Sometimes knowledgeable and helpful staff can take their service to another level, almost without meaning to. Such was the case with Probe and with others in Liverpool, such as Robert Crease in Walton Road, Virgin Records in Bold Street, Skeleton and Rox on the Wirral and the Chester branch of Penny Lane Records. They were more than just retailers and indeed more than meeting places. They were also taste makers, acting as advice centres and agents of change, recommending people to listen to other recordings, other artists, other forms of music.
We got our first record player in 1960, when I was eleven. I can pinpoint it because that summer Elvis Presley had his smash UK and Stateside hit It's Now or Never. I went with my mother to Crease's record store on County Road, Walton, and she insisted that the first single we would purchase would be a real family treat. It had to be by The King of Rock 'n Roll. KEN ROGERS journeys into Liverpool's past
The first record I bought was in 1970 from Robert Crease's record shop.
Out in the suburbs, there were two other shops which were operating at the time. Shurrock's in Breck Road (Anfield) was a small store but had a JMI account, displaying Vox amps in their window, and Crease's in County Road, Walton, tended to deal in acoustic instruments as well as school staples like mandolins, recorders, etc. Crease's stayed in business right up until the early 1980s.
“YOUR CHRISTMAS RECORDS, ALL IN STOCK From 1/6 AT ROBERT CREASE, 14, COUNTY ROAD, WALTON. H.M.V. AGENT.”
... and this in the 'Liverpool Echo' dated 10th December 1958:
“ROBERT CREASE FOR YOUR CHRISTMAS RECORDS. All long playing and stereos in stock. 14 COUNTY ROAD, WALTON. TEL: AINTREE 3215.”