Beth Ray Writes

You’re walking into a record shop, on the left Harry Styles greets you and on your right is Beyonce. You carry on walking and notice Katy Perry and Ariana in the corner beaming at you, Kylie is standing to your left and Taylor to your right. Are you dreaming? It certainly feels like it but no, you’re in the brand new ‘popcentric’ indie record shop Spinning Around Records in Wellington, Telford!
Spinning Around Records was founded by store owner Emma Perks and she kindly agreed to be interviewed for my Record Store Day series! Her shop is a pop lover’s dream, with cutouts of Kylie, Beyonce and Harry to name a few, greeting you inside the shop with cool tour posters and magazine covers which adorn the walls.

Before I let you read the interview it’s worth mentioning, Emma has a huge TikTok following on both her personal account (emmas_vinyl) and business account (@spinning_around_records) where she shares her knowledge of all things vinyl and does unboxing videos which I find are always so helpful when deciding on buying a particular vinyl. If you watch her socials you’ll see when she gets in highly requested pop vinyls such as the Ariana Grande ‘Positions’ Deluxe (Emma is seen holding it in our main photo) along with she recently had in stock the US pressing of the Barbie album (Ken cover).

This year is Emma’s first ever Record Store Day as a record shop owner, but she has had plenty of experience of the day itself as a vinyl collector which she’s documented in the past on her socials.
I can’t wait to see her TikTok videos after this weekend as I know it’s going to be a great weekend in her store!

Beth Ray: Can you remember your first RSD as a music fan and what vinyl you bought?
Emma: My first Record Store Day! I think the first one I ever visited was 2017, don’t think I knew what it was I just I rocked up at lunch time but I remember picking up Stevie Nicks release that year. So I was really pleased to just rock up and buy something I really wanted and liked and yeah the addiction hit hard from then on really.

BR: How would you describe RSD for anyone who hasn’t heard of it before?
E: I would describe it as Christmas day for record collectors and it is just this year instead of being the little kid excited about all of their new toys, I am now Santa. 

BR: Why is it important to both record store owners and music fans?
E: It is important for both. For record store owners it gives us a really big boost, a big cash boost, sales boost on that day. Obviously there is a lot of risk with the stock you’re ordering in, if you order the wrong stock it can stick around but it is knowing your customers and listening to them, ordering in the stock they want. But also from the other side it is for the customers, it’s a really good day, because you can come out. It’s part of the fun to queue early in the rain or the cold, it’s part of the experience. Then you are able get some fantastic limited releases, which is something different then you normally get.

BR: What titles do you think will sell out the quickest this year?
E: For me because I’m a pop girlie it’s got to be the Olivia Rodrigo and Noah Kahan. Maisie Peters,  Lily Allen. A few people asking for Sophie Ellis-Bextor and 1975 as well as like a token pop girlie kind of thing!

BR: If you could choose only one vinyl out of the list what would it be?
E: It would probably be Sophie, Sophie Ellis-Bextor. I mean she’s awesome, she’s had this resurgence because of Saltburn. So it’s really nice that she has a Record Store Day release and when you see it it’s all really nice. It’s all glittery and blue the vinyl is as well. 

BR: What is the earliest time you have queued up at on Record Store Day?
E: It was last year, 6 o’clock for Taylor Swift.

BR: I think I saw this on your TikTok!
E: Yes it was! The man in front of me, there was only one person in front of me, he was there for Pearl Jam so we were a bit of a weird mix in what we wanted. Although weirdly, I was telling him last year about I was going to be opening a record store on the main street here and he’s coming here for his Pearl Jam this year! So it is a weird turn of events that in 12 months that it is now happening!

BR: Any advice for fans queueing up on the day?
E: Wrap up warm and get out of bed and queue as early as you can. Nobody wants to be queueing up at silly o’clock in the morning but it’s worth it just to know you’re in the queue and you’re going to get that record. It is part of the experience as well. 

BR: What’s your favourite thing about Record Store Day?
E: It is just the excitement! Everyone gets so excited when there is a limited release from their favourite artist and the whole experience of like fighting to the death to get it. Like I said standing out in the cold and the rain. Now from a retailers point of view, seeing it from the other side of the counter, when people are saying to me what they want and asking how many of what I have in. I can say “I’ve got 30 of that” their faces are lighting up because they’re like “Oh my goodness” they don’t have the stress of knowing that shop only has got 3 copies and I’m the fourth person in line I’m going to miss out on it. So it’s really nice to be able to bring that experience, that fun factor to Record Store Day in Telford. 

Thankyou so much to Emma for the interview.
Emmas has posted all of the details of Record Store Day on her social media and website (click here to view). I felt so welcome in Emma’s shop and she has so much on offer to customers, from band t-shirts (I HAD to get the No Doubt t-shirt, so expect to see photos of me wearing it in the future) to really cool pin badges (Swifties you HAVE to see these!) cassettes and a huuuuuge selection of vinyls.
Spinning Around Records is a really fun, cool and welcoming record shop and I can see why it’s become so popular on social media since the shop opened in September last year.
I had to treat myself to the t-shirt and one of the new canvas bags! Emma kindly gave me a Spinning Around Records sticker which is now on my laptop case too!

If you can’t visit Emma’s shop on RSD then make sure to visit another time – she even has a guest book for visitors! If you can’t wait until your next visit then check out her website here where you can still treat yourself to a vinyl (and a tote bag!).