Do you remember where you were when you bought your first record? For the storyteller behind @richardsmithwrites, there are two memories, one from a famous London store and one from a small local shop. The second came with a surprise that arrived decades later.
It is a gentle, thoughtful story about growing up around records, about pocket money and patience, and about discovering long after the fact why a favorite shop changed. Here is how he told it.
@richardsmithwrites
The HMV shop on Oxford Street
His first memory is of the HMV shop on Oxford Street in London. You would browse, pick the record you wanted and hand it to an assistant who was surrounded by a bank of turntables. The assistant would put the record on a turntable and point you to a booth around the outside of the shop, where you could listen to your choice.
Listening from the outside
He did not use the booths very often, because he did not have a lot of money and was barely a teenager. But he would walk around the outside of the booths and listen to what each person had selected. It was such a diversity, he said, with things he knew, things he liked and things he had never heard before. In a way, he thinks that is what started to attract him to music and to records.
The small shop near home
His second memory is of a record shop very close to where he lived. It was not big, he said, about the size of a large living room. The records stood around the sides, displayed in their sleeves and covers. He went in again as a barely teenage boy, knowing what he wanted to buy but hanging around for ages to browse the racks. He probably knew the stock better than the people in the shop did.
Forty minutes of browsing
After twenty, thirty or forty minutes, he would take the record he had come in for, hand it over with a pile of coins from his pocket money and buy it. That was the routine. But he always felt he was being observed while he was in there, with eyes following him around the shop.
An old friend admits the truth
Quite recently, he was telling this story to someone he knew from way back then. He mentioned the feeling of being observed, and said he had a feeling the staff thought he was stealing the records. The friend replied that of course he was stealing the records, so it was no wonder they were keeping an eye on him. The storyteller made clear that he never did. But hearing it, he said, absolutely destroyed him.
Empty sleeves on the racks
The conversation also explained something that had puzzled him for years. A few months into his visits, the shop replaced the records on display with card in the sleeves. After that, he said, it was never the same. In his caption he adds that he always left with exactly what he had gone in for, and that the staff turned out to have good reason to keep an eye out, just not on the right person.
Record shop history and browsing tips
This memory touches on several parts of record shop life, and each one comes with some general advice for collectors young and old.
- Listening booths were once a standard feature in larger record stores, letting customers hear a record before buying. They were especially useful for shoppers on a tight budget who wanted to be sure of their choice.
- Many shops display empty sleeves or dummy covers on the racks and keep the actual discs behind the counter. This protects stock from damage and theft and is still common today.
- When you browse, handle records by the edges and sleeves, return each one to its place and avoid bending covers. Good manners help shop owners relax around browsers.
- Staff often notice who spends a long time browsing, and most would rather help than worry. Chat with the person at the counter, ask questions and let them get to know you.
- If you are young or on a small budget, say what you are saving for. Many owners love helping a new collector find an affordable copy.
- Take your time with the racks, but keep bags and coats where staff can see them. It is a simple courtesy that avoids misunderstandings.
- Keep a wish list in your phone or a notebook, so that long browsing sessions have a purpose and you leave with exactly what you came for.
- Remember that a long browse can be its own education. Seeing covers, credits and labels in person is one of the best ways to learn about music.
A memory with a late twist
What makes this story moving is the gap between what he felt and what was really going on. As a teenager, he sensed suspicion without understanding it. Decades later, a casual chat filled in the missing piece, and it changed how he saw a favorite place. It is a good reminder that shops, like people, respond to the worries of their time, and that a young browser can be caught in a story he never knew was being written. The records changed to empty sleeves, but the love of music stayed.
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