Much-loved music store in major Scots city shuts down after 11 years

Scottish Sun

02-06-2025

Punters will have one last chance to visit the store as it hosts a closing down sale
SHUT UP SHOP Much-loved music store in major Scots city shuts down after 11 years
A MUCH-LOVED music store in a major Scots city has pulled the shutters down after 11 years.
Union Vinyl, located on the Market Brae Steps in Inverness, closed on Saturday, just weeks after celebrating its anniversary.
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Union Vinyl in Inverness pulled down the shutters on Saturday
Credit: Facebook
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There will be a closing down sale later this week
Credit: Facebook
The store was known for its extensive collection of albums, though it did not stock music from some of today's most popular artists.
Owner Nigel Graham said: 'We do have a certain type of customer.
'If they are into Taylor Swift or whatever, they can quite happily go to HMV for that."
Instead, classic albums like Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon, Blondie's Parallel Lines, and Fleetwood Mac's Rumours would only last a few days on the shelves at Union Vinyl.
Nigel explained that rising costs had become "too much" for the independent shop to handle.
He told The Press and Journal: 'The cost of living has proved too much.
'Unfortunately, it was just not sustainable to keep the shop going.
'I had been looking to have someone take it over, but no one could get it over the line.
'It takes a special kind of person to do this job.
'It's a passion project. It's not for the money'.
Oasis vinyl
The business was born out of Nigel's love of collecting records.
It began as a pop-up shop on Union Street in Inverness, later moving to Academy Street and eventually settling on Market Brae Steps.
In 2021, he opened a second store called Vinyl 2 Vintage in his hometown, Nairn.
Despite the second shop's success, the Inverness location has since become financially unviable.
He said: 'The overheads are not as high for our shop in Nairn, but in Inverness we were paying a lot more and it just got too much.
'We just weren't getting the customers.
'They say there is this big vinyl resurgence but I don't think there is – we have never really seen the impact of that.
'Big businesses and corporate companies do kill the independent shops.'
The Inverness shop was just a stone's throw from where Nigel used to hunt for records as a young man.
He said: 'I do feel it's a shame.
'There has been a record shop on Market Brae steps since the 1970s. I think it's a loss of a tradition.
'I would love someone to take it on.'
Pulling down the shutters for a final time, employee Robert Ross played David Bowie's The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust - the last song of which is Rock 'n' Roll suicide which Nigel described as "quite apt".
There will be one final chance to visit Union Vinyl during a closing-down sale on June 6 and 7.
However, much of the remaining stock will be transferred to the store on Nairn High Street.
Nigel continued: 'I was also stretched between the two shops. That was a factor.
'The shop in Nairn is bigger and better and I will have more time to devote to it now.
'I hope some people will want to cross the divide to Nairn to come look at some vinyl.
'I like to think some of my regular customers will come over.'