This Mumbai record store reopens in Mahim in a new avatar

While pursuing his undergraduate studies in the US in the mid2000s Jude de Souza the founder and CEO of The Revolver Club found a defunct turntable in the basement of a library where he worked as a studentHe got it repaired and started using it It was around that time that he heard about the common myth that if you play Led Zeppelinrsquos Stairway to Heaven backwards it would reveal a message from Satan It sparked his curiosity as it would for any teenager And perhaps the most organic way to test this myth would be to reverse the vinyl record on a turntable Now that he had the equipment he bought the entire discography of Led Zeppelin for about a hundred dollars which was roughly Rs 4500 back thenToday he estimates that each record from the discography would cost a hundred dollars which is now around Rs 8500It didnrsquot take long for de Souza to get hooked on vinyl record collection and music in generalThe record store also has a coffee shop on its premisesNearly a decade later he decided to channel this passion into a physical store and in 2016 he started his company The Revolver Club and opened a flagship store in Mahim After a hiatus of around five years their flagship store has now reopened with more to offermdashit now has a coffee shop a vintage watch collection for sale and vinyl records of courseToday there are only a couple of places in the city where you can buy vinyl records in person This includes the pavement shops in Crawford Market and Colaba Causeway The Revolver Club is the only formal store with a history and a community around it Interestingly it opened in 2016 the same year Mumbairsquos iconic record shop Rhythm House shut its doorsThe place shut down during the COVID19 pandemic but the proprietors had another store in Bandra West ldquoSo there was even less reason to hurry to open the Mahim store but the vision was always to get it back up and running We have made the space more communityfriendly with a coffee shop in it which has added to the number of visitors we have here nowrdquo says store director and social media manager Mihir Lapalikar ldquoNow apart from vinyl records we also have EZFi systems Theyrsquore for the modern listener who wants premium audio without the complexity of a traditional hifi system Modern houses have less space so an EZFi is a perfect setuprdquo The idea behind this concept was to make great sound accessible to anyone with plugandplay solutionsYou can request any record you want and The Revolver Club will source it for you Genres are no barmdashanything from old Hindi film music to rare Western records yoursquoll find it all here Lapalikar says ldquoYou can buy preowned records too which sometimes cost more than the originals depending on their condition and rarityrdquoDe Souza says 99 per cent of the business is online and the reason he wanted to open a store was to build a culture in the age of social media He says ldquoThis place has become a melting pot for people with a shared common interest Since vinyl records are an interactive way to engage in music they give people a good basis to bondrdquoOne can now even browse through a vintage watch collectionAccording to de Souza and Lapalikar Gen Z is buying most vinyl records today They say the trend is global They offer the ldquoenthusiastrsquos packrdquo for new vinyl enthusiasts which includes an Audio Technica LP60X turntable Basic technical support is also offered by the store such as setting up the system and replacing the record player needlesThe revamped space Lapalikar explains will also function as a coworking space ldquoWe also aspire to add other elements like board games and live performances in the futurerdquo he saysOn average a classic album may cost you anywhere between R3500 and R10000 and rare ones may go up to lakhs ldquoItrsquos an expensive hobby to have but the community is growing The level of authenticity in owning a record is the core value of this hobby We did good business last year and daily sales are in the hundreds both instore and online combined The annual growth of the business has been up by 20 per cent per year and wersquore expecting it to grow morerdquo says de SouzaatOptionskeyd0ddb8ef8f1a62a8cdd22fac27fc5ea7formatiframeheight90width728params