Post by Chris July 31, 2010 (1 of 29)
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I will be spending a week or two in London from Wednesday next week,hoping to catch a Prom or two, and since I haven't been to London for years I would like to know if shops like MDC which used to have classical branches at several locations in London still exist?
What is the best place to browse Classical SACDs in London these days.?
Anybody here who knows?
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Chris said:
I will be spending a week or two in London from Wednesday next week,hoping to catch a Prom or two, and since I haven't been to London for years I would like to know if shops like MDC which used to have classical branches at several locations in London still exist?
What is the best place to browse Classical SACDs in London these days.?
Anybody here who knows?
Sadly MDC are long gone; the only shops I use are HMV (two branches in Oxford St) if they are having a sale, which is quite often, or a couple of second-hand ones. HMV's normal prices are silly, but you can get real bargains at sale time, though they are not at all SACD focussed.
The best second-hand shop by far is Gramex, in The Cut near Waterloo station, but again, there won't be much in the way of SACDs unless you're very lucky. They do have a steady stream of new stock coming in so it's well worth a visit or two. Prices are very reasonable and it is run by genuine enthusiasts.
Harold Moores on Gt Marlborough St (near Liberty) can be worth a look (some 2nd hand), and there is another 2nd hand shop at Notting Hill near the tube whose name I can't remember, sorry - but it's nothing like as good as Gramex.
I get 90% of my CDs by mail order - the occasional browse in a real shop can still be rewarding, but don't hope for too much in the way of SACD. Hope that helps.
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Post by Cilea July 31, 2010 (3 of 29)
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How about in Edinburgh?
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Post by Chris July 31, 2010 (4 of 29)
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operamuso said:
Sadly MDC are long gone; the only shops I use are HMV (two branches in Oxford St) if they are having a sale, which is quite often, or a couple of second-hand ones. HMV's normal prices are silly, but you can get real bargains at sale time, though they are not at all SACD focussed.
The best second-hand shop by far is Gramex, in The Cut near Waterloo station, but again, there won't be much in the way of SACDs unless you're very lucky. They do have a steady stream of new stock coming in so it's well worth a visit or two. Prices are very reasonable and it is run by genuine enthusiasts.
Harold Moores on Gt Marlborough St (near Liberty) can be worth a look (some 2nd hand), and there is another 2nd hand shop at Notting Hill near the tube whose name I can't remember, sorry - but it's nothing like as good as Gramex.
I get 90% of my CDs by mail order - the occasional browse in a real shop can still be rewarding, but don't hope for too much in the way of SACD. Hope that helps.
Thanks ,I guessed they'd be gone,but I will take a look at HMV and of course both Gramex and Harold Moores and The one in Notting Hill too .They used to be great for LPs.
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Post by Peter July 31, 2010 (5 of 29)
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Chris said:
Thanks ,I guessed they'd be gone,but I will take a look at HMV and of course both Gramex and Harold Moores and The one in Notting Hill too .They used to be great for LPs.
The HMV at the eastern end of Oxford St is much pleasanter than the other as it is larger, and completely separated from the rest of the store.
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Post by Chris July 31, 2010 (7 of 29)
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operamuso said:
The HMV at the eastern end of Oxford St is much pleasanter than the other as it is larger, and completely separated from the rest of the store.
Thanks again ,I think I know that shop, it was within walking distance of Tottenham Court Road Crossing if I remember correctly?
They used to have a separate quite large, Classical Music Department.
I haven't seen that anywhere for years.
Like you I buy my SACDs online.
They are indeed hard to find anywhere else,these days.
Well at least I will be able to indulge in beautiful LPs at Harold Moore's ,that's a comfort.
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Chris said:
Thanks again ,I think I know that shop, it was within walking distance of Tottenham Court Road Crossing if I remember correctly?
They used to have a separate quite large, Classical Music Department.
I haven't seen that anywhere for years.
Like you I buy my SACDs online.
They are indeed hard to find anywhere else,these days.
Well at least I will be able to indulge in beautiful LPs at Harold Moore's ,that's a comfort.
Yes, it's about halfway along between Tottenham Court Road and Oxford Circus. And of course I was trying, and failing, to write clearly that they have a large classical department in the basement which is blissfully separate from the racket of the rest of the store. It's the time of year when there are sales everywhere, so you may well be lucky.
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Chris said:
I will be spending a week or two in London from Wednesday next week,hoping to catch a Prom or two, and since I haven't been to London for years I would like to know if shops like MDC which used to have classical branches at several locations in London still exist?
What is the best place to browse Classical SACDs in London these days.?
Anybody here who knows?
Not that it's relevant to SACDs, but I was born and brought up in London. In fact, I've spent most of my life there, and now live not too far outside of London.
Sadly, like the other contibutors have mentioned, I think you'll find it pretty difficult to find a high street retailer that either knows what an SACD is, or has any to sell. I gave up buying music in high street shops about 8 years ago - although I every so often will go inside one to see what's on offer. I have only ever bought SACDs (and DVD-As) online, and as sad as it sounds, wouldn't miss it if there weren'y any high street music sellers. That's a depressing thing to say, but it just matches my experiences over the last decade. The same thing applies to high street retailers in Germany or Hungary, countries that I'm well connected to, and visit quite often. I somehow wish this wasn't the case, but feel that many deserve to go under.
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operamuso said:
there is another 2nd hand shop at Notting Hill near the tube whose name I can't remember
Do you mean the Music & Video Exchange? I used to frequent their shop when I lived in London in the nineties. They also had branches in Camden Town, Hackney and Berwick Street.
Berwick Street (pictured above) is a side street of Oxford Street, close to the big HMV store. It's not too pretty but it used to be one of my favourite streets as it was full of record shops -- until a few years ago. It has gone down badly since. I wrote something about it after a visit to London two years ago: http://duranduranboard.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=general&action=display&thread=5664
The BBC also covered this sad story:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/6707255.stm
Did Zavvi, the former Virgin Megastore, close down and disappear altogether in the meantime?
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