Record Shops

On this page you will find various Edinburgh record shops of the sixties, seventies, eighties, and nineties. At one time this network of shops was as important to the music scene as the venues themselves. If you have any info, photos of bags, adverts, memories of records bought, instore appearances, any info to add at all,  please do get in touch.

Ard Radio

  • 137 Great Junction Street & 14/16 Bonnington Road
Ard Radio bag.  Thank you to Craig Dawson for this scan.

 Asylum

  • 13 Home Street, Tollcross
From the 1979 Edinburgh telephone directory

Avalanche

  • 33 West Nicolson Street (1st and original shop)
  • 17 West Nicolson Street
  • 31A Dundas Street
  • 2-3 Teviot Place
  • 28 Lady Lawson Street
  • 63 Cockburn Street
  • 5 Grassmarket
Thank you to Charles Laing for this scan.
Thank you to Charles Laing for this scan.
Avalanche 63 Cockburn Street.
Avalanche 17 West Nicolson Street.  This shop was used in the record shop scenes of Richard Jobson’s 2003 film Sixteen Years Of Alcohol.  The scene in question can be seen at 02:08 in the youtube clip below. Thank you to you tube user SerrallongaBCN for this clip.

 Back Beat Records

  • 26 Raeburn Place, Stockbridge 
From the 1984 Edinburgh telephone directory.

 Backtracks

Backtracks opened in November 1989 and is now called Backtracks Music And Games.  At the opening of the shop it was in the Tollcross Times that two bands would perform a set, Realm Of The Shopping Trolley and Shee.  How we managed to fit them in I’ll never know, but now we have so much stock it would be impossible.  We sell Vinyl LP’s, and singles, tapes, record players, hi-fi’s, CD’s, sound equipment, computer games, and dvd and TV accessories.  Thank you to Tommy Robertson for the shop info.

  • 17 Brougham Street, Tollcross

Bandparts

  • 9 Union Place 
From the 1965 Edinburgh telephone directory.

 Bruce’s

  • 45 Shandwick Place 
  • 134a Princes Street
  • 79 Rose Street
From the 1981 Edinburgh telephone directory.
Thank you to Charles Laing for this scan.
Bruces 7″ single paper bag.
Bruce’s bag showing other branches.  Thank you to Andy Mitchell for this scan.
Thank you to Oddfellow for the two Bruce’s badge scans above.
79 Rose Street.   © S.S. 2009.
Bruces 79 Rose Street from a 1979 piece in Sounds.  Thank you to Graham for this scan.
School kids outside Bruce’s, Princes Street.  Thank you to Simon Clegg for the picture.  Simon Clegg writes: The shop was Bruce’s Record Shop at 134a Princes Street in Edinburgh, judging by the albums in the window, it’s June 1980. Sandy McLean and Alan McBlane were working there at the time. Sandy now runs ‘Love Music’ record shop in Glasgow.
An invitation to the launch of Bruce Findlays Zoom record label, the envelope is postmarked 26th July 1978, and it was sent to a certain Bert Muirhead (see Ezy Ryder below).  Thank you to Clive Johnson for this rare item.
T-Shirt for the Bruces Promotions Edinburgh Pop Festival 1973.
Don Huggan designed advert from City Lynx.
Thank you to Vinylshrine for this scan.

 Deja Vu

  • 128 Lauriston Place (demolished)
Thank you to Alan Fergus for this scan.

Discs

  • 4 Caledonian Place
Thank you to Charles Laing for this scan.

 Fopp

  • 42 Cockburn Street (the original Edinburgh Shop)
  • 55 Cockburn Street
  • 3-15 Rose Street (current location)
Thank you to Charles Laing for this scan.
42-44 Cockburn Street 2009.    © S.S. 2009.

 GI Records

  • 37-39 Cockburn Street

 Greyfriars Market

  • 14 Forrest Road in Oddfellows Hall- Ezy Ryder was owned by Willie Taylor and Bert Muirhead, who incidentally wrote this indispensable book.

 Keith Mitchell recalls one of his visits to Ezy Ryder in the mid seventies:  “I loved Ezy Rider Records stall in Greyfriars Market, which I remember from the mid 70s.  It was a delight to browse, superbly stocked and great for rarities which were stashed out of harms reach.  I was a schoolkid from Fife and loved making trips to town on vinyl hunts, however, the main guy at Ezy Rider was a diminutive, volatile dark haired chap with a Glasgow type accent, the crabbiest record salesperson, or any kind of salesperson I ever encountered anywhere in the World!  He’d’ve been early to mid 20s, intimidating to a 13- 15 yr old.
In the early 90’s, living in Aberdeen, I attended a record fair, casually asking a stallholder if they had anything by Krautrock band ‘Faust’, I was stunned to silence by a mighty roar of abuse “WE SELL MUSIC NO F****** NOISE!!!” in that Glaswegian accent, I was certain, with such a random outburst of record rage, it could be none other than, CRABBY RECORD STALL GUY FROM EZY RIDER, with grey hairs added by the years“.

Thank you to Charles Laing for this scan.
Greyfriars Market in the seventies.  Thank you to Alan for this picture. 
From the 1976 Edinburgh telephone directory.
A postcard from Gordon of The Valves to Ezy Ryder, franked Stockholm 17/5/79.  Thank you to Oddfellow for this rare item.
Greyfriars Hare Krishna poster.  The upstairs section of Greyfriars was rented out to the Hare Krishnas.  Thank you to Oddfellow for this scan.
Thank you to Jane Stewart for the three pictures above of Greyfriars Market in the seventies.

 Gutter Music

  • 19 Henderson Row – one of the proprietors of Gutter Music was Allan Campbell who promoted concerts around Edinburgh under the name Psychotic Reaction, and was also the manager of Josef K. The manager was Andre Thornton Grimes.
From the 1981 Edinburgh telephone directory.
19 Henderson Row  © S.S. 2009.

 The Head Quarter Boutique

  • 11 South College Street
From the 1976 Edinburgh telephone directory.
The shop in 1971.  Kenny Skeele on the right was responsible for the shops artwork.  Thank you to Brian Watson for the picture.  ©Brian Watson 1971.
Thank you to Brian Watson for this picture. ©Brian Watson 1971.
Kenny Skeele painting the outside artwork in 1980 when the shop was refurbished.  This artwork remained until approximately 1990 when the shop was sold.  Thank you to Brian Watson for the picture.  ©Brian Watson 1980.
Close up of Kenny Skeeles artwork 1980.  Thank you to Brian Watson for the picture. ©Brian Watson 1980.
Kenny Skeele 1980.  Thank you to Brian watson for this picture. ©Brian Watson 1980.
Thank you to Brian Watson for this picture.  ©Brian Watson 1980.  
Another picture of the Head Quarter Boutique.  Records were sold from the basement.  Thank you to the brilliant “Sixties Edinburgh” site for this photo.  Their site can be found here.
Unbelievably, this is the original open sign from the Headquarters shop designed by David Irving in 1972.  The subject is Leslie Forsyth.

Hell

  • 45 Thistle Street
Thank you to Simon Maguire for this picture of Hell Records at 45 Thistle Street, taken in 1977.  ©Simon Maguire 1977.

Simon Maguire recalls:I worked part-time in Hell Records Thistle Street for 2-3 years 76-79.   It was owned by Douglas MacFarlane and possibly his brother Alan and or father. I think they opened the Thistle Street shop in 1974 or 1975. Alan later left the Thistle Street shop and opened his own Hell Records in Lady Lawson Street, later renaming it “The Last Record Shop”.Douglas had a garage on Corstorphine Rd (Thoroughbred Car Company) and never worked in the shop. Virgin Records was originally only a few doors down Thistle Street so it was a popular along with Bruces Records in Rose Steet.The orange bags had a drawing of ‘Satan’ with the slogan ‘Go To Hell’, the artwork was done by an Edinburgh artist who had just designed Steve Winwoods 1977 album cover, can’t remember his name. A good friend Anji worked for some time in The Last Record Shop.Apart from rare bootlegs that were sold as second-hands, both shops sold lots of badges made mostly by Alan using pictures of album covers from the record company catalogues and anything people wanted, and latterly concert photos taken by Alan and a few by myself.  After Alan moved to Lady Lawson Street, the Thistle Street  shop was managed by a friend Karl Stern, and latterly Chris Nelson who was also an active musician (saxophonist) who played in a band ‘Jack Easy’ at that time. Out of interest, new albums sold for around £2.80 at that time, profit was usually a mere 60p.

Hell record Shop bag.  Thank you to Colin Bertram.
  • 28 Lady Lawson Street- later The Last Record Shop and Avalanche. The Hell shop apparently had a sign at the bottom of the road stating “go to hell”
28 Lady Lawson Street.  © S.S. 2009.

 HMV

  • 129-130 Princes Street
  • St James Centre
Thank you to Charles Laing for this scan.
HMV Princes Street exterior before opening in 1985.  Photo courtesy of HMV Get Closer. The more eagle eyed of you may spot the little sign advertising Fire Island in the top right of this picture.
HMV exterior just before opening 1985.  Photo courtesy of HMV Get Closer.
Hmv Princes Street interior 1985.  Photo courtesy of HMV Get Closer.
HMV  St James Centre exterior 1985.  Photo courtesy of HMV Get Closer.
HMV St James Centre interior 1985.  Photo courtesy of HMV Get Closer.

Hot Licks

  • 47 & 32 Cockburn Street
From the 1977 Edinburgh telephone directory.
Hot Licks bag showing 32 Cockburn Street.
Thank you to Charles Laing for this scan.
47 Cockburn Street ©S.S. 2009.
32 Cockburn Street.   © S.S. 2009. Interestingly, if you’re outside this shop you can actually still see the outline of Hot Licks sign writing on the curved section on the right of the shop. At least it was still visible in 2009.

 Hot Wax

  • 60 Dalry Road
Thank you to Charles Laing for this scan.

Jeffrey’s Audio House

  • 6/8 Bread Street
From the 1975 Edinburgh telephone directory.  I have included the recording studio entry aswell, as it has the same proprietor for Craighall Studios”.

Justins

  • Rose Street? (this shop is understood to have been in Rose Street on the same block as Bruce’s, but the other end.  But I do not yet have an exact address).
Thank you to Charles Laing for this scan.

 Listen

  • 3 Frederick Street
Listen record shop April 1982.  Thank you to Listen Employee Debbie Woods for this rare picture.  Debbie can recall instore signings by Toyah and 999.
Listen, Frederick Street.   © S.S. 2009.
Listen interior and stairs. © S.S. 2009.
Listen record bag.  Thank you to Debbie Woods for this item.
Listen employee Debbie Woods reference dating to March 1982.  Thank you to Debbie Woods for this item.
An oddity here!  The ashtray that used to be overflowing on the counter in Listen record shop.  Thank you to Debbie Woods for this unsual item.

 Other Record Shop

  • 46 High Street
  • 17 St Mary’s Street 
  • Princes Street
From the 1976 Edinburgh telephone directory.
17 St Mary’s Street  © S.S. 2009.
46 High Street.  ©S.S. 2009.
Thank you to Charles Laing for this scan.
Thank you to Charles Laing for this scan.
Thank you to Charles Laing for this scan.
Thank you to Charles Laing for this scan.
Thank you to Charles Laing for this scan.
Thank you to Jeff for this photo.  
Thank you to Scottie Somerville for the above item.
Other Record Shop advert dating to 1980.  Thank you to Oddfellow for this scan.
Debbie Woods copy of Dead Kennedy’s California Über Alles signed at The Other Record Shop in the High Street.

 Pheonix

  • 215 High Street 
From the 1976 Edinburgh telephone directory.
215 High Street  © S.S. 2009.
Thank you to Harry for this bag.
Another example with thanks to Colin Bertram.
Thank you to Charles Laing for this scan
Thank you to Charles Laing for this scan

Peter Harris recalls the hand written signs in the the windows of Phoenix record shop:  “I remember the hand written signs that used to grace Phoenix record shop window? My favourite was the bubble coming out of Bob Dylan’s mouth on Street Legal – “where is that damn bus”? The guy responsible for them was Mike Rintoul.”

Record Exchange  

  • 1 Brunswick Street 46 South Clerk Street
  • 46 South Clerk Street
46 South Clerk Street 2009.   © S.S. 2009. 

Record Shak

  • 69 Clerk Street
Thank you to Charles Laing for this scan.

Reptile

  • 4 St Mary Street
Thank you to Charles Laing for the two scans above.

 Rhythm Rack

  • 159 Morrison Street
Thank you to Charles Laing for this scan.

Ripping Records/Sound Centre

  • 17 Easter Road (Sound Centre)
  • 91 South Bridge (Sound Centre/Ripping Records) The Sound Centre store opened at this location on 10th December 1975, becoming Ripping Records in 1978.  Ripping was named after the Michael Palin series “Ripping Yarns” airing on the BBC between 1977-1979.  Thank you to John for the information.
From the 1976 Edinburgh telephone directory.

Sounds Super Record Shop

  • 211 Portobello High Street
From the 1981 Edinburgh telephone directory.

 Sweet Inspiration

  • 14 Morrison Street
From the 1979 Edinburgh telephone directory.

Vinyl Villains

  • 5 Elm Row, Leith Walk
The Police bootleg that gave Vinyl Villains it’s name.

 Virgin Stores

  • 61 Thistle Street- The first of the Edinburgh Virgin Shops
  • 131 Princes Street
  • 18a Frederick Street (The Sex Pistols did an instore signing here when they visited Edinburgh on a promo trip).
From the 1973 Edinburgh telephone directory.
From the 1976 Edinburgh telephone directory.
From the 1982 Edinburgh telephone directory.
61 Thistle Street  © S.S. 2009.
18a Frederick Street.  © S.S. 2009.
Thank you to Charles Laing for this scan.
Thank you to Charles Laing for this scan.
Thank you to Charles Laing for this scan.
Thank you to Charles Laing for this scan.
Early 1980’s “crinkly” Virgin 7″ single bag.
Virgin records bag showing the 18A Frederick Street shop.  Thank you to Colin Bertram.
The front of the Virgin bag customised by Colin Bertram to create a pic sleeve for a Diana Ross single.
An advert from the 1965 telephone directory for Binns department store. Binns had a popular record department.