Independent record store resurgence: Pie & Vinyl's success mirrors the industries growth

Steve Courtnell, the owner of Pie & Vinyl in Castle Road, has spoken about his shops success as it was revealed that there are more independent record stores nationwide than there were ten years ago. The unique pastry and music based shop opened in 2012 and since it began the industry has seen an upturn in fortunes.

A report by The Digital Entertainment and Retail Association (ERA) has shown that independent record stores are at a 10 year high. There are now 461 indie record shops in the UK compared to 339 in 2014. With a 122 extra stores, the indie's are now increasing their market share in the physical music market. While it only had 3% of that market in 2013, as of 2023 it has increased to 23%.

Having sat on Castle Road for over a decade, Pie & Vinyl has become a fixture of the city, renowned and revered by many. However, that description still takes Steve by surprise. He said: "When people say, everyone knows Pie & Vinyl it never fails to warm my heart a bit. Obviously there has been an incredible amount of hard work to nearly get to 12 years old, there has been lots of challenges and there continues to be lots of challenges. What we try and offer is something unique, and it does stand out in a way."

The opening of its doors in 2012 has coincided with a renaissance in vinyl sales that few would have predicted at the time. The uncertainty of physical music future is what led to Steve diversifying the products they would sell. He said: "If I am honest that is where the idea of pie came into it, it was always music first. The confidence to only open the physical format music shop getting on 12 years ago was not quite there.

"We were all told that the physical format was dead with people just downloading or using Napster or something then. We wanted to couple the experience of purchasing records and having a community hub, somewhere to eat good quality food, and that is where the pie came into it. Similar to vinyl its an old fashioned working class food that you can contemporise. Just as vinyl is the best known old oldest format but every new artist now releases on vinyl, so they marry together nicely."

Steve believes that the key to independent record store's success is that they provide something unique that can't be easily replicated online. He said: "Our mantra here is that we try and offer everything that the internet doesn't. We are the human algorithms, you can come into our shop and have a good quality conversation on music and new artists.

"We do like to push new artists, we can't carry on selling Led Zeppelin records forever, it's amazing that they still fly now. There are some fantastic artists that have been releasing music in the last 10 to 15 years, so in that respect nothing has changed, there is always going to be music. It's never going to disappear and people are always going to create great music. To highlight that to people and to recommend a pie or two along with it, is a wonderful thing that we never take for granted."

While physical music remains in decline, the success of Pie & Vinyl, alongside independent record stores across the country, show that the appetite is there for consumers. The increase in stores nationwide also demonstrates that the reports of physical music's death were greatly exaggerated.