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“Defend Vinyl was inspired by a couple of trips I took to New Orleans. There’s a place there called ‘Defend New Orleans’, which is all about maintaining the spirit of the city. And I really liked the idea of keeping the spirit of records alive. It’s been amazing!" Graham Jones, Defend Vinyl.

"I'd always dreamt of doing a record shop. So, one day in 2000 I just thought, I’ll go and give it a go! Before that I was what you call a new age traveller. I always sort of loved that sort of sense of community that I felt record shops had.” Matt Davies, Tangled Parrot.

“It’s lovely when people come and buy records, we always have conversations, the music is just sort of a seed of further dialogue. We’ve built a community of people now who have taught us things, got us into music we didn’t even know existed. It’s about having a tribe. We found our tribe. We want to provide that tribe for other people.” Jim Brady, Dark Earth Records.

“I see Blitzkrieg shop as a hub rather than a shop, and one of the best things about being the owner of Blitzkrieg shop is that every day is like Christmas! You come in, and there’s a delivery and you can’t wait to open that box. The music coming out of the box always excites me!” Tony Gaughan, Blitzkrieg Shop.

“I quite like the idea of my customers being able to come in here and seeing that I am predominantly pop and not be afraid to buy Britney Spears or Ariana Grande, like you could do. It can feel quite intimidating walking in, and I just want this to be a safe space for customers.” James Maclean

“We have a few groups of customers who have definitely become friends over the years, mainly from like, meeting in the Record Store Day queue. It’s a place for people to meet, to come and talk about similar music or talk about new music for each other that they’ve not experienced before and share their love for something someone else might not know about." Tom Coates

Jim Glennie and Saul Davies tell the story behind their breakthrough album Gold Mother at a special Classic Album Sundays event for National Album Day.

“A record shop in a community is really important, I think. It’s a good place for people to meet, discuss music, and get projects going. I know most of the regulars and I know people from around the area, so I think it works really well, with a more personal touch.” Jon Clifford, Dreamhouse Records.

“I decided I wanted to open the kind of shop that I couldn’t find. Part of the important thing for me was to make this shop a safe space. I want to encourage females to come and feel comfortable in that kind of space. I wasn’t always made to feel that way when I was younger, I felt very intimidated, so I definitely wanted to create the opposite vibe in here. Anja Petitto