kids as young as 8 or 9 come in and really enjoy the merch tables. Generally, it’s 35-65-year-olds who are here, but because of a resurgence in record popularity, we see all types.”
This Record Store Day, Music Zone will do as they always do: celebrate. “It’s a very important day for our shop,” O’Brien says. “We support a lot of local music in the shop and throw a bit of a party on the day. It’s also the one day in the year when certain stuff can only be bought in a record store. An awful lot of the time, record companies would have exclusives that can’t be bought in shops, but it's the one day of the year where if you want to pick up a bespoke, special record, it’s available here. From that point of view, it’s great.”
He, like many others, expects Taylor Swift to dominate sales this Record Store Day. “Also, Passengers, Bowie, Billie Eilish, Dusty Springfield, Talking Heads… There are about 500 special releases due out on the day. And we’ll probably carry three-quarters of them, if not more.”
John Dwyer is founder of Bunker Vinyl on Camden Quay in Cork. Dwyer moved back to Ireland in 2017 after two decades living in the UK. He first left the day after his 18th birthday to study nurse training at Brunel, then spent several years as a social worker for children with profound disabilities and addiction issues for Ealing Council.
When the Conservatives returned to power in 2010, they ushered in a decade of spending cuts and rolling back state services, meaning Dwyer and some 750 other staff were left jobless. It was just the push he needed to head back to Ireland and start up that record shop.
“I’m originally from Dungarvan, but I always said that if I were to come back to Ireland, I would move to Cork,” he says. “I just love it here.” His first business was a market stall at the Mother Jones Market, until he found the space in the basement at Ozalid House. The store celebrated its ninth year in business on April 1. “I actually forgot,” he laughs.
Bunker is that rare thing, a truly curated indie space where everyone from teenage girls to old men can bask in the reflected glory of pressed vinyl. Dwyer does not stock major labels like Warner and Universal due to the swelling price, which means the demographic is ever-changing.
“Vinyl had a good revival a few years ago,” he says. “Stranger Things meant that we had 15-year-old girls coming in looking for Kate Bush. And TikTok has been huge, too. It’s great, because traditionally record shops were dominated by men, now you have teenage girls coming in looking for the Cocteau Twins.”
Record Store Day doesn’t particularly affect Bunker. “We do our own version,” Dwyer laughs. “It seems to work for us.”
The big sellers he predicts on the day? “Khruangbin is flying out the door for us. Kate Bush remains a big, big seller. And we’re seeing a huge resurgence in the likes of Oasis, Blur and The Smiths. It seems like people are able to separate Morrissey’s art from the artist.”
Today’s music might be a digital commodity, meaning it has become easy to dismiss record collecting as a snobbish affectation. But the practice continues to hold a certain kind of allure. (2020 saw “High Fidelity,” Nick Hornby’s 1995 novel about the romantic devastations of an obsessive record-store owner, adapted for the second time as a Hulu TV series, starring Zoë Kravitz.) What is the endearing allure of records?
“For many, it’s the nostalgia,” says Erwin Morales, co-owner of 33RPM on MacCurtain Street.
“For many people, it’s the only way they consume music.” “They’re the kind of people who pay in cash and still use DVD players,” Claudia Hernandez, the other co-owner, laughs. “For others, it’s cool. They really appreciate having the physical media and playing the whole thing in one go. I think they also appreciate supporting an artist this way – they feel it’s better than simply streaming something on Spotify.”
Husband and wife team, Morales and Hernandez, took over 33RPM back in 2021. A biologist and software engineer by trade, the couple initially joked about taking it over before an opportunity presented itself.
Both hail from Mexico and made the move to Ireland, via Spain, 11 years ago for work. When they settled, only to pick up a record store along the way, most of their friends laughed. “I think they think we are crazy,” Morales laughs. “Every so often, they ask Do you still have that funny little shop?” They make it work by way of split schedules, Transition Year students and hard work. And, business shows.
“We are still growing and learning, but sales are increasing month-on-month,” Hernandez says. “Our catalogue is broad, but we’re constantly changing it up.”
33RPM generally has two categories to buy from, they say. “The records that pay the bills, and the ones we like to sell,” Morales laughs. “We love hip-hop, reggae, soul and music from Africa and Latin America.” And the ones that sell? “Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours,” Hernandez smiles. “That is our best seller by far.”
The demographic that comes into 33RPM spans teenagers making mixtapes to OAPs reliving their youth. Just last month, Hernandez and Morales received an email from the daughter of a former punter to say he had passed and that she was eternally grateful for the joy he’d had in his final weeks in the shop. “In that way, running the shop can feel more like a public service than a functioning business,” Hernandez says.
On Record Store Day, they have mixed feelings. “I think the original idea was a good one,” Morales says.
“But the issue now is that the market is skewed towards the big labels, and independent records are not selling,” Hernandez adds.
Though their sales have gotten better over the years, both Morales and Hernandez would like the day to pivot around independents rather than capitalism. That said, they are excited to see what this year brings. “Last year we had a queue of three people outside when we opened up, which was very cute,” Hernandez smiles.
Their expected big sellers this year span a myriad. “The Gorilaz, definitely,” Morales says. “ The Pixies, Charli XCX, The Harry Potter soundtrack… Oh, and I’ve been asked about the Bluey seven inches a lot recently, so I expect that to go too.”
In a time where we’re all trying to navigate an appreciation for the arts as the cost of being alive gets higher, the idea of fostering community around music can feel harder, still. For David O’Donovan, manager of Golden Discs on Patrick’s Street, an open-armed music community still persists.
“You always get the same people in browsing all the time, we’d know them all,” he smiles. “What we’ve noticed though is that in the past two years or so, vinyl buyers are getting younger and younger. It’s great to see. They’re looking for new music as well as the classics, and often they’ll mention how their parents and grandparents got them into it.”
O’Donovan has been working at Golden Discs for nearly 25 years, after an opportunity arose after school. By his own admission, he’s not from a musical family, but he’s always loved music. “My dad had a few Beatles records, whereas U2 was always my favourite band.”
Vinyl, he says, is the reason the shop’s still standing. “Vinyl been our saviour, really” he says. “We opened up our vinyl section upstairs about seven years ago, and it’s been non-stop.”
Golden Discs has taken part in Record Store Day nearly every year since its inception, with no plans to stop. “There’s a great buzz around the place for it,” he says. “I know people think it’s a racket, but it is for people who love vinyl, and who don’t always have access to the ones they love. We always have a queue outside the door for it when we open.”
No matter what Taylor Swift does, according to O’Donovan, “she will sell.” But he also expects to see records from The Cure, Gracie Abrams and Charli XCX fly out the door.
The main thing he’s looking forward to? “Showing people the variety that’s out there,” he says. “It’s a chance to look around, get some new music and maybe even try something different. And I don’t see any harm in that.”
