"I've just bought two books, a cd & a record shop"

 

Monday to Friday he works as a city lawyer. Come the weekend however, Ian Rosenblatt ditches the razor-sharp suits for more mellow attire as he indulges his other passion: music.

He greets me outside his new project, the independent music shop Les Aldrich in North London's Muswell Hill.

Wearing yellow trousers and a casual blazer he has something of the showman about him.

"Come into my shop," he says with a flourish.

He spots a customer and goes into full patter, "Some strings for your guitar, perhaps?" Rosenblatt seems in his element.

He already has his own concert series at London's Wigmore Hall, the Rosenblatt Recitals (to be shown next month on Sky Arts) and a record deal with Opus Arte for a selection of the Rosenblatt Recitals but buying the shop came about almost by chance.

"I had been coming to it as a customer for 25 years," he says as Mozart plays in the background of the shop which also sells and rents instruments and stocks CDs and sheet music. "I had a Saturday routine where I would have a coffee with a friend and then I would come in here and buy my music."

A few months ago the owner said he might have to sell up. In a heartbeat Rosenblatt made a decision.

"I said, 'Well, I'll buy it' and we did the deal on the spot," he says smiling.

"I had been in the bookshop next door and I rang my wife and said, 'I've bought two books, two CDs, oh, and a shop'. I think my friends and family thought I had gone a bit nuts."

That was back in mid-April and while Rosenblatt, 53, wants to keep Les Aldrich's charm (it is the shop which supplied local lad Ray Davies with his first guitar at age 13 and remains one of The Kinks' frontman's favourite stores) he also has some plans.

"We are stocking contemporary vinyl such as Mumford & Sons and Daft Punk, and will have a listening booth," he says.

There are also plans to sell record players and have small in-store live performances.

Making the shop a venue in itself is something that independent record label and shop Rough Trade East, in London's Brick Lane, has worked to great effect.

Stocking vinyl is also a shrewd move given the renewed interest in the format.

"Kids don't buy CDs, they either download music or they want it on a medium that is different and vinyl seems to be the medium that appeals to them," says Rosenblatt.

Last year, vinyl sales across all music genres grew by 15 per cent to 389,000 copies sold, the highest level since 2004.

That trend has continued into 2013, with a further increase of 78 per cent in the first quarter of 2013.

According to research released last month by ICM, this interest in vinyl has been driven by 18-24 year olds who have found vinyl more appealing than the impersonal and intangible downloads. (Demon Records, a vinyl-only label, was set up three months ago as a direct response to the trend).

There is also the lure of talking to people who are knowledgeable and passionate about music.

Getting recommendations from a real, live person rather than ones generated by an algorithm is still preferable it would appear.

Arguably it is not a great time for record shops with the troubles at HMV as well as the competition from downloads and online purchasing but Rosenblatt disagrees.

"I think the point is that this is very different," he says surveying the racks of CDs.

"It is a different business altogether. It is the difference between a supermarket and a local specialist delicatessen. Over the road is a cheese shop. You have got people who understand their cheese and everything about the cheese they sell. I think people are still attracted to specialist shops where there are people who are knowledgeable about the products and where you get a personal service. If you want to see different options and possibly talk to somebody about, in the case of music, the best performers, the best performances... you can't get that on Amazon but you can get that here."

It is something that is echoed time and time again by those who are passionate about the survival of the independent record shop.

 
 

In the Eighties there were 2,200 independent records shops in the UK. In 2009 that dropped to 269.

According to the Entertainment Retailers Association, in 2010 the number of independent stores rose to 281, the first increase in a generation.

Spencer Hickman, formerly of the Rough Trade Record Stores and co-ordinator of Record Store Day (which aims to promote independent music retailers), has set up his own soundtrack label, Death Waltz Recording Company, which releases classic and contemporary film scores on vinyl, CD and digital.

He is very clear on the appeal of the record shop on the high street.

"People still want to go to record shops and buy a physical product from people who know what they are talking about," he has said.

Although Rosenblatt, who grew up in Liverpool and regularly went to concerts as a child, has a passion for opera, he is also equally happy listening to jazz legend Miles Davis or fusion rocker Santana.

While he is more used to the rigours of his law firm, which covers both dispute resolution and corporate work, he insists law and running an independent record shop have striking similarities.

"It's not dissimilar, you still have to deal with people: clients are customers," he says.

"You still have to sell yourself. You sell a product. It is all about injecting a little bit of personality into what you are doing and you have to give the customer what they want. It is the same but the format is different."

Is the shop making money?

"It doesn't cost me any money so that is fine," he says.

Maintaining a balance with his day job, however, is proving a challenge.

"It's quite difficult," he says.

"I am here every weekend. This is a business. You can't treat it as a hobby. I have very good staff here. My poor assistant in the office is basically dealing with shop-related things. It's a whole new world."

That world is certainly a calm one. There are the loyal customers who have been coming for years, young parents with children seeking out the cast recording of Matilda as well as Kinks fans who have their photograph taken at the shop on their tour of the group's hot spots.

"I like music and hanging around music," Rosenblatt says.

"I find it extremely satisfying and exciting. I also like the idea of this being an enterprise. It is very much a local business within a local community."

Rosenblatt is married to his third wife, Emma, who runs a City PR firm.

He has three grown-up children: Ben, 28, Oliver, 25, and Lillie, 22, from his first marriage and two step-children: Rose, 20, and Patrick, 16.

Establishing links with young people and schools in the area is particularly close to his heart.

"I think all the local schools owe a duty to the local community to support, where they can, shops like this," he says.

"They have a social duty to do it. They ought to resist buying online and should send their children because you can rent a violin here rather than buy one and there will be people who will empathise and understand what you are talking about."

He sees a customer leaving the shop with her young daughter.

"I've just bought the shop," he says. "Do come again."

By the look on the woman's face she needs little persuasion

Source : The Express