Music shop hits all the right notes with customers at home and abroad

Gregory Duggins will be celebrating 40 years of selling music in 2024, after he opened the shop in St Helens in 1984.

Here, in our latest Trader of the Week feature, Gregory shares with us his love of music – which is still going strong after nearly four decades in the business – and the shop’s plans for this year’s Record Store Day.

If you would like to be featured as Trader or Business of the Week, email heidi.summerfield@newsquest.co.uk

Gregory Duggins (right) and former mayor of St Helens Geoff Pearl and his wife Carol

What’s the name of the business?

Kaleidoscope Records

What’s the address?

30 Westfield Street, St Helens, WA10 1QF

Are you the owner/manager?

I’m the owner of the business.

When did you open the business?

I opened the business in 1984 – nearly 40 years ago.

Kaleidoscope Records is on Westfield Street in St Helens

Has it always been in the same location?

No, as I used to be in the Tontine Market. I moved to the current premises the year before the Tontine Market shut.

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Are you local to the area? Did you grow up here?

Yes, I’m local to the north west as I’ve live most of my life around Birkenhead and Liverpool.

Tell me a bit about your business

I worked for Liverpool City Libraries when I started to do record fairs. Collecting records had been a long-time hobby of mine and gradually the idea formed that I could do it as a full-time job. I found the market in St Helens and took the plunge – I’ve never looked back. The first record I ever bought was Bad Moon Rising by Creedence Clearwater Revival. I listen to a wide variety of music from The Beatles to progressive rock, to folk, to punk and new wave to the Stone Roses and Primal Scream and much more. My all time favourite band is probably King Crimson.

What do you do? What services do you provide?

I sell records, CD and anything to do with music. I also sell accessories like record mailers, plastic sleeves for records and other things.

There are records and CDs of all genres of music as well as musical accessories

How did the Covid-19 pandemic affect your business?

I suffered like everyone else throughout the pandemic although we did get some help from the government, which meant we were able to keep the business running.

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What makes your business different to others in the same area/field? What sets your business apart from your competitors?

There aren’t too many record shops around anymore so people will travel a little way to find us. We have people coming to our shop from all over the north west – all over the world in fact! I get people from abroad - Japan, Greece, Belgium and Brazil - although I can't claim that they travelled just to see me!

The shop has been open since 1984

Why do loyal customers return to your business?

Record collectors are a breed unto themselves! I always try to be nice and polite to all my customers.

What’s next? What do the next few months hold for you and your business?

In the short term, I have the 2023 Record Store Day coming up when there will be lots of goodies in the shop. It’s one of the biggest events in the music calendar and more than 260 independent shops across the UK will be celebrating their unique culture. It’s on Saturday, April 22 and bands and artists release new music. This year, there will be new releases from Taylor Swift, Ed Sheeran and Blur as well as U2, Madonna and event ambassadors The 1975.

Some record companies release rare and limited edition vinyl and people queue up to get their favourites. I’ve had people queuing from midnight the night before and I open at 8am. It’s always a great day.

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