Essential Music
Greenwich Market SE10
Not quite Championship Vinyl (to be honest there's not an LP in sight) there is something nonetheless, rather High Fidelity about this tiny, intense music store. Clearly run by people who care, it hurts therefore, even more than any other store to see them having a sort-of closing-down sale.
It has that late-80s/early 90s feel that I used to wallow in (and still would if I had the space) where your spine tingles with the anticipation that at any time you could find a gem that's been missed by everyone else. It's not second-hand, but has a deliciously hap-hazard feel to it which sets my mouth watering. There are latest releases here, but also examples of some really eclectic stuff - fifties doo-wop - East-Coast Jazz - seventies mod revival - 80s new romantic - all this nestling with Greenday and the Fratinellis. There's an equally curious selection of DVDs along one wall.
What I love about shops like this is the organic way they evolve. Little hand-written pieces of paper urging you to buy a Beatles record or suggesting sundry musical gaps you might have in your collection jostle on the walls and central column with the usual industry stickers and label press-releases.
If I'm honest, I can't really remember a time when there weren't signs all over the windows of this tiny store urging us to buy cheap CDs and DVDs - but the signs have been getting more and more emphatic, and it does look as though the evil landlords of Greenwich Market may at last be getting their sinister way. Sky-high rents and the uncertainty hovering over the whole market complex seems to be taking its toll.
I suspect the glory days of this shop have gone. But all hope is not lost. As I was having my purchases processed (aw - c'mon - you wouldn't expect me to go into a shop like this and not buy something would you...) I read the little explanation of what happens next sellotaped to the counter. Apparently they'll try to stay if they can either persuade the landlords to give them a decent rent or find the exorbitant new rate. Neither seems too likely.
The guy (himself a splendidly eccentric-record-shop-owner styleee character in pinstripe jacket and jeans with silver arched-birds brooch and groovy wavy hair; a cross between a cameo character in an early 90s Brit-flick and Ford Prefect) told me that he intends to start up another store - but with a few differences. He likes the name Galore (so do I) and won't be bothering too much with CDs ("people just don't buy them any more") preferring DVDs and - HOORAY - a decent card shop. "People are always complaining that there isn't a good card shop in Greenwich." Since this was the very reason I'd come into town, to try to buy an Easter card for my Mum and a couple of other friends, and I was failing miserably (I know there's that horrid Clintons-style shop but I really didn't want to go there) that's something I wholeheartedly welcome.
I really hope he follows through with it. In the meanwhile, do go into Essential Music - there are lots of bargains to be had, and the knowledgeable, friendly staff will do their best to make you find your own particular gem.
On the card front, I ended up spending stupid amounts of cash on a hand-made card from Red Door for Mum, and climbing the hill to the Blackheath Standard and Pegga Stores for the rest.
Not quite Championship Vinyl (to be honest there's not an LP in sight) there is something nonetheless, rather High Fidelity about this tiny, intense music store. Clearly run by people who care, it hurts therefore, even more than any other store to see them having a sort-of closing-down sale.
It has that late-80s/early 90s feel that I used to wallow in (and still would if I had the space) where your spine tingles with the anticipation that at any time you could find a gem that's been missed by everyone else. It's not second-hand, but has a deliciously hap-hazard feel to it which sets my mouth watering. There are latest releases here, but also examples of some really eclectic stuff - fifties doo-wop - East-Coast Jazz - seventies mod revival - 80s new romantic - all this nestling with Greenday and the Fratinellis. There's an equally curious selection of DVDs along one wall.
What I love about shops like this is the organic way they evolve. Little hand-written pieces of paper urging you to buy a Beatles record or suggesting sundry musical gaps you might have in your collection jostle on the walls and central column with the usual industry stickers and label press-releases.
If I'm honest, I can't really remember a time when there weren't signs all over the windows of this tiny store urging us to buy cheap CDs and DVDs - but the signs have been getting more and more emphatic, and it does look as though the evil landlords of Greenwich Market may at last be getting their sinister way. Sky-high rents and the uncertainty hovering over the whole market complex seems to be taking its toll.
I suspect the glory days of this shop have gone. But all hope is not lost. As I was having my purchases processed (aw - c'mon - you wouldn't expect me to go into a shop like this and not buy something would you...) I read the little explanation of what happens next sellotaped to the counter. Apparently they'll try to stay if they can either persuade the landlords to give them a decent rent or find the exorbitant new rate. Neither seems too likely.
The guy (himself a splendidly eccentric-record-shop-owner styleee character in pinstripe jacket and jeans with silver arched-birds brooch and groovy wavy hair; a cross between a cameo character in an early 90s Brit-flick and Ford Prefect) told me that he intends to start up another store - but with a few differences. He likes the name Galore (so do I) and won't be bothering too much with CDs ("people just don't buy them any more") preferring DVDs and - HOORAY - a decent card shop. "People are always complaining that there isn't a good card shop in Greenwich." Since this was the very reason I'd come into town, to try to buy an Easter card for my Mum and a couple of other friends, and I was failing miserably (I know there's that horrid Clintons-style shop but I really didn't want to go there) that's something I wholeheartedly welcome.
I really hope he follows through with it. In the meanwhile, do go into Essential Music - there are lots of bargains to be had, and the knowledgeable, friendly staff will do their best to make you find your own particular gem.
On the card front, I ended up spending stupid amounts of cash on a hand-made card from Red Door for Mum, and climbing the hill to the Blackheath Standard and Pegga Stores for the rest.
Labels: Shopping
posted by The Greenwich Phantom at
08:00
14 Comments:
I feel a 'Save Greenwich from the evil landlord' march coming on. We could walk round and round the one-way system all day. If we got enough people it could also be a kind of 'reclaim the streets' march. All we need is an enigmatic leader to organise things...
Oh, and on a more important note, it's The Fratellis not The Fratinellis!
AM
Essential Music was a wonderful shop when it was on Creek Road in the early 90s - remember the bags with the big "!" on? - too cool to have me on the staff as well. He used to have three shops in Greenwich at one point in the mid-90s. Sad to see it go, but I think Morps in Lewisham has gone the same way, and Essential does seem to have had a closing-down sale going on for about four years.
That all said, I wish him well with his endeavours - and he's right about there not being a decent card shop, not since the little one behind Snappy Snaps went...
Ooops - sorry AM - how sloppy of me. You're absolutely right. Fratellis...
It really does feel that the glory days of Essential Music are gone, but I don't feel that this is the end of the story. I hope he continues with his new project idea...
Dandelion, the little card shop behind Snappy Snaps, got pushed out of business by the big chain card shop. The owner branched out into pretty and expensive children's wear and gifts. It was a nice shop to visit, but I rarely purchased anything. Seems I wasn't the only one. It's a real shame, though, because she was really nice and always remembered a face and a child.
There was an article in the Guardian a few months ago about independant record stores and how they're flourishing/rotating down the lavatory.
Seems the ones that are doing well are the ones offering something HMV/Amazon don't, ie a good rummage through a mess of second hand vinyl.
I would have thought Greenwich Market would have suited exactly this type of premisis.
Sadly, there isn't enough room for vast amounts of vinyl in there and the rents are just about to do an enormous hike. I can only assume that the landlords are after the sort of cash that the chains throw about...
Essential twice had a card/posters/prints shop in Greenwich, the second incarnation was called Essential Images on Creek Road. Very good it was too. The market square shop used to be called Different Music [for the whole of the 90s] so utterly brilliant[and cheap] you had to await your turn to get inside on Sundays. I remember they used to be drinking pints on the counter in there - very rock`n`roll. The owner is far more Chariots of Fire than Ford Prefect [great ties as well as brooches!], he sorted me out on female jazz singers in about 1989 - absolutely spot-on bespoke service which we`ll never be able to get in a record shop again, turned me on to Julia Lee, Nellie Lutcher, Ella Mae Morse and a host of others...knows his stuff just somewhat. Sad day for Greenwich when those legends go.
Eleanor
Don't get me started on female Jazz singers. You've just reminded me I need to get my turntable linked up to my computer. A visit to Maplin...
Well if it's true that he is re-opening somewhere else in the market, i'm sure he will have his "closing down sale" signs straight up. He's had them up for the last 100 years anyway!
I feel that we have all been had by Essential Music, over the last few years. I have been told that he did a deal with the landlords and knew all along that he was only moving across the way. So much for respecting the locals who stuck by and suppoorted him then!
The new shop across the square isnt run by the Essential crew, someone else in there and its not as good and only temporory anyhow. Apparently Essential closed all their other stores in the year before the Greenwich one shut. The guy explained to me he couldnt either get out of his lease or take a new one - he planned on doing something else in there and they wouldnt let him. They are going to pull down all the shops anyhow apparently Essentials building cant be pulled down where as the other shopkeepers will get compensation. He always maintained he didnt mean to close down for so long but the future was too uncertain.I think he was annoyed by people thinking he was being tricky.
I was the owner of Essential Music! Just seen all this. Yep, I had four shops to close down in a year,not easy to do this without bankrupting yourself. The order in which I closed the shops was ultimately decided by landlords behaving slightly beyond the law. Nelson Bakewell being a prime example, I`d have to sue them to get fair lease, they would only offer me a ten year lease at a 75% rent hike knowing full well I`d be facing onto a pile of rubble when they redevelop the Square. That`s right! I was squeezed out. Just turned out Greenwich was the last of my shops to go. I closed down and refitted in November 2006 with the intention to rebrand in early 2007. Nelson Bakewell purposely stonewalled any lease renewal negotiations between January and June 2007 leaving me no choice but to go once I`d reached the last quarter of the lease.Nelson Bakewell refused to grant me a license to trade until the proposed demolition of the postwar sides of the Market even under the 75% rent increase. If I had had clarity from Nelson Bakewell I would not have had a seven-month closing down period, given the backdrop I was clear as I could possibly be to my customers. For the record I only ever called it a `sale` when there were genuine markdowns in the shop of stock from my other outlets, the rest of the time I was merely `closing down`...with a heavy heart. The redevelopment of Greenwich is a classic stitch-up...far too late for any `enigmatic leaders` to emerge.
I'm sorry to hear that. So what's next then? Will we be seeing that card shop? or do you have another cunning plan? Good luck,whatever you do...
I saw the owner of Essential Music cashing up behind the counter of Buzzstuff yesterday! In fact ask any of the other shop keepers in the market and they will confirm that it is the same company and always has been!!
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