We meet Emma Perks and find out about her Vinyl shop: Spinning Around Records, in Wellington. She's in game on mode, as she gets ready for Record Store Day on the 12th April.
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00:00Welcome folks to Spinning Around Wellington. Hello. What's your name? I'm
00:05Emma. Emma, fill us in. You used to work for BT and you don't work for BT
00:11anymore. You run this fantastic little record shop here. Yeah I was at BT for a
00:15very long time and when they decided to send my job role overseas I decided to
00:20take the enhanced redundancy, get a start-up grant from the local council
00:24and open a record shop. Where did record shop, you know, where did it come
00:28from? Were you listening to vinyl at home anyway? Have you always been a fan or
00:33where did that come from? I've been collecting this time around for 10 years and I think
00:38because I've got such a love for pop music I never really found any record
00:42shops that catered for it and had a big selection in so I just sort of decided
00:46that I wanted to do something with a difference and open a pop-focused record shop.
00:50Yeah so we was having a little chinwag off-camera and you were saying like, I
00:55mean that's where the name Carly Minogue, Spinning Around, if anyone hasn't got
00:58that clue already. We got the nice bit of pink on the front as well. So yeah
01:04pop music's your bag so that's kind of, like you say, it's a bit of a niche isn't
01:08it in terms of vinyl shops because it tends to be old rock and classic rock.
01:12It is, it's either a lot of record shops or either sort of, you know, more your indie
01:17contemporary sort of music or they are like you said, you know, your music
01:22from 30, 40 years ago. Not that there's anything wrong with that but it's just that I
01:27specialise in pop music and obviously, when I say pop, a lot of the contemporary
01:31stuff as well. Yeah. A lot of the people, Leve, Conan Gray, the ones that other
01:37record shops might not have heard of. Yeah and we don't want to put anyone off,
01:41you know, you've got a lot of stock. If you do like your rock and that and your
01:44indie, there's plenty going on for the customers there as well still.
01:47There is, there's a big big selection in store and I always say never underestimate
01:51the pop girl because I've got older brothers and I was brought up on Led
01:54Zeppelin, the States Club and ACDC. Cool. So it's been about how long since you
01:59opened? 18 months? 18 months now. And how's it been going? Really, really well.
02:04It kind of hit the ground running and I haven't stopped since to be honest.
02:08Everyone loves having a record shop back in town again. I do a lot on my socials
02:14so I sell a lot of records online as well. If people want to find you
02:19on the socials, what do they put in? Is it just spinning around Wellington?
02:22Spinning around records and spinningaroundrecords.com is my main website.
02:26And what sort of customers are you getting in then? We're always hearing
02:31that, you know, it's appealing to a young generation as well now.
02:35What sort of ages are you getting in? Literally from, you know, kids 10-11
02:39years old buying their first record up to people in their 80s and beyond I
02:43think. So it really is across the generations. And this record store
02:49day will be your second one, so it's coming up on the 12th of this month.
02:53What's some of the releases that you've had? You've had your stock come in, it's
02:57always a bit of a gamble isn't it as a trader? You're never 100% sure what
03:01you're gonna get. You can put your wish list in and thankfully your wish list has
03:05pretty much been fulfilled, yeah? It has. I always say by supporting your local
03:09indie store it just means that they're more likely to get good allocations each
03:12record store day. So do remember that. But the big ones this year, it's the Oasis
03:17Time Flies box set. So it's the first time it's been repressed since it first
03:22came out and so you can imagine what an original copy went for. Yeah. So it's a
03:264 LP set, each one's a different colour and it's a proper chunky monkey. I've got
03:31a lot of people after that. Cool. But also a lot of people after the little Taylor Swift here as well.
03:35I was gonna say, what's this, a single, an EP? Yep, so it's a 7-inch of
03:40Fortnight with Post Malone and it's got a different mix on the B-side. And then
03:45the other big one is the ambassador this year which is Sam Fender. Sam Fender,
03:49classic, you can't go wrong with a bit of Sam Fender. So what's the deal?
03:53What timing's in that opening? So on the 12th you'll be open from when
03:58until when? I'll be opening at 8 o'clock. I'll be closing normal time 5 o'clock.
04:04But obviously with Record Store Day, they are limited releases. It's the early
04:08bird catches the vinyl. And obviously normal rules apply. It's first come first
04:14served, no reservations and only one of a line per customer but as many
04:18different lines as you want. Cool. And here's a little few questions then.
04:22So, your favourite album? Go on. Oh, favourite album, Fleetwood Mac, Rumours.
04:26All right, straight in with that. Yeah, yeah. Favourite song? Favourite song? Oh, it's got to be
04:33The Chain from Rumours because I just never get bored of them. It is an absolute classic, isn't it?
04:37Yeah. And who would you say has kind of been most popular at the minute in terms
04:42of on vinyl? I know, I'll come Record Store Day, it'll be the way everyone's
04:46trying to grab. But just generally over the last year or so, any
04:50particular artists you've seen? Yeah, I mean for me, Taylor Swift, she never stops
04:54selling. But also Chapel Rowan, Sabrina Carpenter, Olivia Rodrigo, all the pop
05:00girls. They just sell so, so well. And here's one for you. I'm picking your brain
05:06here so I haven't pre-empted you with these questions. In terms of, because one
05:10of the beauties of vinyl, of course, is the artwork just looks so great, you know,
05:14rather than it being... On a little phone stand. Yeah, exactly. So any particular favourite albums of, you know, album covers?
05:21Artwork that you've kind of, you've come to mind? I've got to go back to Fleetwood Mac, Rumours again.
05:26Yeah. It's funny though because you get so many albums now that have an
05:29alternative cover. Yeah. And I think, would Rumours have the same impact? Or like
05:33Dark Side of the Moon, so many years on, had it have got three different versions
05:37of cover, like nowadays? Yeah, exactly. Well we wish you all the best on Record Store Day
05:42and good luck for the future. Thank you.