Stephen Godfroy is a respected friend of us here at Cool Accidents. He is the man credited with the successful launch of the Rough Trade East record store in 2007 – the same year that CD sales fell 10 percent. Stephen took time out to share his thoughts and insights with an exclusive article about the Rough Trade retail experience and the launch of RoughTrade NYC which will open on Nov 25th this year.

Last week I took a quick walk around the store and took a few phone pics (featured below). Collectively, I hope the photos give a fairly faithful representation of what Rough Trade East is like, that being a place of music celebration quite unlike any other. When we opened the store back in 2007, we knew it had to be big… bigger than anything indie before it, and thereby become a news story in itself. We also knew it would be flying in the face of the market trend, which was store closure, not store opening. Many in the industry, even more in the public, considered us mad, about to commit commercial suicide.

Here we are in 2013, Rough Trade East is comfortably outperforming the market and mass media expectation, delivering double digit growth year-on-year (which it’s achieved every year since opening) and now history is repeating itself, as we get nearer to the opening of Rough Trade NYC, the largest new music store to open in the US for many, many years. Once again, due to the timing, scale and ambition, there are many people who consider us mad. Clearly, pessimistic voices are to be expected, especially from those unfamiliar with Rough Trade East.

 

Rough Trade NYC will be based on the principles of Rough Trade East, but with increased confidence and audacity. As to what those principles are, they are that foremost, a record store is a community hub, a place for like minded people to hang-out and spend time. What has become defined as ‘third space’, our stores provide a welcoming and inspiring environment for music lovers of all ages and taste, a place to learn, discover and celebrate music, without any sense of commodification or disrespect for music as an art form. Purchasing is just 1% of a much more engaging store experience.

 

For example, live performance is central to our being, with in-store gigs on most nights of the week, bands who we select because they’re either deserving greater recognition, and/or we simply can’t resist because of their incredible talent. Earlier this week we had Haim play. Not so long ago we had Queens of the Stone Age, a particular favourite of mine. Our events aren’t like gigs, not just because they’re free to attend, but they’re also way more intimate, to the extent those lucky enough to be in the 300 capacity feel like they’re at the centre of the music universe, it’s quite unlike anything else. The sound quality is incredible, the bands love the informality, the audience soak up all the atmosphere knowing just how fleetingly special the moment is. Just watch the way QOTSA come on to the stage, acknowledge the crowd and then set the place on fire with their first song, My God Is My Sun. Happy days.

 

A Rough Trade shop is what commentators now refer to as destination store. This began as very natural and not deliberate, we were simply being ourselves and enjoying the reputation decades of faithful service to artists and listeners provided. Once shopping online became mainstream, our destination status had to be refined accordingly, for now, if people knew what music they wanted, they’d buy it online for the lowest price they could find, including free. Therefore, to be destination store, we had to be more deliberate in our effort to continue our success. We achieved this by appreciating our role as an editor, offering an authoritative edit of the 'celestial jukebox’, a trusted impartial 'handrail’ along a dimly lit journey into new and unfamiliar territories of sound, often previously feared as a result of generalised misrepresentation. When it came to online, we started The Album Club, which has evolved since to become our Album of the Month subscription. Back in 2004 when The Album Club launched, the trend was to sell as many titles as possible, with online retailers bragging over the size of the number of titles they sold. We took the opposite approach, distinguishing ourselves by recommending just 10 albums of the month. Not only that, subscribers to The Album Club didn’t know what they were to receive until they’d paid and had it delivered. This was our bold way to mimic the serendipitous joy and surprise of discovering music in a store like Rough Trade. Subscribers loved it, likening it to receiving a gift each month (birthday every month). In addition to the album/s we enclosed listening notes that succinctly described the release, and why we had selected it, plus bonus material (a rarity back then), and we also staged the odd subscriber event. Overall, we looked to add value to music, not by discounting, but by other, more sophisticated and ultimately more rewarding means.

 

As we move forward, we’re not distracted by formats, we concentrate on the fundamental principles of music retail that are served by technology, not lead by it. Our love and enjoyment from running shops that sell music is pretty obvious, as we just want to sell records. But we have to be resilient to media inaccuracies, making sure we reach the public with an offer that quietly speaks the truth, without fuss or hype. Our relations with artists and shoppers are built on this honesty, and as long as it continues, there will always be a Rough Trade store, whether we’re selling haptic downloads or vinyl. As Don Letts once said, “If music is your religion, Rough Trade is your church”. Amen.

-Stephen Godfroy