I'm finding it hard to be enthusiastic about a new website - Kevin Buckle


It’s really just there to cater for all the Butcher Billy fans who want the t-shirts, giclee prints and cards we have, the various Avalanche merchandise we have available and the occasional album that we are selling in advance normally because we have a previous connection with the band.
I find it hard to be enthusiastic about a website as with a shop there is much you can do to try and make the place look interesting outwith the stock you have, though that of course is a hugely important part of what we do. However with a website the only thing that can make you stand out are the things you have on sale, and no matter how you arrange a home page it is fairly limiting in impact. There is no website that I have seen that I’ve thought if I had enough money or the time or the expertise then that would be perfect for us.
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Hide AdWe do though have a mountain of interesting things in the shop that you will struggle to find elsewhere and that is the reason we are constantly asked if we have a website as customers who don’t live locally want to buy more at a later date or recommend the shop to friends.
We do sell a fair amount of the music we have on Discogs as all the information is provided so listings can be done quickly but to put on all the merchandise we carry would take a long time indeed. What I do say when people ask is that they are very welcome to email the shop and either ask about ordering things they have seen or else ask for things they hope we can source and then I give them our card and that does in fact work well.
The new website will have all the usual tabs but the one I am most keen on is the one that will say “interesting things that are hard to find”. This will have music items from One Direction vinyl to cassettes by The Fall along with David Bowie playing cards, Iron Maiden monopoly, a Taylor Swift calendar and t-shirts from The Exploited.
As well as the prints and cards we have we do our best to source as many posters as we can and while they can be expensive to post both in terms of the packaging and the postage they are hugely popular and will be another focus for the site.
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Hide AdThese days shops and artists talk about building “communities” when what they really mean is compiling a mailing list and we won’t be constantly emailing anybody to try to persuade them we have some version of a new album they can’t get elsewhere, but we will let folk register an interest of any description and then let them know when something does appear as this is something we do already. While I may not sound super enthusiastic about having a new website I’m certainly looking forward to showcasing all we have.