Comments
Name: Neil from Kent
Comment: Up until the mid- to late-ish 1990s there was a Richards Records in Maidstone too.
(28 March 2013)
Name: Chris Young
Comment: Richards had branches in Canterbury, Ashford and Maidstone.
I lived in Canterbury and passed the store every day on my way to and from school. Richard was always very helpful and would order anything you were after.
I think YMCA and Super Trooper on 7" would have been the first things I bought there.
The records gradually gave way to CDs and now the store is gone.
(2018)
Name: JJ
Comment: As kids we used to go on holiday to Broadstairs, and would always pop into Canterbury for a day. There was a place there called Richards Records, and I used to find some great stuff in there. The only pain in the arse was not having a turntable at the holiday house, so I had to wait to get back home to play them.
I had ordered an import from America of the newly released Freaked Out and Small album on CD by The Presidents of the United States of America, which would have been around September 2000. I think it took over a month (maybe two) of popping in asking "has it arrived yet?" before it did :D
They may have got a bit sick of me at that point, haha.
(2024)
“Records courtesy of Richards Records, 48 St Peter’s Street, Canterbury.”
... and this piece in the 'Kent Evening Post' dated 2nd January 1998:
“Record shop fades out. STAFF at a Maidstone record store got an unwelcome suprise at Christmas - the closure of their shop. Richards Records in the High Street closed on Christmas Eve after a busy day of shoppers taking advantage of slashed prices. But the company, which also has stores in Ashford and Canterbury, was reluctant to explain its reasons to close the Maidstone branch. The owner and manager refused to comment and it is not yet known what will replace the record store.”