n the late 1990s, new record shops were still opening rather than closing. There was still a good choice of record shops in most city centres - the usual large chains like Andy's Records, HMV, Our Price and in Hull specifically, independents Sydney Scarborough and Offbeat Records; as well as good old Woolworths' entertainment section (not including numerous one-off businesses around the city).
Kingfisher owned Woolworths and MVC, the latter opening a Hull branch in 1998, where I worked until 2002. It was quite a time to work in a record shop - as mentioned above, there was still a healthy variety of high street shops to choose from. In the late 90s, MVC was rapidly expanding around the country. Granted, it wasn't the coolest record shop around, but it's approachable image and competitive prices attracted a wide customer base. We stocked the usual chart titles, but also had well-stocked specialist sections (Country, Blues etc) promoting genre artists. Laser discs (remember them?!) and videotapes gave way to DVDs, and an early refusal to stock CD singles was later wisely overturned. There was also an excellent books department. If we didn't stock it, we'd do our best to order it in, regardless of genre.
I had begun ordering from Amazon online, before it became the enemy. Internet shopping was just taking off - Kingfisher actually acquired an online shopping portal I also bought from - Streets Online - and myself and a colleague went to an internet cafe (remember them?!) in Manchester, to be briefed on how it would work when MVC started an online shopping site.
MVC's 'secret weapon' had arguably been it's customer loyalty card, drawing customers in with cheaper member prices. Nowadays, a customer database is a goldmine, but back then it had largely untapped potential beyond occasional mailshots promoting certain titles and money off vouchers. When customers routinely phoned up asking us to price-match the supermarkets' CD/DVD etc prices, or flung titles back at you to buy it cheaper in Asda/Tesco etc., the writing was on the wall (Bizarrely, Kingfisher owned EUK, the supplier that also supplied the supermarkets competing with us!?). That, and the internet shopping revolution that MVC was too late to ultimately benefit from.*
Of course, MVC was arguably the canary in the mine of the decline of the Golden Age of record shops. Kingfisher pulled the plug, but its stablemate Woolworths would sadly follow, along with all the others, except HMV. Not including the resurgence of vinyl and it's attendant independent record shops, if memory serves, the only ones that have been (and gone) since are That's Entertainment and Music Zone.
It was inevitable that MVC couldn't survive the internet shopping age (neither could most other record shops), but I'm glad I got to experience the last stand of - arguably - the Golden Age of music retail. I miss some of (not all!) the regulars and unforgettable characters who would come in (my all time favourite customer had to be the older gentleman who came in with a hand puppet called Sammy, and insisted I address the puppet not him. Of course, the puppet answered in response).
Now you can Shazam a song instantly but back then customers would walk in off the street and 'sing' at you, expecting you to know what it was. Sometimes we did, and could order it in for you if we didn't already have it. I love the convenience and choice of buying music online, but there's no substitute for the enthusiasm and knowledge of the staff in a physical shop (that goes for more than just music and films). The tactile pleasure of buying an album on release day, and the buzz of a big new release (Paul Heaton, who still lived locally then, came in on the day of release of a Beautiful South album to ser how it was selling).
And one quiet weekday afternoon, Luke Goss from Bros walked through the shop in a very conspicuous silver suit (I think he was starring in a play at the nearby Hull New Theatre), stopping at the counter to ask where the nearest electrical shop was (?) - myself and a colleague hid behind a pillar laughing, while another flustered colleague attempted to speak to him - we were all women who'd grown up in the 80s...
*MVC Wikipedia entry cites MVC shopping website site operational until 2005 (after the Hull branch closed); Kingfisher sold MVC in 2001 but it operated as a company until 2006).
Claire M 2026