Rough Trade is a retail chain of record shops in the United Kingdom and the United States with headquarters in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

. The first Rough Trade shop was opened in 1976 by

Geoff Travis Geoff Travis (born 2 February 1952) is the founder of both Rough Trade Records and the Rough Trade chain of record shops. A former drama teacher and owner of a punk record shop, Travis founded the Rough Trade label in 1976. Biography Travis wa ...

in the

Ladbroke Grove Ladbroke Grove ( ) is a road in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, London, England, which passes through Kensal Green and Notting Hill, running north–south between Harrow Road and Holland Park Avenue. It is also the name of the sur ...

district of

West London West London is the western part of London, England, north of the River Thames, west of the City of London, and extending to the Greater London boundary. The term is used to differentiate the area from the other parts of London: Central London, N ...

. Travis reportedly took the name from the Canadian

art punk Art punk, or artcore, is a subgenre of punk rock in which artists go beyond the genre's rudimentary garage rock and are considered more sophisticated than their peers. These groups still generated punk's aesthetic of being simple, offensive, and ...

/ new wave band

Rough Trade Rough Trade may refer to: *Rough Trade (shops), London record stores *Rough Trade Records, a record label from the stores *Rough Trade Books, a publishing house from the label *Rough Trade (band), a Canadian new wave rock band * "Rough Trade" (''Am ...

. In 1978, the shop spawned

Rough Trade Records Rough Trade Records is an independent record label based in London, England. It was formed in 1976 by Geoff Travis, who had opened a record store off Ladbroke Grove. It is currently run by co-managing directors Travis and Jeannette Lee and ...

, which later became the label of bands from

The Smiths The Smiths were an English Rock music, rock band formed in Manchester in 1982, composed of Morrissey (vocals), Johnny Marr (guitar), Andy Rourke (bass) and Mike Joyce (musician), Mike Joyce (drums). Morrissey and Marr formed the band's songwrit ...

The Libertines The Libertines are an English Rock music, rock band, formed in London in 1997 by frontmen Carl Barât (vocals/guitar) and Pete Doherty (vocals/guitar). The band, centred on the songwriting partnership of Barât and Doherty, included John Hassall ...

. In 1982, the two separated and the shop remains an independent entity from the label, although links between the two are strong. At the same time, the shop moved from its original location on Kensington Park Road round the corner to Talbot Road. In 1988, a shop opened in

Neal's Yard Neal's Yard is a small alley in London's Covent Garden between Shorts Gardens and Monmouth Street which opens into a courtyard. It is named after the 17th century developer, Thomas Neale. In 1976, Michael Palin and Terry Gilliam bought offi ...

Covent Garden Covent Garden is a district in London, on the eastern fringes of the West End, between St Martin's Lane and Drury Lane. It is associated with the former fruit-and-vegetable market in the central square, now a popular shopping and tourist sit ...

. At various times there were also shops in

San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

(on Grant St., then Sixth Street, then

Haight Street Haight Street () is the principal street in San Francisco's Haight-Ashbury district, also known as the Upper Haight due to its elevation. The street stretches from Market Street, through the Lower Haight neighborhood, to Stanyan Street in th ...

and finally 3rd and Townsend Streets),

Tokyo Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and List of cities in Japan, most populous city in Japan. With a population of over 14 million in the city proper in 2023, it is List of largest cities, one of the most ...

and

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

. They were eventually closed following the rise of music sales on the Internet. Rough Trade replaced these stores with an

online music store A digital music store is a business that sells digital audio files of music recordings over the Internet. Customers gain ownership of a license to use the files, in contrast to a music streaming service, where they listen to recordings withou ...

. In 2007, the chain began to grow again, opening Rough Trade East in Dray Walk,

Brick Lane Brick Lane () is a street in the East End of London, in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, borough of Tower Hamlets. It runs from Swanfield Street in Bethnal Green in the north, crosses the Bethnal Green Road before reaching the busiest, mo ...

, in east London. There are now 7 shops worldwide with 5 shops in the UK, one in New York City, USA, and one in Berlin, Germany. The Beggars Group retains control of the company. Its trading company ownership name Rough Trade Retail (UK) Limited is owned by

XL Recordings XL Recordings is a British independent record label founded in 1989 by Tim Palmer and Nick Halkes. It has been run and co-owned by Richard Russell since 1996. It forms part of the Beggars Group. It releases an average of six albums a year. T ...

and

Matthieu Pigasse Matthieu Pigasse (born 1968) is a French investment banker, media mogul and investor. He previously served as Lazard's Global Head of Mergers and Acquisitions and Sovereign Advisory, as well as CEO of Lazard France. He currently serves as head o ...

with directors including XL owners from the wider

Beggars Group Beggars Group is a British record company, founded by Martin Mills, that owns or holds stakes in various record labels, including 4AD, Rough Trade Records, Matador Records, XL Recordings, and Young (record label), Young. History The company had i ...

causing some to question its independence.

Martin Mills Martin Mills (born 12 May 1949) is the founder and chairman of the Beggars Group. Early life Mills grew up near Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire and comes from an "upper-middle-class English family". His father worked as a civil servant and his mothe ...

, the original founder of Beggars is another notable director. Its dominance in the record shop market is sometimes resented by other shops who think it makes an unfair market, e.g. they have less access to limited editions which Rough Trade can develop with its links to record labels. Rough trade4

Rough Trade, Ladbroke Grove

The store was the first Rough Trade shop and opened at 202 Kensington Park Road in 1976. It later moved to 130 Talbot Road where it continues to trade today.

Rough Trade Neal's Yard, Covent Garden

The

shop opened in 1988 and was located in the basement of Slam City Skates in

. It closed down shortly before Rough Trade East opened in 2007.

Rough Trade East, Brick Lane

In July 2007, Rough Trade opened a shop in

. The shop, called "Rough Trade East", is located in the former

Truman's Brewery Truman's Brewery was a large East London brewery and one of the largest brewers in the world at the end of the 19th century. Founded around 1666, the Black Eagle Brewery was established on a plot of land next to what is now Brick Lane in London, E1 ...

in a courtyard off Brick Lane and puts on music gigs with a stage, allowing for an audience of 300. Gig ticketing is usually the cost of entry with the purchase of a full price album, either bought ahead from the shop to gain a ticket or bought online via the

DICE A die (: dice, sometimes also used as ) is a small, throwable object with marked sides that can rest in multiple positions. Dice are used for generating random values, commonly as part of tabletop games, including dice games, board games, ro ...

platform, where the customer picks up the record at the door. The shop sells some chart titles, music from bands without distribution deals with a quarter of the merchandise is

vinyl Vinyl may refer to: Chemistry * Polyvinyl chloride (PVC), a particular vinyl polymer * Vinyl cation, a type of carbocation * Vinyl group, a broad class of organic molecules in chemistry * Vinyl polymer, a group of polymers derived from vinyl ...

. Every item, vinyl and CD, has a written description to encourage browsing and discovery. Designed by

David Adjaye Sir David Frank Adjaye (born 22 September 1966) is a Ghanaian-British architect who has designed many notable buildings around the world, including the National Museum of African American History, National Museum of African American History and ...

the shop has a fair trade café and a "snug" area with

iMac The iMac is a series of all-in-one computers from Apple Inc., sold as part of the company's Mac (computer), Mac family of computers. First introduced in 1998, it has remained a primary part of Apple's consumer desktop offerings since and evol ...

s, sofas and desks. In the first half of 2007, CD sales had fallen by 10 percent and in the month of the shop opening the UK music chain Fopp went into administration. Stephen Godfroy, the store director, said, "I don't think music belongs on the high street as the high street exists at the moment", and that retailers, not the consumers, are to blame for the decline in sales. In September 2007, sales in Rough Trade East had exceeded expectations by 20 percent. Stephen Godfroy explained that "You've got to create an environment where people want to spend time. It's got to be complementary to modern lifestyles, distinctive and competitive on pricing and have confidence in recommending exciting new products and not rely on chart product."

Rough Trade New York

In April 2012, it was announced that Rough Trade would be opening a store in the

Williamsburg Williamsburg may refer to: Places *Colonial Williamsburg, a living-history museum and private foundation in Virginia *Williamsburg, Brooklyn, neighborhood in New York City *Williamsburg, former name of Kernville (former town), California *Williams ...

neighbourhood of Brooklyn, in partnership with Bowery Presents. The store, including a performance space and a coffee counter, was initially scheduled to open in late 2012. The store opened on 25 November 2013, becoming the biggest record store in New York City. The Brooklyn store closed in March 2021, moving to a new, smaller location at

30 Rockefeller Plaza 30 Rockefeller Plaza (officially the Comcast Building; formerly RCA Building and GE Building) is a skyscraper that forms the centerpiece of Rockefeller Center in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City, New York. Completed in 1933 ...

in June. In January 2025, it was announced that Rough Trade would be opening a second store at Rockefeller Center located below the current store. The smaller existing store at street level was renamed Rough Trade Above while the new location, Rough Trade Below, occupies 4,000 square feet and features a large selection of merch, audio hardware, new and used CDs and vinyl records, movies, collectibles and more. The expansion will "increase the capacity for in-store events from several dozen to a couple of hundred spectators". Rough Trade Below, which is located in front of the 47th–50th Streets–Rockefeller Center station, opened on 8 April 2025.

Rough Trade Nottingham

Rough Trade opened a store on Broad Street in

Nottingham Nottingham ( , East Midlands English, locally ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, England. It is located south-east of Sheffield and nor ...

Lace Market The Lace Market is a historic quarter-mile square area in the centre of Nottingham, England. It was once the centre of the world's lace industry and was an area of salesrooms and warehouses for storing, displaying and selling the lace. It is no ...

area in 2014. The store has a bar and performance area on the first floor. The opening of the shop in Nottingham was thought to threaten existing independent shops, with the struggling Music Exchange shop closing 18 months later.

Rough Trade Liverpool

In 2024, Rough Trade opened its first shop in the north of England, in

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

, where it is situated in the Hanover Street district of the

Liverpool One Liverpool ONE is a shopping, residential, and leisure complex in Liverpool, England. The project involved the redevelopment of 42 acres (170,000 m2) of land in Liverpool City Centre, the city centre. It is a retail-led development anchored by ...

shopping complex.

Compilations

Musically, Rough Trade Shops' own music releases often follow the

post-punk Post-punk (originally called new musick) is a broad genre of music that emerged in late 1977 in the wake of punk rock. Post-punk musicians departed from punk's fundamental elements and raw simplicity, instead adopting a broader, more experiment ...

genre, but carry items through a range of genres, mostly within the alternative or underground scenes. Recently the shop has released several compilation albums, each focusing on an individual genre such as

indie-pop Indie pop (also typeset as indie-pop or indiepop) is a music genre and subculture that combines guitar pop with a DIY ethic in opposition to the style and tone of mainstream pop music. It originated from British post-punk in the late 1970s and ...

electronica Electronica is both a broad group of electronic-based music styles intended for listening rather than strictly for dancing and a music scene that came to prominence in the early 1990s in the United Kingdom. In the United States, the term is mos ...

country A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation, or other political entity. When referring to a specific polity, the term "country" may refer to a sovereign state, state with limited recognition, constituent country, ...

, singer songwriter,

rock and roll Rock and roll (often written as rock & roll, rock-n-roll, and rock 'n' roll) is a Genre (music), genre of popular music that evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s. It Origins of rock and roll, originated from African ...

and

. Every January since 2003, it has released a compilation putting together the best (in the opinion of the shops' staff) of the previous year's music entitled ''Counter Culture''. In 2007, there was also the release of ''Counter Culture 76'', reflecting the music of year the shop opened. It also released a 4-CD box set for its 25th anniversary in 2001, and a special collection of songs chosen by customers was released to celebrate the 30th anniversary in 2006.

References

External links

*{{Official website
Rough Trade Shops Compilations – Discography

Shop Shop or shopping may refer to: Business and commerce * A casual word for a commercial establishment or for a place of business * Machine shop, a workshop for machining *"In the shop", referring to a car being at an automotive repair shop * Reta ...

Independent stores Music retailers of the United Kingdom 1976 establishments in England