News

Sad news reaches us this morning with the announcement that the excellent The Music Exchange in Nottingham is being forced to cease trading. The city's finest independent record store opened in 2009 and initially sold second-hand CDs, DVDs and vinyl that was donated by members of the public. Then in 2012, the store moved premises to its Stoney Street home where it not only carried new vinyl, but also supported the local music scene – stocking and supporting the music of local artists.

Significantly, the store is also run as a social enterprise operating like a business, but reinvesting any profits to support vulnerable and unemployed people by providing training, volunteering, work placement and employment opportunities within the local community. When we visited the store for the feature in the November 2014 issue of HFC there were 30 volunteers involved in its day-to-day running.

Announcing the sad news, store manager Joey Bell (pictured above with Paul Smith, who supported the store) said: "Sadly we have made the decsision to close The Music Exchange. It's been a tough 12 months for the shop, we have made cuts throughout the year but sadly we have made the decision to close the shop... I would like to thank all of our loyal customers who have made the past six years an absolute joy, our dedicated team of volunteers whose passion helped to make The Music Exchange such a special place to visit and I'd like to thank all of the bands, artsts and labels that make Nottingham one of the most exciting cities in the UK for music. We will announce plans for a farewell concert soon and we will also announce a closing down sale. I'm very proud of eveything we have achieved and we are all going to miss the shop".

The Music Exchange closes its doors for the last time on 16 March 2016 and we'd encourage all readers to do what they can to show their support to this excellent venture. Click here to find out more.