The Courier talks to the owner of the famous Dundee music shop and finds out how it has continued to thrive in the digital age.
Alastair Brodie runs Groucho’s, the last independent record shop in Dundee. Since opening the shop in 1976 he has had to respond to the introduction of cassettes, CDs and in recent years his business has faced the threat of digital downloads.
Groucho’s won the award for Dundee City Centre Independent Retailer of the Year 2008, 2009 and 2010 before Alastair (58) known as Breeks to generations of Dundonian music lovers decided to stop entering the competition.
Here he tells Courier readers what has helped keep his record shop going.
Q How and why did you start in business?
A I spent a couple of years working for someone else in Cockburn Market in Edinburgh. I had an aptitude for it and wanted to do it myself. I’ve always had a love of music since I was 10 or 11 watching Top of the Pops and turning my tennis racket into a guitar and trying to emulate John Lennon.
Q How did you get to where you are today?
A It’s been a long, long struggle. I think we’ve survived by offering people good service and by not changing things too much. When everyone ditched vinyl we stuck with it because we knew it was a good format, and now it’s going through a resurgence.
Q Who’s helped you along the way?
A Probably the most important thing is having tremendous staff. The staff are like a family. Everyone works hand in hand with each other and mucks in. They are all music fans who love what they do. Without good staff we’d be nowhere.
Q What has been your biggest mistake?
A Not buying our current premises in 1999. It was an option and unfortunately I didn’t have the money. I should have moved heaven and earth to do it because the premises would have been bought and paid for by now.
Q What is your biggest achievement?
A Surviving when we see the vast majority of similar shops not just struggling but closing. We’ve suffered from people downloading music. When we started there was no computers, internet, mobile phones and life seemed to be simpler. Now there’s lots of ways for people to spend their small amount of disposable income and we just have to hope we get a share of it.
Q What do you still hope to achieve?
A Longevity. That’s all you can hope for as an independent store in this day and age, to survive and maybe be able to take a holiday every year.
Q If you were in power in Government, what would you change?
A I would definitely look at helping keep city centres alive by realising that things aren’t the way they used to be. Small business could do with a bit of help along the way. Rates can be really expensive. I’d like to get back to a bit of colour and vibrancy in the city centre.
Q What is the hardest thing about owning your own business?
A Every three months having to write a cheque to the Government for VAT for every tenner you ring up in the till a couple of quid disappears in VAT.
Q Advice to wannabe entrepreneurs?
A Do your homework beforehand. Don’t look at someone else’s successful business and think ‘I’ll duplicate that’. Do your own thing and don’t step on anyone’s toes. When we came to Dundee there were secondhand record shops on the Hilltown and Victoria Road, so we decided to open away from them.
Q How would friends describe you?
A Hard-working and thoughtful.
Q And your enemies?
A I don’t have any enemies. I don’t fall out with people because friends in business are very helpful.
Q Favourite book and film and album?
A My favourite album is strangely the first one I ever bought when I was 14 Jimi Hendrix’s Axis: Bold As Love. Favourite film is Planes, Trains and Automobiles. Book would have to be The Broons or Oor Wullie from the Dudley D. Watkins era.Find out more at www.grouchos.co.uk