Antony Daly who owns 586 records in Gateshead decided to open his own record shop after being sentenced to prison for drug offenses and wanted to sell records after doing that as a hobby with his girlfriend encouraging him and this is what he said.
Antony Daly decided to open a record shop after being released from Prison and recognising he couldn't go back to his old job as a support worker made him go full force into his hobby of selling records. "I decided to open a record shop, as I needed a career change. In 2014, I'd recently been released from Prison, after serving a sentence for drug offenses. Previous to that, I'd been a Support Worker and due to offending, I would not have been able to return to that line of work. Selling records is something I've done as a hobby on Discogs since 2003. My girlfriend at the time was working in a Record Shop and she encouraged me to look into turning that hobby, into my new career. Approaching 10 years this year for 586, it was the right choice"
With owning a record shop in Gateshead Antony has noticed that it has great links to the major towns and cities with public transport. "The pros are that Gateshead is serviced by great transport links for the whole of the North East. Buses from as far as Middlesbrough and Bishop Auckland stop off at the Interchange. Metros from Sunderland to the South, Airport, and Tynemouth from the North, and South Shields from the East, are all a short 10-minute walk from the Interchange too. We offer free car parking for those driving here and secure bike racks, for those cycling. The cons are that there appears to be some sort of force field on the Tyne Bridge, which stops people from crossing over from Newcastle, to pay us a visit. Add to that, a distinct lack of support from those who should be doing all they can to promote the only record shop in Gateshead!"
He goes onto to mention that the North East has a market for more record shops due to the heritage of the music in the North and a lot have had to close down due to various reasons. "The North East does have a market for record shops and it's always had a rich heritage too. Many have gone, over the years for a variety of reasons (RIP Tom at Sound It Out) and fallen foul of a time when record sales just seemed to fall off a cliff, but some have managed to hang on through it and diversified to make ends meet and amongst that, some green shoots have appeared (I include 586 Records in those). People haven't stopped buying records to some degree."
In the cost of living has saw a lot of independent businesses being directly affected by the lack of customers due to finances. "Absolutely. It's a fact that people have less disposable income and buying records is a luxury. Add to that, the price of buying records has increased massively and there does not appear to be any sign of the costs slowing down. Let's hope a possible change of government, can be the change that we all need."
With the pandemic being behind us now, Antony does mention how the pandemic did affect his business but it saw him being able to sell records from home due to people having more time to support independent businesses. "Aside from being closed to the public and no footfall possible, I was still able to operate to a degree, online. Customers were at home and seemingly had 'free' money and were treating themselves to some of the wonderful (and occasionally more expensive!) records I had for sale. I didn't have to face the public and just cracked on with posting orders out once a week and I was happy enough to be able to do that."
At the end of the interview Antony's advice for those who want to own a record shop is to look at your reasons for wanting to do it and know that you have to prepare for it. "Do it for the right reasons. You're never going to become rich from doing so. Be aware that there are days when you might not have any customers or money coming in."
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