Fine City Sounds In Trouble!!!

**Senor Trunk** · 31-07-2006, 08:52 AM

I was in Norwich a week or so ago. I went in to Fine City Sounds, a shop I have patronised every few months for the last few years. It really is a groovy shop, loads of intriguing records all over the place, well priced and a bit mad. The bloke who runs it smokes like a chimney. I asked him how business was and he said "dreadful". He then proceeded to show me a sign he had written simply stating that due to a dramatic downturn in trade he was having to close down. This upset me terribly - it is afterall the only real reason I will ever go to Norwich. I proceeded to spend about 70 quid on cheap singles (including a £2 South Africa Pepsi advertising single from 1968 and a killer Brull ten inch for a quid) and begged him to try and stay open. A week later I am still calling him, urging him not to close but I really feel he may well be doomed. So, this could well be yet another shop heading into oblivion, and even though Mr Beanos on the Beanos thread has stated it's not the internet that is to blame, I really believe it has masses to do with it. The internet makes us all far lazier than we used to be. This is the best shop I know for rummaging and digging about it, he's cheap, has great and slightly weird taste and has just the right amount of stock. So look you lot, if you haven't ever been to Norwich I suggest you go and help save Fine City Sounds. It's a good day out, and you may well be saving one of the finest and strangest old record shops in the UK. I really do think these little shops need our walk in help otherwise they will all disappear. Any thoughts???

**benjamin hatton** · 31-07-2006, 09:06 AM

Originally Posted by Senor Trunk

So look you lot, if you haven't ever been to Norwich I suggest you go and help save Fine City Sounds. It's a good day out, and you may well be saving one of the finest and strangest old record shops in the UK.

am actually going to Norwich for the first time in a couple of weeks, so will certainly pop my head in there and have a rummage....

**Col Wolfe** · 31-07-2006, 09:46 AM

Paul Troglodite will be back - he goes through this metamorphosis every 5 yrs or so - used to be 7 but may soon be down to 1, if you know what I mean. Paul's main problem seems to be the whole internet thing - he refuses to get involved with online selling

Ben, dunno if you've seen this thread before: Naaaaridge

**benjamin hatton** · 31-07-2006, 09:53 AM

Originally Posted by Col Wolfe

Ben, dunno if you've seen this thread before: Naaaaridge

ah, nice one Col ,cheers for that, gonna try and check a few of those out.... (my wife will be pleased

)

**Joe M'geek** · 31-07-2006, 10:18 AM

Originally Posted by Col Wolfe

Paul's main problem seems to be the whole internet thing - he refuses to get involved with online selling

There has to be a happy medium for record dealers, especially in smaller towns- where the local passing trade won't necessarily be interested in some of the big money stuff. That guy in Kings Lynn is a top bloke- but he absolutely refuses to do internet selling...hope it doesn't lead to HIM closing down as well

I think London stores putting the big money stuff on the bay- like Reckless have done on occasion, is a mistake, cos it makes it look like they just peddle shit, with the same old overpriced crap on the wall, but out in the styx- how long is a £150 copy of 'apples and oranges' gonna sit there for?

**Mumbles** · 31-07-2006, 10:31 AM

Originally Posted by Col Wolfe

Ben, dunno if you've seen this thread before: Naaaaridge

That's unreal

How come there's so many record shops in Norwich?

**Col Wolfe** · 31-07-2006, 10:34 AM

Originally Posted by Mumbles

That's unreal

How come there's so many record shops in Norwich?

C90s & CDs haven't reached there yet

**Senor Trunk** · 31-07-2006, 10:44 AM

There does seem to be a fear with Mr Fine City Sounds about getting onto the internet, and I did tell him that buyers all around the world would really love his stock - I mean his folk singles box alone is about two foot long. But then again encouraging these people to try and sell more on-line has the knock on effect of encouraging more people to shop on-line. I'm guilty of not getting out there more often these days, I suppose I'm looking for a balance somewhere between shopping by hand and shopping by mouse. The best records are always found by hand - my recent visit to Fine City Sounds only emphasising this.

**Tommo of Sprowston** · 31-07-2006, 12:53 PM

Oh gawd, now this really would be a disaster. I've sung Paul's praises round these parts many times. He is a stalwart of the Norwich second-hand scene; he used to run Norwich Record Exchange and I don't know how much I've spent in his shops over the years. He's a part of my childhood! (In a positive, musical way, rather than an inappropriate relationship way).

The last time I spoke to him about th'internet he'd got as far as passing 4 LPs to a mate to act as intermediary and flog them for him, but I know he's not keen on the whole electronic experience.

Fine City Sounds must be saved!

**Col Wolfe** · 31-07-2006, 01:36 PM

I took Bob Stanley there once (when Paul was based in that rancid sex dungeon under the indoor goth market thing). He found Paul's performance mechanisms highly amusing. He especially liked the elongated sales process > check record > print receipt > stamp receipt > fold receipt > slip receipt & record into crumpled yet re-ironed brown paper bag....

**Lady J** · 31-07-2006, 04:50 PM

Originally Posted by Col Wolfe

He especially liked the elongated sales process > check record > print receipt > stamp receipt > fold receipt > slip receipt & record into crumpled yet re-ironed brown paper bag....

I love that! And the way, EVERY TIME, he gets the stamped receipt, punches some numbers in a calculator, shows you and says "as you've pulled a lot out there, I've given you ten per cent off". When the prices are so ridiculously reasonable anyway you want to give him ten per cent MORE. And how many shops can you say that about?

**wayne** · 31-07-2006, 05:06 PM

Originally Posted by Col Wolfe

He especially liked the elongated sales process > check record > print receipt > stamp receipt > fold receipt > slip receipt & record into crumpled yet re-ironed brown paper bag....

Add 'take receipt to another till on a different floor to pay' and it's just like the old Foyles bookshop on Charing Cross Road. Though there weren't discounts there, unfortunately. Rob's has the most baffling stock filing system, though. The LPs that aren't inside the sleeves are stashed away in paper bags and you're dependent on him remembering which pile the paper bag you need is in. Many's the time I've attempted to buy an LP and been told apologetically that it can't be located and he'll have a look for next time I go in. He keeps change in paper bags around the shop, too. Proper Old school retail.

**Senor Trunk** · 31-07-2006, 06:42 PM

you've all forgotten to mention he smokes like a bloody chimney. Yes, and he / his shop must be saved. Someone else go to Norwich, buy records and report back please. Or more people in Norwich keep buying records you don't need. Or something.

**Teessider** · 01-08-2006, 08:18 AM

It`s a great shop, great stock, great prices. What puts me off is having to move overflowing ashtrays off the top of the records to be able to view them, and leaving with a foul smell on my clothes that stays there all day, and a nicotine stickyness all over my hands.

**Senor Trunk** · 01-08-2006, 08:31 AM

And don't forget that most of the LPs and singles are all whiffy and smokey too.

**ashra** · 01-08-2006, 09:18 AM

Originally Posted by Col Wolfe

I took Bob Stanley there once (when Paul was based in that rancid sex dungeon under the indoor goth market thing). He found Paul's performance mechanisms highly amusing. He especially liked the elongated sales process > check record > print receipt > stamp receipt > fold receipt > slip receipt & record into crumpled yet re-ironed brown paper bag....

Sounds like the elaborate sales method of Discovery Records in Gorton.

Made even longer since his roof collapsed and all his stock is drying somewhere in the back which adds at least a week of to-ing and fro-ing. He can turn from super-friendly (making you a brew) to terrifyingly hostile (he once put my bike out on the street to make me go) in the bat of an eye.

I think it's usually when he needs a wee.

**Old School Tramp** · 03-08-2006, 11:14 PM

Kinda feel compelled to say...I can't stand the bloke, he's a misserable bitter anti social Norfolk noddy, why the feck anyone would want to flick through his wares is beyond me. I used to buy lots of records off him when he had the Record Exchange, but he was unwilling to let you listen to anything & unresponsive, so he's never going to get new customers, let us hold this man up as an example to why record shops are dying!...go see Sean at Spin Doctors, a nice bloke, friendly & bloody cheap!

**Tommo of Sprowston** · 12-05-2008, 01:39 PM

Fine City Sounds update: Paul finished there on Saturday, and the place is now run by one Mark. They were redecorataing a minute ago when I went in, but the shop will stay open and - brace yourselves - will be going online in the future.

I wished Paul all the best on Saturday, but as he'd just been talking to the bloke upstairs from The Movie Shop about how terrible business was, it wasn't really the moment for an emotional farewell. . .

Anyway, at least this is one shop that will be staying open, in contrast to most of the news on the subject that gets posted up here.

**Col Wolfe** · 12-05-2008, 01:57 PM

am sure Paul will be back in one form or another soon

wonder whether new bloke will bring in fresh stock or simply let the stagnant gumpf dwindle away.......

**Snoop God** · 12-05-2008, 01:58 PM

thats good to hear.. i found some nice 7s for good prices last time i went.. they were all mixed in with 80s dross so it's a chore but worth it. he seemed a grumpy but fair guy to me so i wish him all the best.

**Plainstone** · 12-05-2008, 03:59 PM

Originally Posted by cancer scabies

he seemed a grumpy but fair guy to me so i wish him all the best.

I think we need a grumpiness scale here. If the guy in Backbeat is, for the sake of argument, a 9 then what is this bloke?

**wayne** · 12-05-2008, 04:21 PM

Originally Posted by Plainstone

I think we need a grumpiness scale here. If the guy in Backbeat is, for the sake of argument, a 9 then what is this bloke?

The guy in Haggle is a 9 on a bad day. The guy in Backbeat goes all the way up to 11.

**Saint Jude** · 12-05-2008, 04:32 PM

Originally Posted by Plainstone

I think we need a grumpiness scale here. If the guy in Backbeat is, for the sake of argument, a 9 then what is this bloke?

5 or 6.

He's not that bad, just slightly odd and set in his ways. A bit like most record shop owners and 99% of people who post on music forums

**Old School Tramp** · 12-05-2008, 05:18 PM

Originally Posted by Saint Jude

5 or 6.

He's not that bad, just slightly odd and set in his ways. A bit like most record shop owners and 99% of people who post on music forums

Slightly odd!!!...I'd have gone for social retard!

pretty awful selection of stock all sourced from carboot sales, his problem is he doesn't advertise for new stock, doesn't sell on the net, & can overprice some real common chuff...can you tell I don't like him!

...bless him!