Our Price record shop opened up in the Murraygate at the tail end of the 80's.
I was down south by then so missed out on it as being a regular place to shop. However, on a return visit a couple of months after it had opened, it was one of the first places I headed for. I can remember them playing videos all the time I was in while I was raking around the racks. Needless to say I had to make a purchase - so the one & only record I ever bought from this store was a brilliant 12 inch single by Nightmares On Wax called "Aftermath" - a twisted underground dance groove that still sounds great today.
I've no idea how long the store lasted, who worked there or have any other info about it...but I'm sure some of you will!
To help jog your memory I have accompanied the image of the shop with an ad announcing the official opening of the store, which was on 13 May 1989.
Also, one of their familiar carrier bags.
Trivia-wise, rock band, The Silencers, once did an in-store P.A. set there in August '89.
I worked in the original shop in wellgate after they bought over a lot of old Virgin shops.That shop had Jim Stewart,who used to manage Bruces,as boss and was brilliant.When the new one opened in May 1989,Jim was surplus to needs and,up until it closed in April 1995,was turned into a glorified Woolies.It takes a moment to inject poison but years to drain it......
ReplyDeletethat's a bit clever for me but yir spot on, if your not buying the music , WTF is it all about ? :(
ReplyDeleteA friend of mine, married to a Dundonian, wrote the Our Price jingle "Got to get down to Our Price....get down".
ReplyDeleteHated Our Price, it was too shiny and sterile. Virgin in the Wellgate was much better, it had more of a Grouchos-esque vibe to it.
ReplyDeleteOf course, I'm talking about the two level Virgin, and not the ground floor Megastore closed a couple of years ago.
Jim S had a cool little record store in Union Street for a few years...Wish it was there now!!!
ReplyDeleteI agree with the earlier posts. It was a pretty depressing store for anyone interested in music - the comparison to Woolworths is exactly right.
ReplyDeleteI'm pretty sure it was still open when HMV opened a couple of doors down, which was the final nail in the coffin.
Sorry for the staff who worked there and who lost their jobs, but I for one don't miss the place.
Out of interest - did the building also house a McDonalds, or (as I believe) was that next door?
I worked there from Christmas 1989 until it closed in 1995. A few of the staff, including myself, loved music and tried to sneak decent stuff into the orders amongst the tons of charty dross. Losing battle, though.
ReplyDeleteThe shop did ok against HMV but the final nail was when Virgin bought Our Price and didn't need two stores in the town.
Some random memories -
1) A drunk American sailor in Dundee for a day once pissed over an entire row of videos.
2) Andy Cameron did a video signing upstairs and nobody turned up.
3) Del Amitri did an instore and were smelly, talentless bastards who stole our cigs and food.
4) The regional manager was a salmon-pink-cord wearing Nazi who put a limiter on the shop hi-fi's volume which we managed to remove and replace around his visits.
i worked there frm 92 til i moved to manage the perth branch in 94 and then back to virgin megastore in 96. had a mad managaress for a bit but have great memories of the place. while i agree abt how sterile the place was, one refit made me feel i was running a petrol station, i can vouch for the vast musical knowledge of all the people i worked with. great laughs, coffee behind the counter and short shrift for people who asked stupid questions.
ReplyDeleteOh boy, I could write a book!
ReplyDeleteThe salmon pink Nazi was Giles (if I remember rightly) a man who knew absolutely nothing about music but could read the rules book and knew systems and procedures. He was a total tosspot, however his underling Joe was even worse.
Our Price central knew nothing about the Dundee musical climate, and all releases were scaled in from head office - they believed that everyone in Dundee was into soul and R&B.
Jim Stewart was the greatest manager of the old Virgin but was forced out by OP - he was an incredibly good manager and a really nice man.
3 random memories:
Someone gobbed the biggest pile of phlegm you have ever seen over the Elton John albums.
A creamcake was squashed flat between some Communards records.
On the opening of the original Virgin, the entire (60 plus albums) Bob Marley vinyl stock was stolen in two or three days!
Used to work there and have some happy memories . . . especially playing a song by Rectum at 6pm on a Saturday with the goal to get people out the shop so we could go home.
ReplyDeleteI love the smell of Scheme Spirit in the morning :)
Wonder where everyone is?
Muz ;)