Tonight:
5°c
Soaring rents and rates silence the Soho long players
Evening Standard5 Aug 2008
Record shop Sister Ray has been operating in Soho's "Golden Mile" of vinyl stores for more than 20 years.
Now it is going into administration due to soaring costs and falling sales. The firm pays £55,200 a year in business rates and £108,000 rent. Five years ago it paid £49,000 and £75,000. Sales have fallen 35 per cent since January.
The Berwick Street shop needs a £200,000 investment to survive as it struggles against competition from the internet and supermarkets.
Co-owner Neil Brown said: "What is happening to small shops like ours is frightening. There used to be 20 independent record shops in the same street as us, now there are only a handful in the whole of Soho. "
