Photography by Dom Thompson
Last Saturday 9th March Simon Vincent opened and closed the doors of the iconic and long standing Trading Post for the last time. It had been in Stroud for 47 years. 23 of those with Simon at the helm of Gloucestershire’s oldest record shop:
“It started in 1977 by a lady called Jo Walters who worked for Chrysalis Records in London. She hopped on the train one day, happened to get off at Stroud and thought…’ yeah this is a cool place, I could sit under a tree and read poetry,’ but wondered how to make a living. She had quite a large record collection from working in the industry so she took a little shop at the top of Nelson Street and started selling her record collection. She was one of the first people in Gloucestershire to start punk properly and that’s how the shop took off. I took it over in February 2001 and by that time Jo had built a very good customer base. One day I walked past the shop and noticed that she wasn’t there. I asked where Jo was and someone said ‘oh she’s a bit tired’ and jokingly I said I’ll buy the shop off her. We had a meeting that evening and Jo said…’Simon, I’ve been looking for a husband for my baby for some time now, and you’re the man.’ And that was it. I’d never worked in a shop before in my life and yet I had just taken on this record store, mainly because I was passionate about it and loved it and I think that’s why it’s survived in modern times. I’m very grateful to Stroud for having such a rich cultural appreciative community. I don’t just love music, I love the shop and I love Stroud.” Simon Vincent, Good On Paper, Issue 2, 2015
So the 9th March was a celebration of a Stroud instituion, a proper good send off with a hoard of local DJ’s playing sets in the shop and customers cooming in throughout the day to extend their thanks and well wishes plus pick up a few more records before those doors closed: "As this is our shop's closing day we are celebrating 47 years of Trading Post Records in Stroud. Come and say hello, share memories with friends and celebrate the good times we've had together. One love. "
But what about all the records you might ask? Well Simon’s taken those with him and Trading Post will continue to exist albeit in an online format, but more about that in next month’s issue…
Dom Thompson headed down to the centre of town to capture the momentus day for our ongoing photojournal series…
