It has been brilliant opening up on-line. We have been floored by your support and it has been fantastic being in touch with you, plus seeing some of when you pick up your records. We have been getting a few questions about when we will be opening the physical shop. The answer is, not yet.
Re-opening the shop on 15th June for browsing, listening to and talking records is something we would love to be able to do, but we just can’t do it at this moment. We have been told that it is safe to open up, but the last few months have not given us a lot of confidence that this advice has everyone’s health and safety at heart. Bedford is having a really rough time with COVID-19 and if our shop was in Cardiff or Edinburgh then we wouldn’t be allowed to open.
As a couple with young children and elderly relatives, and family we have not seen in months, we don’t feel comfortable being at the forefront of shops re-opening. Many of our customers and members of their families are vulnerable to this awful illness and we have a responsibility to do everything we can to help keep them safe.
So much of the joy of record shopping is browsing and touching records. This is incredibly hard to manage, but we are committed to getting back to it, safely. We are talking to our trade body, other record shops, pulling in expert advice and making upgrades to the shop to find a way forward. In the meantime, we are building up our website for pre-orders and second hand. We will also be participating in Love Record Stores and RSD Drops online (more details on these to come).
We are offering a free pick-up service from the shop for online orders and if you want help tracking down a record or have any other questions you can contact us here.
Thank you, stay safe and we will get there.
Warren & Nerys