Rare and Racy

It's time we talked about record shops. Sometimes I get worried that all the good independents will disappear, and I'll have to jab away at the internet to buy vinyl. One of my favourites is Rare and Racy, which has been open on Devonshire Street, Sheffield since 1969. Beloved by Sheffield bands, arty types and literary types, it's mainly a second hand book shop similar to Shakespeare & Co. The walls are pasted with posters for local gigs and pages torn from old books. It's a slightly musty anachronism, and I love it.
The record section is very Howard Moon, as it's full of old bluesmen and bebop. But there's non-jazz too, and if you want some obscure glitch or ambient techno, you'll leave happy. Because it's in Sheffield, they usually stock plenty of Human League and Cabaret Voltaire.




The John Peel graffiti isn't on Rare and Racy itself, but the shop next door. It's so wonderful I plonked it on here too. A few days after John Peel died, somebody sprayed it all over town in tribute. The wall has been repainted a few times, but John Peel remains.