Record Collector’s Barry Everard on the future of vinyl Posted by: Emily Smith 15th January 2018

With Broomhill’s Record Collector celebrating 40 years of business this summer, Emily Smith spoke to Barry Everard on the future of the trade.

Record Collector is renowned as a go-to venue for Sheffield’s music scene. One of around 40 shops when it first opened, its Steel City rivals have fallen by the wayside. Yet this landmark on Fulwood Road still stands strong.

Record Store Day is, in Barry’s view, the bedrock for the revival of records. The annual event sees limited edition vinyl distributed worldwide, getting fans excited about the potential collectability of never-before-seen discs. With queues of up to 400 flowing out of Record Collector’s door – it’s definitely brought the medium back into action.

Barry said: “Just let the queue do the talking. People queue all night, up to 16-18 hours. Vinyl isn’t going anywhere.”

The famous red-fronted shop has been featured in Last Shop Standing, Record Store Day’s official film, as well as the book in 2010. With the interest in vinyl skyrocketing in recent years, it’s safe to say the shop isn’t close to retirement - and neither is Barry.

Owner Barry Everard outside his Record Collector shop

From stocking Def Leppard’s first single, after offering advice to frontman Joe Elliott on how to get big, to being thanked by Gomez with a gold record for giving them a hand, Barry has helped local bands get on their feet for decades.

“Joe came in around Christmas to thank me, and offered me a cut of the sales. I told him what I’d tell him to this day: I don’t need a profit from local bands. He gave me change for a beer, and we called it a day.”

Nicknamed “Mad Barry” by local vinyl distributors - due to his risky buying tendencies - Everard’s 45-year experience in the music business has seen him through a slump in music-buying habits, and back into its recent revival – but he never keeps the best discs for himself.

He said: “It’s like being an addict. Imagine owning a sweet shop and not being able to eat the sweets.”

The most valuable record Barry’s had his hands on was a Rolling Stones demonstration album, which only had 50 pressed.

“Most of them end up lost along the line, so really there were only around 30.”

Despite the fall of vinyl’s popularity towards the end of the 90s - where CDs stole the show - Barry kept his faith in the old format. With half of the shop being dedicated to CDs, and half to vinyl, the future of the shop looked set for a CD take over.

“When record companies said ‘don’t buy vinyl, get rid of vinyl, CDs are the future’ – we carried on.” Barry says. “We kept the faith, so to speak, and were proved right.”

In 2016, sales of vinyl reached a 25-year high, and it was the first year spending on vinyl overtook digital downloads. With Record Collector having 5,000 titles instore, and that only being 10 percent of the stock, Barry’s mix of musical knowledge – and recklessness – has done him a favour.

“I’ll always take a risk, and often it pays off. I always seem to have the last laugh.”

The store’s collection of obscure and strange records, which Barry’s distributors saw no potential in, are now being bought by buyers from across the globe. People from around the world are being put in contact with the local Sheffield store.

“You can’t predict collectability. It comes out of nowhere, and you’d never know. You can’t go ‘I’m going to buy that now because one day it’ll sell.’”

Ultimately, Barry believes the revitalisation the vinyl industry’s scene is down to the exceptional sound. Barry says the frequency and range of sounds that records harbour is incomparable.

“If you listen properly, you can hear something new. The touch of a string or a pick hitting the wood of a guitar… you realise you’re hearing it in a different way.

“At the end of the day, records sound nice.”