What’s the story behind your role at Spillers?
It’s been in our family since the 70s. It used to be run by our dad, now myself and my sister [Grace Todd] are co-owners. In 2010, the store had to move to new premises and my dad decided he didn’t want to be part of the next stage. So Grace and I decided to set it up as a limited company.
Although it was already a limited company, we had to set up our own to make an asset purchase of the business from our father. Even though it was a family business it wasn’t quite as straight forward as just changing the names on all the paperwork.
Had you always planned to take on the company?
My dad never presumed we’d take over, in fact he probably would have wanted something different for us, as he knows the pitfalls of the music industry. But when we were growing up, Grace and I both worked part-time at the shop. Then we both studied at Cardiff University, and continued to work there at the same time. Then we went off and did other things – my sister was in teaching and I was in the arts. Now I run the shop day-to-day and Grace looks after the accounts.
You must have a real passion for music?
Yes, my love for it was ingrained at a young age. There are photos of me as a child enjoying the bands at the Womad festival. And I remember as a teenager feeling ahead of my peers in my music taste. Then, when I began working at Spillers, I got lots of recommendations from customers. Now electronic and world music are my favourite genres. From my early experiences at the Womad festival, Neil Young and Gene Clark are still favourites. And a current band I’m enjoying is Goat [an alternative Swedish band].
How do you choose which releases you stock?
It’s two-way decision – a reflection of our staff but also our customer base. I talk to customers a lot, and they give feedback on what we offer in the store. We often source from local labels. For example, Peski is a homegrown Cardiff label that we’ve been dealing with for years. And we find that in the shop releases from local labels often outsell those on major labels.
Have you seen a growth in sales of vinyl in the store, following the national trend?
Yes. In 2000, my dad was all for phasing vinyl out in the shop as sales were dropping. But my sister and I were avid collectors and listeners of the John Peel show [Peel was a champion of vinyl]. We told my dad he couldn’t – we were up in arms about it. He was at the store counter less and less, while I found from my conversations with customers that there was still a love for vinyl.
When my sister and I bought Spillers in 2010, I tracked the last 10 years of vinyl sales and our figures showed that they took a positive turn in 2000 and have been steadily increasing since then. It’s got to the point where we’re selling a 50-50 split of vinyl to CD, which I don’t think anyone could have predicted in 2000 when our dad nearly phased out selling the format all together.
It’s Record Store Day today, what are your plans at Spillers?
We’ve got live music from the Lovely Eggs and we have DJs playing all day. It’s going to be a really eclectic mix. We’ve found from previous Record Store Days that it can bring in new customers. Our loyal regulars come in too. Some people will make a day of it and travel around visiting record stores across the country.
Do you think it’s an event that helps independent stores like yours?
It is a huge sales day. But it’s my feeling that too many new releases come out for it. This year it’s about 500 – that’s a bit unwieldy. I think around 200 would be good. It means there’s too much pressure for shops to stock them all. It can work for more specialist stores as it means there is a breadth of releases within a certain genre. But for shops like Spillers that stock a wide range, it can mean we spread ourselves a bit too thinly.
What’s the biggest challenge of running a business?
It can definitely wear you down. Maintaining a work-life balance is an ongoing battle and you have to come to terms with that. To aspiring business owners, I’d say don’t bank on your time being your own any more.
What’s the most satisfying thing about running Spillers?
It’s definitely the feedback from customers and seeing new releases take off. We’ll play new records in the shop and sometimes we’ll have customers fighting over copies – it’s great seeing that buzz. It’s a passion-filled environment to work in.
Ashli Todd is the co-owner of Spillers Records
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