Comment: I made a pilgrimage back to the Swan Centre to reminisce - it's now a pet store - Sounds Around sadly missed.
Name: John Hughes
Comment: Great store. In fact, absolutely great. I have lived in Kidderminster since 1975 and really do miss this store. I bought loads of vinyl by artists you wouldn't normally find in British stores - Todd Rundgren especially - and I can remember them going to CD gradually, and again finding loads of things there that I never found in even Virgin or HMV in Birmingham. And the owner was always happy to chat about music.
(28 February 2013)
Name: Nik Keeley
Comment: I loved Sounds Around, every Saturday you could find me flicking through the new releases, New Romantics, funk and soul! Moved to Kidderminster and found this golden nugget in 1982 and lived there till it much sadly closed its doors!
I now live in Birmingham and have such fond memories of this place, it was part of my childhood. Vinyl's coming back and we need shops like Sounds Around again to inspire a new generation.
(29 April 2017)
Name: Mike Harris
Comment: I have great memories of Sounds Around and agree that it was one of the few places that made growing up in Kiddy tolerable.
I have a mate who still lives in the town and has (the last time I saw his vinyl collection) his copy of Big Country’s album still in its Sounds Around carrier bag! I know it sounds sad but I SOOOOOOOOO want one of those carrier bags just to frame and reminisce about all the pocket money I spent in there and the hours flicking through the record racks! (I’m 50!) Great times!
(2018)
Name: Kim Wells
Comment: Just was the best record shop, as a DJ I missed it so much when it closed down.
Name: Brian Davies
Comment: It all started in the 1950s when Brian Wilson left King Charles School in Kidderminster to work at F.W. Long Records in Mill Street (between Frank Freemans and The Black Horse) in which he became manager. The store also sold stereograms, hi-fi, radios, tape recorders and also had record booths.
Brian sold records from there and supplied Blue Beat and Ska Records via London wholesalers to the Mods which also included West Coast Records. He also supplied records to Frank Freeman and The Black Horse Hotel. He worked for Fred Long until Long's shop was demolished in 1972.
Between 1961 and 1966 Brian Wilson with Martin Stooke and Nigel Mills set up Startime Promotions and promoted Live Bands at The Mare and Colt and Cleobury VIllage Hall, both on Friday nights, The Chateau Impney, Droitwich on Sundays, and Saturday nights at Kidderminster Town Hall. Two bands they used on a regular basis were Cliff Ward and The Cruisers and Tommy and The Crestas.
In 1972 Sounds Around opened. Pete Nutting said, "I worked for Brian Wilson at F.W. Longs in 1970 on Saturdays when Mike Preston and Jackie Sheriff were there. In 1986 Brian asked if I could help out on Saturdays at Sounds Around and I stayed there till it closed in July 1993. I remember working with Brian, Anna, Dale, Mark, Jill, And Hilary."
Sounds Around was all about personal service and if you wanted a specialist import they would order it and the following day it would arrive. People used Sounds Around to buy vinyl (7", 12" and albums), CDs, picture discs, DVDs, slip mats, stylus, posters, calenders, music videos etc. In the 1980s Sounds Around sold concert tickets to the NEC with coach transport plus they sold tickets for all the local nightclubs, hotels and venues. The shop had a good following with DJs, bands and artists.
After 4 years at Virgin Records (1985-1989) Mark Tew joined Sounds Around (1989-1993) and set up a good relationship with customers and local DJs .
Brian Wilson ran a series of promotions in the 1980s including at The Gainsborough House Hotel a Beatles Night, Elvis Anniversary plus lots of Tamla Motown nights which all use to sell out.
Management and staff that worked at Sounds Around (1972-1993) included Brian, Anna, Dale Wilson, Mark Tew, Lesley and Paul Rutherford, James Bird, Andrea Cudd, Lisa Sheriff, Joy Oliver, Fiona Galloway, Pete Nutting, Jill Evans, Jane Taylor, Pat Banfield Quirk, Richard Argent, Hilary and Maria.
Due to a huge rent increase Sounds Around closed in July 1993 .
Despite the amount of record shops in the Wyre Forest over the years including Wilson’s (Blackwell Street), Co-op, Woolworth, Boots, Preedys, Greyhound, Magpie, Our Price, Virgin, etc, Sounds Around will always go down in the history books in Kidderminster for being the most popular.
