Umbrella Vinyl: Edinburgh's new record shop

Edinburgh Evening News

Edinburgh vinyl collectors and music aficionados alike are in for a treat as the capital’s latest second hand record store opens this weekend.   Located in Tollcross, Umbrella Vinyl champions music from all over the world, selling extremely rare records that can only be found once in a lifetime. Whether you’re looking for jazz, blues, calypso, reggae or classical, the new store provides ‘global sounds under one umbrella.’

Transcript

00:00 (upbeat music)

00:02 For the last few months,

00:06 three self-confessed vinyl fiends

00:09 have transformed a former accountancy office

00:12 into Edinburgh's newest record store.

00:14 Set to open this Saturday,

00:16 Umbrella Vinyl and Tallcross has a vast selection of music

00:19 from all around the world,

00:20 from jazz and blues to classical rock and electronic.

00:24 The owners say their mission is to share

00:26 and introduce wonderful and less known music with people.

00:29 And with just one day to go,

00:31 founders Josh, Laura and Nick are looking forward

00:34 to welcoming their first customers.

00:36 We can't wait to get all the people in here

00:38 and to open our doors and show everyone

00:40 what amazing stuff that we have here at Umbrella Vinyl.

00:43 So it's been a few months, a journey of a few months,

00:46 but it feels like it's been an exciting one at that.

00:49 So yeah, pretty excited.

00:50 We have an enormous international selection.

00:53 So we have music from all over the Caribbean.

00:57 We have music from Trinidad and Tobago,

00:59 from Jamaica, from Brazil.

01:02 We've got library music here from all over Europe.

01:05 So we've got music from Italy and France,

01:09 and we've also got all sorts of contemporary classical,

01:13 experimental electronic.

01:14 It's just a very, very broad, eclectic mix of music.

01:18 I think the thing that really sets us apart

01:20 is our selection of African music.

01:23 I think we've most likely got the largest selection

01:26 of secondhand African records in Scotland.

01:29 Ahead of their launch, the team have been busy

01:31 transforming the former office unit into a welcoming space,

01:35 painting the shopfront a colour that coincidentally

01:38 underpins the owner's experience.

01:40 When we discovered the name, it was,

01:43 we had to have it, Epic Adventure.

01:45 So yeah, it kind of ties in very nicely

01:49 with the adventure that we're on here.

01:51 It's an unusual prospect to be opening a new record shop,

01:56 I think, in Edinburgh,

01:57 especially the way we want to do,

01:59 which is a little bit different

02:00 to what's being done elsewhere.

02:02 And it's super exciting, epic.

02:05 Back in 2015, Josh and Laura were living in Hong Kong,

02:10 producing a local radio show, Vinyl Voyages.

02:14 It was there they met Nick, a fellow vinyl lover,

02:16 who also organised a monthly record fair for local traders,

02:20 as well as establishing his own record label,

02:23 showcasing the local music scene.

02:25 But it wouldn't be until five years later,

02:27 when the trio would reunite in Edinburgh,

02:29 that they first considered opening their own record shop.

02:33 And now, after listening to approximately 3,000 records,

02:36 along with grading, pricing, and sorting,

02:39 the team are excited to share their unique collection

02:41 with Edinburgh music lovers.

02:43 We enjoy sharing the wonderful and weird stuff that we find,

02:47 and maybe a little bit of the under-loved stuff,

02:49 under-appreciated, so we're trying to share that

02:51 with everyone, and that's really, I think,

02:53 part of the ethos of this shop,

02:55 is just sharing some wonderful music

02:56 that people might not have heard before,

02:58 'cause we've got some interesting and rare stuff in stock.

03:00 - The umbrella is a symbol of the Hong Kong protest movement

03:05 we all met at a music festival in Hong Kong.

03:09 And it also symbolises our kind of inclusive attitude,

03:14 and our eclectic tastes, so it's a broad umbrella.

03:18 So our tagline is basically,

03:20 global sounds under one umbrella.

03:23 - So we've got some amazing Zambian rock up here,

03:26 it's pretty rare.

03:27 We've got disco, funk, soul, Esther Phillips here,

03:31 one of my favourites, I'd love to sell that to somebody,

03:34 'cause it's so wonderful.

03:35 Moving over to some, we've got some Calypso,

03:39 we've got some Latin, so Brazilian music, library music,

03:43 some wonderful jazz albums, so John Coltrane,

03:46 some Japanese issues here with Obi Strip on,

03:48 some more incredible African music,

03:54 also got some reggae dub, and some more up here,

03:57 so Nigerian highlife, and some great stuff.

04:01 We think it's really important that people can listen

04:03 to the music before they buy it,

04:04 to make sure they're happy with it,

04:06 so we've got two wonderful listening stations here

04:08 for people to use, obviously we've got our own headphones,

04:10 or people can bring their own,

04:12 but I think that's quite important for us.

04:14 I think initially we weren't sure how people would

04:17 receive us in the community,

04:19 but we've had such a wonderful response

04:21 over the last couple of weeks,

04:22 people popping their head in,

04:24 the social media presence,

04:25 and just lots of local businesses

04:27 kind of welcoming us to the community.

04:29 You're never really sure how it's gonna be,

04:31 how you're gonna be taken to the community,

04:33 but that's been really nice to see,

04:34 and been really encouraging, I think, for us, so yeah.

04:37 - Good luck with your tour, mate.

04:41 - Thank you very much. - Thank you, thank you.

04:43 - See you on Saturday, bye.

04:46 - It's really, really extraordinary,

04:47 just the number of new people that are inquisitive,

04:50 and interested, and encouraging,

04:52 The message is profoundly good.

04:55 It's really, really wonderful.

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