Hit the North: Sicking it to the man

Independent record shops have never been the safest of retail bets. So now, when even the one-time goliaths are struggling for breath (folding completely or dad-dancing into irrelevance), it seems an even more financially shakey pursuit. However, in the spirit of ‘never wasting a good crisis’ (and perhaps indirectly inspired by the pop-up ethos) some record retailers are bravely turning things around.

Kenny Murdock spent his teenage years browsing the racks of Belfast’s many indie record stores. As an adult he then spent just as long lamenting their seemingly inevitable decline. Since the start of the year, though, he has been the man behind Sick Records. It is the city’s newest  addition to a proud lineage and he speaks with reassuring confidence about its prospects of connecting with customers.
“People who buy records seem more emotionally attached to their purchases,” Kenny says, “and that’s crucial to us. If you browse my record collection, I can tell you where each one was bought, roughly when and, most importantly, why. I’m not sure that’s the same with digital media.”
Sick is proudly vinyl-only. A stance that Kenny hopes will liberate, rather than limit, its potential for growth.
 “It might seem bonkers to a lot of people”, he admits, “but I truly believe that there is a customer base out there that cares about preserving the format. The larger chains carry the big titles and a safe, classic re-issue stock. They don’t cater for more discerning tastes. They don’t take any risks. And, more importantly, they don’t cater for me. I wanted to open a shop which placed a huge emphasis on the best, alternative, new releases and re-issues. Those artists who don’t occupy shelf-space in Tesco or HMV.”
Reassuringly, since it first opened after Christmas, the shop has displayed encouraging (in fact necessary) signs of preaching to more than the converted.
“Each week, we see more and more kids showing an interest in what we do,” he says. “Now it’s up to us to engage our younger customers and we’re planning a series of in-store performances through the summer.  We sell tickets for Strange Victory gigs because Darren (Smyth – SV founder) works in the shop. But, by keeping our out-goings to a minimum and our expectations low, we’ve been able to concentrate on the quality and diversity. I feel very strongly about keeping what we do as pure as possible. We’ll do whatever it takes to survive.”
Kenny’s awareness that Sick needs to stay nimble to survive is reassuring as is his appreciation that record shops still have it in them to provide a unique type of space in our towns and cities.
“The financial success that we’ve experienced in the first few months is less important than the fact that our customers already feel comfortable hanging out in the shop,” he notes.  “Whether they’re spending or not. I mean some of the guys go straight to the kitchen and ask us if we’d like a cup of tea.”