Beth Ray Writes

I had the pleasure of continuing my Record Store Day interviews last week by visiting Up North Records, situated in Chester city centre. It’s a great shop for music lovers, lots of vinyls to choose from with new releases located at the very front of the shop. They have lots of great gifts for music fans, from band t-shirts, mugs, band tote bags to collectible books (David Bowie, The Smiths and The Beatles are a few that are on offer).

Up North Records is ran by Ronnie and Louise. Louise kindly agreed to be interviewed ahead of RSD to tell me about what to expect in their shop and why it is so important to them and to music fans.

Beth Ray: How would you describe Record Store Day for people who have not been to Up North Records before on RSD?
Louise: I would like to say organised. It is quite friendly, it’s a nice day. It is calm, friendly and organised.

BR: Why is RSD important to both music fans and your shop?
L: It gets people to know that we are here. It gets quite a nice atmosphere going, so people come back and also for fans it means they get one off things they will never get before. Especially if you are a collector you are going to get something really special, that no-one will have.

BR: Which vinyls do you think are going to be the top-sellers in your shop?
L: Maisie Peters, Noah Kahan, Kate Bush we’re hoping will be quite big, Fleetwood Mac ‘Rumours’ we have a picture disc and it is beautiful. Biggest selling album of all time. So that’s nice. David Bowie, we have quite a few of them.

BR: If you could choose only one vinyl to buy off the list, for your musical preference what would it be?
L: Noah Kahan.

BR: What is the earliest time anyone has queued up at your store on Record Store Day?
L: 12:30 in the morning. That is not early, I know another shop where they start at 11 o’clock  on a Friday morning!

BR: Any advice for fans queueing on the day?
L: I would advise them to go on our website and find out how many we have got of the item. If they think it is going to be popular, like Maisie Peters then work around that. We are hoping to have around 40 of them and if they think they really, really want it they need to be in the first half. So that [the website] is a really good tool, we post it quite frequently and it will all be updated. It will have the list of what vinyls we will have and how many we are getting.

BR: What is your favourite thing about RSD?
L: I think the atmosphere. It is really nice and friendly, we give out tickets. When we get here we give out raffle tickets so you can leave the queue and come back, if you need the toilet or a coffee and you can come back and get your spot.

BR: Last question, how did you get into vinyls and record collecting?
L: We used to live in Australia and had a collection there which we brought over with us. My husband is a drummer, we’ve always been into music and we both love music so we like the tactile of it. 

A huge thank you to Louise for the interview, I enjoyed finding out what their customers are hoping to buy on RSD and I loved the queuing system idea. She mentioned the queue can go right along past the arches (have a look if you’re visiting before the big day) so it sounds like they’re going to be very busy. Check out their RSD list here which they will keep on updating as stock comes in. If you want to buy any records from their website before then you can do so here.
I couldn’t help but treat myself to a t-shirt and tote bag when I visited the shop as they have so many great music gifts along with so many vinyls!

Make sure to comment below if you’re visiting Up North Records and let me know what vinyls you’re hoping to get on the big day! A reminder Record Store Day is on Saturday 20th April 2024.

Beth x