Record Culture

16/09/2026

Morning, guys. Just a note to say that our Click & Collect service with our pals at The Hop Vault is now fully live. When you place an order via our online store, the local pickup option now defaults to The Hop Vault (9 Market Street)

Any items awaiting collection that had been at our shop until now have all been moved to The Hop Vault (unless I've been in touch to say otherwise)

Couple of things to note:

1. When you place your order via our online store, you will receive a 'Collection Ready' e-mail as before. Please do not attend before you've had that e-mail. When you collect you'll just need the order number and name, which will all be on your order confirmation

2. Be sure to check Hop Vault hours before dropping in, though their hours are pretty extensive, open every day of the week

3. Hop Vault staff cannot take payments, pre-orders or anything else; they are kindly acting as a point of collection only

Worth reminding that in addition you can of course instead local doorstep delivery - free of charge within a mile, with small fees up to five miles.

The uptake on both options has already been really great so thanks for your support during a chaotic time 🤯

14/09/2026

One of our most popular selling tools of the past however many years is our WhatsApp service - the cheekily titled Record Vulture

With the hope of three used vinyl flick-thrus being sent out to subscribers this week, today is a good day to get signed up. It's free of charge and has all the benefits you see in the photo there, not least first access to all our good used acquisitions.

Remember, this isn't a WhatsApp group - you aren't bombarded with stranger "banter" all day long; as far as you see it's us sending messages to you, and you to us.

With the permanent space now gone, the WhatsApp service will only ramp up so it's well worth giving it a whirl. If it's not for you, you simply mute it or delete it, no big deal 💪🏻

To sign up, drop a WhatsApp message to the number in the image and we'll do the rest

11/09/2026

Woo-hoo! So of course we closed our door properly and ceremonially last week BUT we ARE opening tomorrow for record fair day. We've still got most of our stock at the shop PLUS all this week's new releases, so plenty of reasons to drop in to see us tomorrow.

NOTE we are opening slightly later than our old 9am starting time, open instead at 10am, one hour before the fair starts. Plenty of time to grab a locally-sourced cortado and browse the shiny ones for an hour 🙌

Right then, nearly time to get the party started! Record Fair weekend is always a good weekend so let's have you Stourbridge.

This is our final nudge. All the details you need are below:

Saturday, September 12th / 11am - 5pm

Two entrances to the event - one in the Crown Centre by the library, the other opposite Record Culture on Market Street

🎟️ £2 entry (free after 3pm) *cash only on the doors*
⚫ 40+ tables of records, CDs + more
🎧 Live DJs throughout the day courtesy of the Vinyl Attraction Crew
🍺 Bar, serving alcoholic & non-alcoholic drinks and snacks
🛍️ record shop opposite the venue (special opening for the day, 10am - 5pm)

🫶 See you there everyone

08/09/2026

A little update on all things Record Culture after a chaotic and strange sort of week.

Last Saturday was our last proper day in our current format. The permanent space on Market Street is for the most part now closed. Importantly, however, the shop IS open this coming Saturday as the Stourbridge Record & Music Fair is on as it'd be a bit daft not to try and get some trade from that. So please do pop in if you're in for the fair.

Speaking of the fair, we're there too, with a couple of tables of high-quality records and CDs.

Record Culture, the business, isn't closed - not by a long shot. You can still get your records via our website and, like so many of our longstanding customers do today, simply via our WhatsApp service or e-mail. From this week any orders placed can be collected from The Hop Vault (previously our next door neighbours), delivered to you using our doorstep delivery service, or the usual postal network if further afield.

We can also hold items for you til we see you at the next event, combine postage, and all sorts of stuff.

We are now working on our program of solo events for the remainder of this year and early 2027, so stay tuned for all the info on those as they develop and announce. It can be hard to see the future at the moment, I know, but there is a genuine excitement about some of these plans and doing things a little differently. In time I hope most of you get to feel that too. I know a physical shop is hard to replace but if there's ever an idiot restless enough to do as much as possible to make sure it gets as close to it, you're probably looking at him.

In the meantime, thank you to everyone for the outpouring of love and support since we announced closing the permanent space right up until the 'last day' this weekend. We've had everything from all-out grief and disbelief to total and complete understanding.

Folk have asked me a lot of questions. Has the vinyl bubble burst? Would things be different if you'd been somewhere else? Is this decision permanent? Is online destroying physical record shops for good?

When the dust settles maybe I'll put something together to answer some of these things in detail. Some of it is probably quite useful to know.

I hope the place bought you much joy, whether you were in as a one-off, semi-regular or basically part of the furniture. I hope you stick around to be part of what we're doing next. It's hard to see now, I know, but I promise RC will be around more than you think.

Thanks to the staff across the years who I couldn't have managed the shop without. A special thanks needs to go to Imogen, who had been my deputy for a long time now. I know many of you will be familiar with her and wish her well (incidentally she'll be on shop duty this Saturday!)

A final apology to anyone who caught me on one of my bad days behind that counter. Apart from those who definitely deserved it. I swear there is a genuine reason why record shop owners have the reputation. As much as there is excitement, happiness, elation and joy going on behind that counter at a record shop, there has also been plenty of frustration, boredom, and restlessness. I am hunted by a five-year cycle of change that has followed me forever 😄

The business wasn't pushed out, liquidated or forced to close but it was harder at times than it should have been and the reasons behind that are many. Whatever happens with the future version of Record Culture, this was unequivocally the right decision for the business and for me.

And remember: physical shop closed. Business not closed. You want the records, I'll give you the records. 90% of what I actually do as Record Culture remains the same, it's just that little wedge at the end that changes.

Until we meet again (in four days' time at the record fair, obviously...)

LOVE

Lee
xx

04/09/2026

Feels like only yesterday I was putting out a post saying I’d decided to close the physical shop. Felt like we had ages to go, yet here we are.

Tomorrow – Saturday 5th – is the last day** of our time at Market Street. As I’ve said all along to many weepy eyes, this isn’t the end, just a change. This isn’t another failure of the High Street. We haven’t been forced into this or gone bump. This is a product of buying habits in small towns, industry trends, timing, sure all of that but, above all, a personal choice.

Tomorrow we close the door at Market Street with heads held high. Proud of what we’ve done (so far) and excited for the next chapter. I’ve said this to many of you and I’ll say it again – you'll see me around far more than you ever thought or wanted to! There is lots of exciting things to come. If you still want the records, I’ll still give you the records – simple as that.

I’m not saying there won’t be a lump in the throat tomorrow but the circumstances could be very different if this was something I had been forced to do.

On one hand, tomorrow is just another shop day. We’re here to sell records and that’s what we’ll be doing between 9am and 5pm. On the other hand, it’s a send-off of sorts and if you want to come down and join us we’d love to have you. We encourage grabbing a beverage or two from next door and enjoying with us some for want of a better word let’s call “banter”. After 5pm we’re then going to retire for a few celebratory pints if you prefer to join us afterwards (or for both)

See you there x

**Just to spoil a fine speech, the shop will also be open on record fair day on the 12th but the 5th is like the last proper day ya know

04/09/2026

We're down to our last two days on Market Street. Don't forget, it's 20% off pretty much everything now as standard until the door closes at 5pm on Saturday 🙌🏻

03/09/2026

💥 Pre-Orders Roundup

[Remember, you can now order all of these and more for collection at The Hop Vault (upon release) or delivery direct to your door]

Just announced, a brand new album from jazz artist Moses Boyd. His stuff is always popular so pre-ordering highly suggested on that. There's a quick-fire repress of the debut EP from Bleech 9:3 (on pink vinyl) - we missed the memo on these guys originally and this was impossible to get hold of first time around - again, securing with a pre-order definitely recommended. There are brand new albums too from HMLTD, Blonde Redhead, William Basinski, and Angèle also up for pre-order

In reissues we've got some right hitters! Albums from A Perfect Circle, Feeder, Korn, Republica, Tears For Fears, Air, Tony Allen & Hugh Masekela, and Manchester Orchestra all up on the site for pre-ordering!

In "new stuff from older artists" there's a reissue of Phil Lynott's 'Fatalistic Attitude' plus a definitive collection of all of his solo works as an 8CD box. We've also got the George Michael 'The Faith Tour' up for pre-order on various big and small formats.

All these and an absolute ton more here:

https://recordculture.com/collections/pre-orders

02/09/2026

📦 The savvy among you will have noticed that our direct doorstep delivery option - Record Culture Direct - went live on our website yesterday!

This means that if you live within a five-mile radius of the town centre, you can order online* and we can deliver it to your door, straight from us to you. It's affordable, more eco-friendly and guaranteed damage-free. And if you're within one-mile it is completely FREE!

Costs:

Up to 1 mile: FREE
Up to 2 miles: £1
Up to 3 miles: £2
Up to 5 miles: £3

Full information for this new service can be found here: https://recordculture.com/direct

Give it a whirl - couldn't be simpler

For those outside the five-mile radius, delivery options default to the usual Royal Mail offerings

Worth a quick note to remind - and a more in-depth reminder will come about this - that for those who prefer to still collect in person, all our Click & Collection operations will move next door to The Hop Vault from next week

*Record Culture Direct is also available to you when you order anything with us via WhatsApp or any other channel

29/08/2026

So here’s the deal. The plans for our final week of being a “proper record shop” or whatever. Time for obligatory offers. Starting tomorrow with a special Sunday service, you can get a heavenly 30% off most stuff. You know the drill on this one by now* It is still a Sunday however and I’ve just got back in from a week away so it’s strictly 11am – 3pm this one. See you down there 🫡

Next week, for our last four days at Market Street, we're doing 20% off most stuff throughout - that's anything not stickered to say otherwise. Please be sure to read that correctly, that's 30% off tomorrow, 20% next week

IMPORTANT: You will find more records with ‘NOT IN SALE’ stickers than usual. I still need stock where I’m going – this isn’t an ‘Everything Must Go’ thing, remember. I could just do with emptying a few boxes. Record Culture will still exist and I shall bombard you with reminders of this over the coming days.

Onto next Saturday, the 5th September, the final outing as Record Culture in its current format.

To be honest, I've been hesitant to mark this occasion, to ensure the day doesn't in any way make me or you feel sad or like your town is s**t now. But realistically we need to do something.

To that end, the 5th September will be strictly a party atmosphere. Positive vibes only. We are going to rattle through tunes from favourite albums of yours and ours from across the last five years at Market Street and have a lot of laughs. We wholeheartedly encourage you to grab a beer from our neighbours next door and join us at any point of the day that suits you. Needless to say there will be “afters” upon closing time and if you’re about and want to tell me how awful I am for doing this to you, you are most welcome to join me and the staff. There will be absolutely no weeping or praise of any kind, please. I'm an emotionally-stunted sausage and you'll only be annoyed when I don't take the compliment. Can I interest you in an insult? Step this way. “I come here to be insulted”, said one customer once (true story, but then it was only one customer one time)

No asking for bits of furniture.

Hopefully we’ll get some games on too or something so, yeah, come down why not?

(In any event, I’ll see you all exactly a week later at the Stourbridge Record Fair on the 12th! See, I told ya! I'm going nowhere)

*If you don't know the drill, it's 30% off most things unless stickered to say otherwise. Doesn't include the most recent week's releases, anything ordered in for you specially, anything aside unpaid etc. Doesn't work if you order online for collection - strictly at-the-counter only.

28/08/2026

📣 Heads up, folks! We're doing a special opening THIS SUNDAY (30th)

Hours to be confirmed but something like 11-3

Worth sticking in your diary 😜