Tuesday 2 December 2008

BRUCE'S RECORD SHOP - 1974


Bruce's opened their record shop in Reform Street in December 1974.
This was the 7th Bruce's shop to open in Scotland.
The interior was designed around a curves & coves theme and had a coffee & cream colour scheme.
When you entered the shop the curved counter was on the right-hand side and the rest of the shop space was record racks and cassette displays.
In the middle of the floor there was the latest record rack design called the "wedding cake" - a 2 tier circular rack which was illuminated.
The shop also had concealed lighting, a listening booth and the usual music related paraphernalia on the walls.
They had an active disco service too and were Dundee's only seller of import records from America and the continent.
John Preston, who used to work with Decca, was the first manager who had 4 permanent staff & 2 part-timers working for him.
A couple of years later, Jim Stewart took over as manager.
The shop itself had a recessed doorway with a bronze effect look.
It had a main round window and would display record sleeves, the shops "album & single of the week" and such like.
In the other showcase window near the doors they would put up the latest chart list each week.
Every Friday, as soon as I got my wages, I was down to Bruce's like a shot and headed straight to the "new releases" rack.
I can also remember the time when all of Dundee's record shops banned the Sex Pistols album when it first came out, but Bruce's, being more hip, had improvised a huge sign in their shop window stating proudly that they had the album in stock. I think the record sold out that same day!
Goodness knows how many records I ended up buying from there in total but these are the bag designs I brought them home in.

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Bruce's Record Shop now has its own website - go visit Bruce's Record Shop

8 comments:

  1. Yep, Bruces was a great store for all the Punk 7's. I&N as well though. Bruces was far more cooler and do you remember the fanzine they used to give away as well? A step up from Cathie McCabes in the old arcade lol. Wonder what year Bruces closed? Didnt they reopen as the other record shop in the Overgate?

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  2. Nope sorry Shilton Bruce's and The Other Record Shop were completely separate businesses, although both originated in Edinburgh. Bruces was founded by Bruce Findley who (I think I'm right in saying) became the Simple Minds Manager. I think he also might have had something to do with Fast Records. I loved Bruces and bought my copy of never mind the bollocks there. Jim Stewart who was the manager eventualy became the manager of the original Virgin in the overgate (they have had three different ones there since 1984). Now there was a man who new his onions.

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    1. Bob Last was the man behind Fast: Product, the label you mention from Edinburgh, nothing to do with Bruce. However, Bruce had Zoom Records which released four singles and became the imprint for Simple Minds when they signed for Arista.

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    2. The entire Zoom catalogue was Zum 1 The Valves For Adolf' s Only / Robot Love Zum 2 PVC 2 (Slim) Put You In The Picture / Deranged, Demented And Free / Pain Zum 3 The Valves Ain't No Surf In Portobello / Tarzan Of The Kings Road Zum 4 The Zones Stuck On You / No Angels

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  3. Iremember that you could get badges made in the shop
    me and my mates had badges made up saying 'I FOUND BRUCE AT IT'

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  4. Wow, superb blog layout! How long have you been blogging for? you made blogging look easy. The overall look of your website is magnificent, let alone the content!. Thanks For Your article.


    Printed Carrier Bags

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  5. Wow, crap advert layout! How long have you been sending out crap adverts? You made crap adverts look easy. The overall look of your crap advert is crap, let alone the crappy content! Thanks for nothing!
    GG

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  6. Now now GG , yiv retired

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