Real Groovy has announced it will be remaining on Queen St, and is moving across the road and up a bit on 7th January, to a former Salvation Army church space at 369 Queen st. Stuff NZ's Steve Kilgallon reports that "Real Groovy is closing its doors not because of the decline of the CD, but because their old building is due to be demolished for apartments - so they are shifting across the road to a disused Salvation Army church. [Russell Brown says that Real Groovy have a 3 year lease, which includes a 6 month development clause so they're effectively on 6 months' notice]
The pews are going (although the altar/stage is not) and owner Chris Hart says he can now spread his collection across two floors: devoting the basement to the vinyl revival that has given new hope to record store bosses. [Odd thing to write - Real Groovy had previously had two floors in its current location, including a basement foccused mainly on vinyl.]
"Turnover has been growing consistently for the last three years, as opposed to the previous five years when we were in constant decline and always reassessing what we were doing in order to keep viable," says Hart.
Hart talks above about their decline, going back some 8 years - that would be around the time Real Groovy went into receivership, after unsuccessful attempts to sell the business.
The story also mentions "it's vinyl, turntables, and pop-culture merchandise that are the big categories' for Real Groovy these days". The vinyl revival rumbles onwards! It's great to see the store survive.
Kilgallon notes that 'Record fans may have a fondness for the old Real Groovy, but Hart is looking forward to opening the doors in the new site in January and escaping the leaky ceilings. "I love old buildings, but there's certainly no love lost on this place: it was obviously built quite cheaply in the 1920s."
The old store remains open til Jan 17 and will host a big sale ahead of the move.
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