Is Anyone Out There?

Vinyl Deli appears to be the last survivor in a vinyl subscription box apocalypse.

I wonder if (as we’re compared so much to them by people NOT in the know) Brittania Music Club had competitors who surpassed Britannia’s lifecycle.

I started Vinyl Deli in October of ’19. It was born from old business ideas centred around a record label, the one I was starting with friends in 2014. I used to always dream of ways to engage the soon-to-be growing fanbase. The label, though discussed until 2016, never happened.

Fast forward a few years, I was lying in my hotel room bed on a business trip. I was fresh from a phone call argument with my then girlfriend who was trying to persuade me to move in with her that month, not appreciating just how busy I was.

I was knackered.

But instead of going to sleep, I looked at old notes I had on my phone. I wasn’t sure what I was looking for. A laugh? Some form of distraction from the real world?

I kept being sold dreams of life in America, or life with my girlfriend.

I turned my nose up at my possible life in America because I wanted to pursue life with my girlfriend. But I didn’t like the way that one was going either.

I had to get up and go to the office the next day, the one in Detroit. It was ugly and everything was beige. It wasn’t inspiring at all.

That’s probably all I was looking for.

Inspiration.

As I went through this thought process, I found a note on my phone.

6 August 2015 at 02:37. An idea. Inspiration.

Tunefeed Bento. A subscription box which was going to include a monthly selection of CDs from artists on the label.

That was it. Okay, maybe not CDs, but vinyl. CDs hadn’t quite had the resurgence I predicted, and I much preferred vinyl if I could afford to do it.

I Googled “vinyl record wholesalers”. I found some, looked for their email addresses, and contacted them for more information.

(Psst, if you need one… Even by Odd is your answer.)

Okay, now to buy the domain.

Still on my phone, I went to Namecheap and searched for tunefeed.com.

Taken.

I had an idea for a cafe, bar, and deli brand centred around records called Vinyl Deli, so I searched that.

Bam. Bought.

Mid-September and the Vinyl Deli side hustle was underway. I didn’t expect it to work at all. Yet it’s July 2024 and we’re still here.

That’s all you need to do in life sometimes. Just start, and start quickly.

I remember the Christmas when we first started, I was poking around on Instagram to find similar services. I started Vinyl Deli not aware anyone else existed that looked like us, besides Vinyl Me, Please.

I found the Retro. A subscription service similar to ours, but personalised (I believe) on just genres and only with used records.

I DM’d the Retro about potential synergies, asking if we could look at some form of collaboration. I can’t find those messages today but I do believe Pete, the Retro’s founder responded. Nothing came of it, however.

I have been informed this afternoon that the Retro is no longer. Pete has closed the doors on the Retro chapter of his life, and I’m sad to say goodbye.

I jumped for joy when another competitor that Pete and I shared closed its doors, but the Retro never tried to strangle Vinyl Deli of oxygen. We co-existed peacefully.

I had a lot of respect for what Pete was doing with the Retro. I’d check in to see how they were doing from time to time and I’m sure, though we never spoke, Pete would do the same. I remember seeing the Retro website’s redesign and some of the website plug-ins looked increasingly familiar, so I knew Pete was keeping tabs.

I respected it. Great artists steal.

His business model was a tough one. Early on, Vinyl Deli was getting lots of requests for preloved records and we tried it, so I know the pain of dealing with used records. It’s a slog I’m still trying to figure out.

I have so much respect for what the Retro was trying to do. It’s a hard business model made even harder by the used records element.

I hope if Pete reads this he knows how much I respect what the Retro did, though I was never a subscriber. I also hope that one day I have the pleasure of competing with him again. Either with Vinyl Deli or another business. It was a joy to watch each other figure things out as we grew as entrepreneurs.

Though I never sought friendship, we were very much neighbours within our space. The type that didn’t step on each other’s toes, certainly not on purpose anyway.

We knew if one of us did well, it was a good sign that the other could also do well. There was never too much “keeping up with the Joneses”. We just stayed focused on our own house and never attempted to tear down the neighbours.

I’m a huge supporter and wish Pete well on his next chapter. I’m excited to see what he does next.

All the best,
Jordan