Road Records was an independent record store in

Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

. Extensive media coverage followed its closure in January 2009 but it had relaunched by April with the support of the Irish music community. It was often used by people outside Ireland to purchase Irish music, such as

The Cake Sale The Cake Sale was a collective of mostly Irish musical artists, with Swedish singer-songwriter Nina Persson of the Cardigans and Australian musician Nick Seymour of Crowded House. The collective was formed in 2006 by Brian Crosby, formerly of ...

's charity album for

Oxfam Oxfam is a British-founded confederation of 21 independent non-governmental organizations (NGOs), focusing on the alleviation of global poverty, founded in 1942 and led by Oxfam International. It began as the Oxford Committee for Famine Relief ...

. On 16 July 2010, it was announced that Road Records would close for a second time, because of unsuccessful sales. Business stopped on 24 July.

Closure

Hailed as part of the cultural identity of the city and lauded as being one of the city's best known

independent music Independent music (also commonly known as indie music, or simply indie) is a broad style of music characterized by creative freedoms, low-budgets, and a DIY ethic, do-it-yourself approach to music creation, which originated from the liberties aff ...

stores, its closure after eleven years of existence due to the

2008 financial crisis The 2008 financial crisis, also known as the global financial crisis (GFC), was a major worldwide financial crisis centered in the United States. The causes of the 2008 crisis included excessive speculation on housing values by both homeowners ...

and

Great Recession The Great Recession was a period of market decline in economies around the world that occurred from late 2007 to mid-2009.

came to the attention of the national media when its owner, Dave Kennedy, highlighted the difficulties facing his store and the music industry in general on the store's website, difficulties which included being priced out of the market, the rise of illegal

file sharing File sharing is the practice of distributing or providing access to digital media, such as computer programs, multimedia (audio, images and video), documents or electronic books. Common methods of storage, transmission and dispersion include ...

on the internet, the changing leisure pursuits of modern teenagers, the spiralling costs of running a business in Ireland and the rapid decrease in the number of people visiting Dublin. Kennedy stated:

We don't see any young people in the shop any more; so as we lose older customers, we don't gain any new ones.

The store was a popular topic amongst the Irish

blog A blog (a Clipping (morphology), truncation of "weblog") is an informational website consisting of discrete, often informal diary-style text entries also known as posts. Posts are typically displayed in Reverse chronology, reverse chronologic ...

ging community and its closure was greeted with posts expressing much disappointment. ThrillPier's blog had the post: "Road was the place to go for decent indie stuff. I especially loved the photos from local gigs that were up on the walls. Everyone from the White Horse generation of punk/indie fans will lament the passing of this great shop. Where will I get my Burning Love Jumpsuit CDs now?". ''

Hot Press ''Hot Press'' is a monthly music and politics magazine based in Dublin, Ireland, founded in June 1977. The magazine has been edited since its inception by Niall Stokes. History ''Hot Press'' was founded in June 1977 by Niall Stokes, who cont ...

'' praised Road's willingness to sell the sort of music "not readily available" in other stores, describing it as "a much-loved fixture" in the Dublin music scene. ''

The Irish Times ''The Irish Times'' is an Irish daily broadsheet newspaper and online digital publication. It was launched on 29 March 1859. The editor is Ruadhán Mac Cormaic. It is published every day except Sundays. ''The Irish Times'' is Ireland's leading n ...

'' described Road Records as "to Irish independent music what

Richard and Judy Richard and Judy is a term used to refer to British television presenters Richard Madeley and Judy Finnigan, who are married. They co-hosted the ITV programme '' This Morning'' from 1988 to 2001 and later presented the chat show ''Richard & ...

are to new authors", referencing the British television presenters' renowned bookclub and pointing out that, even after having won an

Academy Award The Academy Awards, commonly known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit in film. They are presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) in the United States in recognition of excellence ...

Glen Hansard Glen James Hansard (born 21 April 1970) is an Irish singer-songwriter and musician. Since 1990, he has been the frontman of the Irish rock band The Frames, with whom he has released six studio albums, four of which have charted in the top ten o ...

regularly visited the store when he was at home in Dublin.

Relaunch

Road Records relaunched on 18 April 2009 following assistance from the Irish music community. Irish musicians,

Paul Noonan Paul Anthony Noonan is a songwriter, vocalist and multi-instrumentalist from Lucan, County Dublin. He is best known as the frontman of the Irish group Bell X1 and as a solo artist and collaborator on various musical projects. Early years Born i ...

Lisa Hannigan Lisa Margaret Hannigan (born 12 February 1981) is an Irish musician, singer, composer, and voice actress. She began her musical career as a member of Damien Rice's band. Since beginning her solo career in 2007 she has released three albums: '' S ...

, Conor O'Brien of Villagers,

Neil Hannon Edward Neil Anthony Hannon (born 7 November 1970) is a singer and songwriter from Northern Ireland. He is the founder and frontman of the chamber pop group the Divine Comedy, and is the band's only constant member since its inception in 1989. H ...

and

Jape Jape is a synonym for a practical joke. Jape or JAPE may also refer to: * Jape (band), an Irish electronic/rock band * JAPE (linguistics), a transformation language widely used in natural language processing * JAPE, an automated pun generator * J ...

, played acoustic sets at the reopening of the store.

Second Closure

On 16 July 2010, it was announced that Road Records would close again, this time for good. Despite the support received, business was still failing. All records were sold at 25% off and other store items such as cash registers and turntables were put up for sale. The shop closed its doors on 24 July 2010.

References

External links

* {{coord missing, County Dublin History of Dublin (city) Irish music history Music in Dublin (city) Music retailers of Ireland Shops in Dublin (city)