SHOPS - FALKIRKMUSICSCENE2017
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MUSIC RELATED SHOPS IN FALKIRK
RECORD STORES
BRUCE'S MUSIC was originally called Brian Findlay Records (circa 1970 - 75) and was run by Bruce`s brother Brian. John Leishman worked for Brian for a while, as did Roy who later ran it as "Sleeves". Another guy who worked for Brian Findlay for a while was Davy Haswell who played with the band Jack Easy. Bill Smith who is a DJ at Radio Clyde and Tom Bell from CentralFM were friends of Brian too. Later Bruce Findlay took over, and was manager of Simple Minds. When he left the shop in 1981 it became:
RECORD STORES
BRUCE'S MUSIC was originally called Brian Findlay Records (circa 1970 - 75) and was run by Bruce`s brother Brian. John Leishman worked for Brian for a while, as did Roy who later ran it as "Sleeves". Another guy who worked for Brian Findlay for a while was Davy Haswell who played with the band Jack Easy. Bill Smith who is a DJ at Radio Clyde and Tom Bell from CentralFM were friends of Brian too. Later Bruce Findlay took over, and was manager of Simple Minds. When he left the shop in 1981 it became:
THE CAVE (circa 1964 - 66) was a coffee bar / record shop in the basement of Alexanders Furniture Shop in the High Street. It was run by Irene Ferguson, and was well ahead of its time.
DOUGHTY'S RECORDS (1960's) was in the Cow Wynd.
GREIGS FURNITURE SHOP (circa 1962 - 64) was right across the road from McDougalls record shop, and they too sold records.
HARPET'S RECORD ROUNDABOUT was situated in the Cow Wynd in 1964.
KIRK'S (1901 - 79?) was up the little lane where the pet shop used to be, and is now a shop selling papers, pipes, incense etc. It was one of the last shops to still sell 78 rpm records. The shop was opened by Harry Kirk's father in 1901, and was the first music store to open locally (and the person who introduced the gramophone to Falkirk!). Previously Kirk had travelled the area on a horse and cart selling gramophones by lottery! In 1910 it moved to the High Street (opposite the entrance to the Cow Wynd), before moving to Vicar Street in 1912, and then Wooer Street in 1927. The shop was open to at least 1978, because The Pearlfishers' Davey Scott remembers buying a 7 inch of George Harrison's "Give Me Love, Give Me Peace On Earth" around that time. Apparently the owner, Harry Kirk was "a scary old guy who had an original 'Sgt Pepper' release poster in the window". Mike Scott of The Waterboys also remembers buying records here when he used to visit Falkirk (his mother was from the town!) and once on a visit back to the town in summer 1979 he bought a copy of "Bangla Desh" by George Harrison, which he still keeps in the thick green carrier bag Harry Kirk put it in.
DOUGHTY'S RECORDS (1960's) was in the Cow Wynd.
GREIGS FURNITURE SHOP (circa 1962 - 64) was right across the road from McDougalls record shop, and they too sold records.
HARPET'S RECORD ROUNDABOUT was situated in the Cow Wynd in 1964.
KIRK'S (1901 - 79?) was up the little lane where the pet shop used to be, and is now a shop selling papers, pipes, incense etc. It was one of the last shops to still sell 78 rpm records. The shop was opened by Harry Kirk's father in 1901, and was the first music store to open locally (and the person who introduced the gramophone to Falkirk!). Previously Kirk had travelled the area on a horse and cart selling gramophones by lottery! In 1910 it moved to the High Street (opposite the entrance to the Cow Wynd), before moving to Vicar Street in 1912, and then Wooer Street in 1927. The shop was open to at least 1978, because The Pearlfishers' Davey Scott remembers buying a 7 inch of George Harrison's "Give Me Love, Give Me Peace On Earth" around that time. Apparently the owner, Harry Kirk was "a scary old guy who had an original 'Sgt Pepper' release poster in the window". Mike Scott of The Waterboys also remembers buying records here when he used to visit Falkirk (his mother was from the town!) and once on a visit back to the town in summer 1979 he bought a copy of "Bangla Desh" by George Harrison, which he still keeps in the thick green carrier bag Harry Kirk put it in.
ORBIT RECORDS (circa 1971 - 87) was originally situated directly under the Steeple and was run by Margaret and Gerry, who also owned another shop in Grangemouth La Porte Precinct. They were always competing with Brian Findlay to beat his prices which they did on many occassions. In the late 1970's the moved to another location where Callander Square is now. This shop was the only place locally to sell tickets for concerts in Glasgow & Edinburgh.
SLEEVES was an institution in Falkirk, which sadly closed in the early 2000's. Many bands met and formed here, either through adverts in the shop, or a shared love of browsing the vinyl. The general concensus is that the first shop, further down the Cow Wynd on the right hand side was better than the second version on the left. Aiden Moffat of Arab Strap worked here for a while in the 1990's.
0THERS: There have also been a load of shops that sold, or still sell, music including Boots (on the first floor), John Menzies (at the "Book Corner" at the bus station), W.H. Smith & Woolworths (which had a seperate shop for music in the 1980's). In recent times, the chain store found Falkirk, and we had both HMV (in the Howgate)and Virgin (on the High Street). These, and the rise of the internet, pretty much put paid to the local record store. In 2008 Virgin changed it's name to Zavvi, and then went bust, leaving only HMV in town. And of course, there is always the superstores, Tesco, Asda & Morrisons.
MUSICAL INSTRUMENT SHOPS
MUSIC BOX was situated in the Cow Wynd, Falkirk, and was open between 1969 amd 1973. Davy (author of new site) says: "I bought a lovely Premier mother-of-pearl drumkit here in 1971!.
MUSIC CITY was a musical instrument shop in the Cow Wynd run by Jim Faichnie, which being across the street from Sleeves meant that a well placed bomb in the late 1980's/early 1990's would have wiped out the entire local music scene. Initially the shop was located opposite the police station in West Bridge Street, and is remembered as "a pokey little shop". One anonymous source remembers Faichnie as being "the widest salesman you could ever meet. I once looked at a KAY Strat copy with a missing top E string, Jim offered to throw in a free string if I bought the Guitar (It was £50 in 1981!). I bought an amp from Jim once, it was a brand new Pro Amp, £239 in 1982 and when I went to test the amp, Jim wanted me to keep the sound down as it would be "too loud". What he really meant was that the amp was faulty as someone else had bought it the week before and returned it as faulty, Jim saw the chance to offload the amp on to me. Needless to say the first time I used it it started to buzz, I returned the amp and Jim offered to send it back to the factory, meanwhile he lent me a second-hand amp. I blew that up within the week, he wasn't best pleased and refused to lend me another!" Faichnie also had a recording studio of sorts in his house in Larbert. The guitar players used to have to play straight into the mixing desk as Jim was afraid to upset his neighbours.
It was taken over by his assistant Dougie in the 1990's, but went out of business a few years later. Jim later opened a shop down Graham's Road.
MUSIC WAREHOUSE was next to Firkins on Graham's Road, and was affiliated with a rehearsal room in Bonnybridge, however it went out of business in the mid-2000's.
R & A MUSIC is owned by former Music City employee Ross, and can be found in Manor Street.
REVOLUTION MUSIC is on the High Street in Falkirk.
0THERS: There have also been a load of shops that sold, or still sell, music including Boots (on the first floor), John Menzies (at the "Book Corner" at the bus station), W.H. Smith & Woolworths (which had a seperate shop for music in the 1980's). In recent times, the chain store found Falkirk, and we had both HMV (in the Howgate)and Virgin (on the High Street). These, and the rise of the internet, pretty much put paid to the local record store. In 2008 Virgin changed it's name to Zavvi, and then went bust, leaving only HMV in town. And of course, there is always the superstores, Tesco, Asda & Morrisons.
MUSICAL INSTRUMENT SHOPS
MUSIC BOX was situated in the Cow Wynd, Falkirk, and was open between 1969 amd 1973. Davy (author of new site) says: "I bought a lovely Premier mother-of-pearl drumkit here in 1971!.
MUSIC CITY was a musical instrument shop in the Cow Wynd run by Jim Faichnie, which being across the street from Sleeves meant that a well placed bomb in the late 1980's/early 1990's would have wiped out the entire local music scene. Initially the shop was located opposite the police station in West Bridge Street, and is remembered as "a pokey little shop". One anonymous source remembers Faichnie as being "the widest salesman you could ever meet. I once looked at a KAY Strat copy with a missing top E string, Jim offered to throw in a free string if I bought the Guitar (It was £50 in 1981!). I bought an amp from Jim once, it was a brand new Pro Amp, £239 in 1982 and when I went to test the amp, Jim wanted me to keep the sound down as it would be "too loud". What he really meant was that the amp was faulty as someone else had bought it the week before and returned it as faulty, Jim saw the chance to offload the amp on to me. Needless to say the first time I used it it started to buzz, I returned the amp and Jim offered to send it back to the factory, meanwhile he lent me a second-hand amp. I blew that up within the week, he wasn't best pleased and refused to lend me another!" Faichnie also had a recording studio of sorts in his house in Larbert. The guitar players used to have to play straight into the mixing desk as Jim was afraid to upset his neighbours.
It was taken over by his assistant Dougie in the 1990's, but went out of business a few years later. Jim later opened a shop down Graham's Road.
MUSIC WAREHOUSE was next to Firkins on Graham's Road, and was affiliated with a rehearsal room in Bonnybridge, however it went out of business in the mid-2000's.
R & A MUSIC is owned by former Music City employee Ross, and can be found in Manor Street.
REVOLUTION MUSIC is on the High Street in Falkirk.
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