Spillers Records, 27 Morgan Arcade, Cardiff

Spillers Records, established in 1894, is recognised as the oldest

record shop A record shop or record store is a retail outlet that sells Sound recording and reproduction, recorded music. In the late 19th century and the early 20th century, record shops only sold gramophone records, but over the 20th century, record sho ...

in the world."The owners of Spillers Records, recognised by Guinness World Records as the oldest such emporium on Earth, say that it will close unless a buyer is found.
"World's oldest record shop in the death grip of a developer"
''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper ''The Sunday Times'' (fou ...

'', London, 1 December 2006. It is located in

Cardiff Cardiff (; cy, Caerdydd ) is the capital and largest city of Wales. It forms a principal area, officially known as the City and County of Cardiff ( cy, Dinas a Sir Caerdydd, links=no), and the city is the eleventh-largest in the United Kingd ...

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

. In addition to selling music, it is the city's main location for buying tickets for

alternative Alternative or alternate may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media * Alternative (''Kamen Rider''), a character in the Japanese TV series ''Kamen Rider Ryuki'' * ''The Alternative'' (film), a 1978 Australian television film * ''The Alternative ...

music concerts.

History

Spillers was founded in 1894 by Henry Spiller at its original location in

Queens Arcade Queens Arcade ( cy, Arcêd y Frenhines) shopping centre is located in Cardiff city centre. It opened on 28 April 1994. History Developed on the site of the Allders department store and the similarly named Queen Street Arcade, the main entrance ...

, where the shop specialised in the sale of

phonograph A phonograph, in its later forms also called a gramophone (as a trademark since 1887, as a generic name in the UK since 1910) or since the 1940s called a record player, or more recently a turntable, is a device for the mechanical and analogu ...

s, wax

phonograph cylinder Phonograph cylinders are the earliest commercial medium for recording and reproducing sound. Commonly known simply as "records" in their era of greatest popularity (c. 1896–1916), these hollow cylindrical objects have an audio recording engra ...

s and

shellac Shellac () is a resin secreted by the female lac bug on trees in the forests of India and Thailand. It is processed and sold as dry flakes and dissolved in alcohol to make liquid shellac, which is used as a brush-on colorant, food glaze and ...

phonograph discs, also sold and repaired musical instruments In the early 1920s, Spiller's son Edward took over the running of the business and, with the aid of the popular accordionist and bandleader Joe Gregory, sold musical instruments alongside the pre-recorded music. In the late 1940s the shop moved around the corner to a larger premises on

The Hayes The Hayes ( cy, Yr Ais) is a commercial area in the southern city centre of the Welsh capital, Cardiff. Centred on the road of that name leading south towards the east end of the city centre, the area is mostly pedestrianised and is the location ...

. Since 2006 the shop's future was made uncertain when the site rent was increased by Spillers' landlords,

Helical Bar Helical plc (formerly Helical Bar plc) is a property investment and development company. Helical is based in London and a constituent of the FTSE SmallCap Index The FTSE SmallCap Index is an index of small market capitalisation companies consis ...

, who stated that they are keen for the shop to survive. A local campaign to save the shop was initiated, including a petition initiated by

Owen John Thomas Owen John Thomas (born 3 October 1939) is a former Plaid Cymru politician who was a Member of the Welsh Assembly (AM) for the South Wales Central region from 1999 to 2007. Early life and education Owen John Thomas was born in Albany Road, Car ...

(then the Assembly Member for South Wales Central), and supported by members of the

Welsh Assembly The Senedd (; ), officially known as the Welsh Parliament in English and () in Welsh, is the devolved, unicameral legislature of Wales. A democratically elected body, it makes laws for Wales, agrees certain taxes and scrutinises the Welsh Gove ...

, the

Manic Street Preachers Manic Street Preachers, also known simply as the Manics, are a Welsh Rock music, rock band formed in Blackwood, Caerphilly, Blackwood in 1986. The band consists of cousins James Dean Bradfield (lead vocals, lead guitar) and Sean Moore (musician ...

and

Columbia Records Columbia Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music, Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the North American division of Japanese Conglomerate (company), conglomerate Sony. It was founded on Janua ...

. In 2010 Spillers moved to the nearby

Morgan Arcade The Morgan Arcade is a shopping arcade in Cardiff, South Wales. Started in 1896, it was built to connect the main entrance of David Morgan's department store on St Mary's Street, with his other store on The Hayes. It opened in 1899 as the New ...

, initially on a temporary basis, with the expectation that the move will be made permanent if successful."World's Oldest record shop ready for move"
''BBC Online – South East Wales'', 25 June 2010. In 2019, Spillers called for a boycott of

Morrissey Steven Patrick Morrissey (; born 22 May 1959), known professionally as Morrissey, is an English singer and songwriter. He came to prominence as the frontman and lyricist of rock band the Smiths, who were active from 1982 to 1987. Since then ...

and his music due to his support for a far-right political party.

Gallery

File:Spillers Records Cardiff.jpg, Second location in The Hayes (2007) File:Spillers Records, 31 Morgan Arcade, Cardiff.jpg, In the Morgan Arcade (2012) File:Spillers Records, Morgan Arcade, Cardiff 2.jpg, Interior (2017) File:Spillers Records, Morgan Arcade, Cardiff 5.jpg, Exterior (2017)

Notes

References

External links

Official websiteSpillers Myspace
{{coord, 51.47879, N, 3.17707, W, type:landmark_region:GB, display=title Music in Cardiff Music retailers of the United Kingdom 1894 establishments in Wales Retail companies established in 1894 Shopping in Cardiff Buildings and structures in Cardiff Shops in the United Kingdom Castle, Cardiff