High Street Spotlight: Vinyl Attraction, Kirkgate, Newark

A record shop owner who took the leap to follow his passion and start his business before his retirement has spoken of his love of music and his customers.

Tony Mills, first opened Vinyl Attraction on Stodman Street, and since then the business has outgrown that space and moved into Cartergate, and then moved to 48 Kirkgate in May 2024.

“I have always had an interest in music and I had the opportunity before I retired to do something I really wanted to do and that’s to do with vinyl records, music, memorabilia, t-shirts, all sorts,” said Tony.

“It’s great that people come in and like this shop, and a lot of them don’t necessarily buy anything but they really like the shop, the layout and looking at the t-shirts.”

Tony was in the motor trade business for 35 years, before he decided to follow one of his passions — music — and open the record shop six years ago.

The store, which has a theme of what a traditional record store would look like 30 to 50 years ago, prides itself in offering its visitors and customers a range of products, but also a travel in time.

The shop moved to its new premises as the owner felt a need for expansion and extra storage, and a year on in the new location, Tony said it was a great move for the business.

The new premises have more room to display the products from vinyls to t-shirts and its central location has increased the footfall.

One of Tony’s favourite thing about the business, apart from being surrounded by music all day, is talking to the customers and find out more about their music interests.

He added: “Owning the shop has probably meant that I listen to things I probably wouldn't have listened to 20 years ago, but as a shop you cannot concentrate on one type of music otherwise you'd become I think just a dedicated like a rock shop, an indie shop or a pop shop.

“You have to take everything from Metallica to Taylor Swift and you have to take everything from Olivia Rodrigo to R.E.M. and that's what works I think.”

Having been in the town centre for six years, the shop has taken part in Record Store Day every year since it first opened doors, which is one of the highlights for the business owner.

Tony said that this year’s Record Store Day (April 12) was the most successful, as there were people queuing before midnight the night before.

“By the time we opened the doors, some people had been stood for more than eight hours, and I'm not just talking one or two people — when I got here at 7am there was already 50 or 60 plus people waiting.

“We also did a midnight opening for the recent release of Ghost’s new album, and to be honest, I was overwhelmed as we had so many people.

“We were still serving at 1.30am.”

Due to the town’s central location and easy access to public transport, the store gets a lot of customers from around the country, from Kings Lynn to Edinburgh, which Tony believes to be not only beneficial for his business but for the town centre.

It is open Tuesday to Saturday from 9.30am to 4.30pm.