Have we reached peak hipster? Sainsbury’s is now the UK’s biggest vinyl record retailer
An interesting nugget came out of this morning's Sainsbury's (rather mixed) results: the supermarket said it is now the biggest seller of vinyl on the high street.
In this morning's first quarter results statements, Sainsbury's said since it reintroduced vinyl record earlier this year after 25 years of just CDs, it had achieved an eight per cent market share, making it the UK's biggest vinyl record retailer.
The retailer announced plans to begin selling vinyl back in March, with vintage hit albums such as Fleetwood Mac's Rumours, the Beatles' Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Bank and Bob Marley's Legend joined by modern classics, such as Amy Winehouse's Back to Black and Adele's 25. The LPs retail at between £12 – £20.
At the time, the supermarket said demand for vinyl grew by over 60 per cent in 2015, and by 70 per cent in the first quarter of 2016.
That suggests vinyl is no longer the preserve of the bearded hipster, and has moved back into "dad" territory – a suggestion which was reinforced earlier this month, when it emerged fans of 70s rockers The Jam had been touring Tesco stores in search of a special limited edition pink vinyl version of its 1980 LP Sound Affects. (NB. Tesco beat Sainsbury's to the punch, getting back into vinyl in December).
But while the crackly sound of vinyl is becoming increasingly popular among retro fans, it's still pretty niche. Figures from Mintel published this time last year showed five per cent of the population had bought a record in the last 12 months, compared with seven per cent who had bought a CD single. Let's not call the day the music died just yet…
