​Record sales in the record business as Christmas nears - Kevin Buckle

​After I reported record sales two weeks ago, last Saturday’s sales were even higher and if the week continues as it has so far it would be no surprise if today is a record again.

Vinyl is proving a popular seller at Avalanche

While this is very welcome I’m not entirely sure why things have gone from a respectable “very busy” to a level that I’ve genuinely never seen before.

When Avalanche first opened on West Nicolson Street next to the university four decades ago, all that happened was that as the students left, we started to get busy for Christmas, so overall there was no great increase in sales.

The good thing about having students as a major part of our sales was that in January, when many shops were quiet, our students returned and business was very healthy.

Later on when we were also in Cockburn Street and with FOPP just a few doors away, we never really saw Christmas as a major sales time compared to the months when major new releases would see a large increase in the week’s takings, if three or four big titles were all released in the same week.

Since we moved to the Waverley Market, having the Christmas Market only yards away has not been the boost you might think it would be, but when footfall and sales increased as it opened this year, I suspected the cold weather was playing a part.

However, as footfall continued to improve there was clearly more to it and it has become clear that not having the centre hidden under a huge pub has been a factor.

I think the spike in sales we have seen is down to some extent to the popularity of vinyl. We have also built up a wide range of T-shirts and posters, which means people rarely come in and go away empty-handed.

It will be interesting to see what happens between Christmas and New Year when sales are mostly based on visitors shopping and I have always felt in previous years that there were many potential customers we missed out on because they didn’t think there would be anything for them in the centre.

There is a new manager for the centre starting in January and the owners Moorgarth have restructured and though I’ll still be working with the same people I have before I’m hopeful that the roof

will become more about promoting what lies beneath than it has so far in my time there.

As I’ve said before, HMV do send people to me as we are “just over the road”, while I think FOPP is now seen as being a little bit too far for visitors just wanting to browse. I always try to persuade those looking for used vinyl that Vinyl Villains is close enough by.

I’ve had a lot of customers tell me they are returning after previous successful shopping trips to Avalanche, which is always nice to hear and hopefully there will be many more.