New vintage vinyl record shop in Hartlepool hopes to send collectors into a spin

Music lover Phil Dunn has opened Northern Rocks vintage vinyl shop at town antiques emporium Kiwi Trading in Osborne Road.

Phil, a musician with town band The Passion Killers, decided to start the new business after his personal collection grew too large.

“I have been a record collector all my life,” he said. “The CD revolution didn’t really happen for me and I continued buying vinyl.

“Subsequently, I ended up with a collection of about 10,000 albums.

“It was getting quite serious, they were in stashes all over Hartlepool.

“Over the years I have bought and improved my own personal collection, and embarrassingly I ended up with hundreds of doubles.

“This is something I have always wanted to do, so I thought ‘let’s do it’.”

He said Kiwi Trading was the natural place for the venture and it has been welcoming customers for just over a week.

And business has been brisk as vinyl continues to enjoy a comeback with music lovers.

Phil, 56, added: “Hartlepool doesn’t have a record shop any more, there hasn’t been one for a couple of years.

“Vinyl is back big-style. It has made a massive resurgence over the last few years, and even younger people are buying decks and playing vinyl again.

“We have had a fantastic first week and been really busy with people looking and buying.

“It has been a really encouraging start.”

Northern Rocks sells singles and albums for all tastes in music, from rock and pop to blues and soul.

Customers can listen to records while they browse, and the store also sells second-hand equipment including turntables and decks.

Phil said the biggest-selling artists are The Specials, The Jam, Madness, The Beatles, Eagles, Fleetwood Mac, The Clash and Dire Straits.

He said: “A lot of it is the stuff that people of my generation like.

“Although I was born in the ‘60s, musically I was brought up in the ‘70s and ‘80s.”

Phil manages the shop on a weekend and has help from family and friends during the week, as his main job is as an area manager for Portakabin.

His daughter is also helping out on the social media side to help spread the word.