Featured Store: Phoenix Sounds

I called in to my local record shop ‘Phoenix Sounds’ to meet new owner Roger Cox to ask him a few questions.

How did you end up with the record shop?
Phoenix Sounds was our local store as we live in Newton Abbot. Whilst out shopping with Marsha and our dog Bella, we popped into the store, as we did quite often! Jackie, who has worked there for 20 years was chatting with us (and fussing the dog!) and said ‘Do you want to buy a record shop?

Before we knew it, we were upstairs at the store chatting with the owner, Will. He was looking for someone who loved music and had the passion that is needed, rather than looking for a business man. We certainly had that music passion in bucket loads! We talked more about new releases and Record Store Day at that point rather than figures!!

We went away and discussed how we could raise the funds…the rest is history! I worked in the shop prior to the final take-over to get used to the systems, and most importantly to meet the customers to reassure them that their well-loved music store was here to stay and will grow!

We took over the store on 1st July 2022 and haven’t looked back since. We love every minute… walking into the store in the morning surrounded by music. I still can’t believe that we own an Independent Record Store. What’s not to like!

Any funny tales?
There are plenty of funny stories, especially from our early days!
We certainly sold a lot of CDs without putting the CDs in to start with!!

Plans for the future/gigs etc.?
We are constantly looking at ways to improve and become more involved withing the local community, whilst still stopping and looking around at what we have and cherishing it. Some days we still can’t believe we are here. I certainly wouldn’t call this a job that’s for sure.

We have already invested in new signage, logo, additional vinyl racks and a new till system. That has given the shop a fresh and modernised look and makes it easier for our customers to see the scale of the vinyl we have in-store.

This will be our first Record Store Day since owning the store, so we have some brilliant live music planned. There will be a local artist, who has an amazing talent and a local DJ playing Ska and reggae throughout the day.

We have formed a link with a local pub that has capacity to put on live music. We will hope to be involved with them, bringing in some local talent on the back of our #PhoenixSound Live tag.

We have added in a section in our shop to champion local artists and bands and we would love this area to grow and have more in-house music.

Continuing the community theme, we are also looking at creating an area where people can come in, have a coffee, and listen to different music and chat with each other.

What Proper releases you are looking forward to?
We have a lot of customers excited by the Dr Who Serpent Quest signed by Tom Baker out on 26/5 and we have lots of interest in the re-release of the classic Tom Waits Closing Time.

The Vinyl Revival and the Shops That Made It Happen

Graham Jones is the author of ‘The Vinyl Revival and the Shops That Made It Happen’ which has features on over 200 independent record shops that he has visited. The book was made in to a film titled ‘The Vinyl Revival’ available on DVD. Both can be ordered from Proper, independent record shops, Amazon and other online retailers.

Read about the book, film and vinyl soundtrack here