How many of these Dundee record shops do you remember?

Shirley Manson and Goodbye Mr Mackenzie signing records for fans in Our Price in March 1991. — Shirley Manson and Goodbye Mr Mackenzie in Our Price in March 1991. Image: DC Thomson.

Record shops were an essential part of growing up in Dundee.

Forgotten names like Bruce’s, Cathie McCabe’s, Chalmers and Joy, Forbes, Larg’s and Rockpile may be gone but won’t be forgotten.

Places where we got our chart singles and albums before streaming came along.

Groucho’s was Dundee’s most famous record shop.

HMV, Our Price and Virgin Records were high street competitors.

John Menzies sold cassette tapes and vinyl singles and albums in the Murraygate.

Maybe you bought your music at Dens Road Market or the Keiller Centre?

Not all of them have survived the test of time.

How many of these do you remember?

Bruce’s

Bruce Findlay and his brother Brian set up their first record shop in Falkirk before expanding to Edinburgh, Glasgow, Stirling, Perth, Kirkcaldy and Leven.

Bruce’s opened a Dundee branch in Reform Street in December 1974 where the colour scheme was coffee and cream with striking brown tiles on the floor.

Bruce’s were the only record shop in Dundee which stocked imports.

Singles on sale for 59p in Bruce’s in November 1977 included Jamming by Bob Marley and the Wailers and San Francisco (You’ve Got Me) by Village People.

All could be taken home after a Saturday shopping trip in the bright red carrier bags stamped with the legendary slogan: “I found it at Bruce’s”.

Cathie McCabe’s

Cathie McCabe worked in the record department of Watt’s in the old Wellgate before opening her own shop in City Arcade in 1971.

She moved to Reform Street and then opened a shop in Murraygate.

Everyone knew when someone had been to Cathie’s shop because they carried plastic bags with her trademark two crotchets and her motto.

Cathie was an agent and could get tickets for any gig in Scotland.

She also organised buses when demand was high – including Bob Marley making his only live appearances in Scotland at Glasgow’s Apollo in July 1980.

Fopp

Fopp opened a branch in the Overgate Centre in August 2001.

Fopp was a very credible alternative to the big chains and stocked a wide range of genres from pop, rock and metal to soul, funk and country music.

Wall-to-wall bargains meant the shop was usually packed with customers.

Paolo Nutini performed at Fopp in July 2006.

He played tracks which would feature on his debut album, These Streets.

The store closed in 2007 after Fopp called in the receivers.

Forbes

Forbes, on Commercial Street, sold records and musical instruments.

The shop featured “everything for the amateur or professional musician” with a fine selection of “LP’s, cassettes and cartridges” in the record department.

“Forbes for records and everything musical” was the shop’s motto.

In 1977 the shop was selling albums from Bryan Ferry, Pablo Cruise, Peter Gabriel, Janis Ian, John Martyn and Iggy Pop which cost £2.99.

In 1980 everyone who bought a ticket to watch Tubular Bells legend Mike Oldfield play at Dundee University Students Union got £1 off any of his albums at Forbes.

Groucho’s

Alastair Brodie, better known as Breeks, opened his first shop at 89 Perth Road in partnership with Ron Maclean in 1976.

The partnership split in the early 1980s and Breeks continued on his own, expanding the business to include being agents for concert tickets.

Groucho’s moved next to the Angus Hotel in Marketgait in 1983 then upstairs in the old Overgate Centre before a final move to the Nethergate in 1999.

Groucho’s’ stock-in-trade was second-hand records so there were always people walking in with cardboard boxes of LP’s, trying to make some ready cash.

Breeks died in 2019 and the shutters came down for good in September 2020.

HMV

Shoppers look on as The MacDonald Brothers perform at HMV in October 2007. — The MacDonald Brothers perform at HMV in October 2007. Image: DC Thomson.

Made famous by the iconic image of the dog and gramophone trademark, HMV opened in Murraygate in November 1991 with 20,000 titles on its shelves.

Vic Reeves and the Wonder Stuff was number 1 in the singles chart.

HMV was a few doors down from Our Price and sold cassettes, records, CDs, VHS tapes and video games alongside posters of the biggest pop stars.

In-store performances included Pop Idol Michelle McManus in 2004, the MacDonald Brothers in 2007 and Dundee rockers The View in 2011.

HMV has outlived its competitors and is still there today.

Larg’s

Larg’s music shop in Whitehall Street was a Dundee institution.

In addition to their main premises, they also had shops at Hilltown and Hawkhill.

Larg’s were prominent record retailers, music dealers and ticket agents.

They sold tickets for all the big acts which appeared at the Caird Hall in the 1960s and 1970s including Bay City Rollers, which prompted mammoth queues.

They also had a private recording studio and their own record label.

Our Price

The distinctive red and white logo of Our Price arrived in Murraygate in May 1989.

The store opened with 12,000 titles on the shelves on cassette tape, CD and record with the promise of “friendly, knowledgeable staff and good service”.

Dundonians of a certain vintage will fondly remember leaving with a few bits of new vinyl tucked inside a red carrier bag with the Our Price Records logo.

In-store performances included Del Amitri and Edwyn Collins in 1990 and Garbage singer Shirley Manson’s former band Goodbye Mr Mackenzie in 1991.

Our Price merged with Virgin in 1994 before closing in 1995, although it has since relaunched.