End of an era after 33 years Vibes closes.
Between the late-1970's and the mid-80's, most of my pocket money and then later on a fair portion of my wages was spent at Vibes Records, in Bury; and for a time anyone who was anyone spent Saturday afternoons hanging around the shop.
Vibes opened in 1977, and closed 33 years later due to “extreme financial difficulties and restrictions which have made it impossible to continue”, or in simple terms; the internet effect.
I was a couple of years too young for the punk explosion, but when I finally discovered "proper" music my trips to Vibes were an education; it was the place in north Manchester for punk and new wave (and heavy metal), and on Saturday's it was a mad scrum to get served at the counter, which was also where the latest 7" releases were kept – and many a record was bought purely on the sleeve design; not always a good decision, but quite often a gem of a band would turn up, and in those pre-internet days finding new music was either via John Peel or the three weekly music magazines. You had to work hard in those days!
As I got older Manchester was the big attraction with its array of specialist record shops such as Robinsons, Yanks, Rare Records and Paperchase, along with early incarnations of HMV and Virgin; but I never deserted Vibes – until I moved across the Pennines in 1988.
Comment
Richard Hamer
(2021)
Nick Hollingworth
Still have some classics from there mid to late 90's!! Fond memories..Matt the alien worked there.. Potentially his parents shop,cant quite remember. Still miss that place.
