Sounds Stupid

I used to buy import CDs from a shop that had split in two this way, Minus Zero/Stand Out in west London. You could ring up and one of the Bills (Forsyth) would recommend things if they didn't have what you wanted. I believe the Bills did fall out, though by the time the shop closed in 2009, they were both seemingly working there simultaneously, so who knows. My memory is increasingly fantastic. Anyway, the shop is now (or was, last I saw) one of those very white-painted boutiques with about 20 pricey blouses on the rails. (I also wrote about a split shop in Giant Days #6, but that one was run by twins who seemed quite cordial.)


16 comments on “Sounds Stupid

  1. Now I want to see a shop split in two like this. Once, in my city, there was a comic book library that had a pastry shop inside, but they worked at the same time. So, this is the shop where Shelley buys her huge collection of music LPs. However, if Sid has money, he will lose it soon enough, all of them.

    1. The only thing I’ve ever seen like that is Borders, it was a giant Barnes and Noble-esque bookstore that had a cafe.

    2. I’ve seen something like this. The local comic shop and the local underground music store were both owned by the same guy. Money got tight for him, so he moved the record store into the comic shop. Comics on the left, music on the right.

  2. Deadwood, South Dakota had a restaurant that was half Mexican and half Chinese cuisine. The couple who owned it were Mexican and Chinese. Their sweet and sour sauce positively glowed.

    1. SchadenfreudePersonified

      We had one in Whickham until recently which was half cChinese and half pizza.

      Sadly, the Chinese half closed. It broke my cold, stoney heart.

  3. The City and The City by China Miéville in microcosm

  4. Is “Wax Figures” just a weird name, or is that literally what Ron’s side of the shop is selling…??

    I mean, in the latter case, I can kinda see why they fell out…

    1. Based on the way people are facing, I’d say Wax Figures was Ken’s side of the shop. So, weird name.

  5. There’s a split banya, hot tub place like this in NYC. It alternates days of the week. I’ve only been there once but I heard the story.

    1. Very excited to learn what a “banya” is.

  6. Weird old record store owner – nailed it.

  7. “Sounds Stupid” is the greatest name for a record store ever conceived, so I feel it’s an unfortunate turn of history that the owners abandoned it.

  8. Northfield, Minnesota (pop 11000) used to have two Greek pizza restaurants, Bill’s and Basil’s, with essentially the same menu. There were many apocryphal stories about Basil founding Basil’s and then going to war in Vietnam, and his brother Bill taking over the shop in his absence, forcing Basil to open Bill’s when he came back.

    1. That has a vague whiff of the Adidas/Puma origin story.

  9. ahhh, the old vinyl rituals of keeping it clean, anti-static, and dust out of the grooves

  10. There used to be a split shop in Coventry that sold knitting supplies on one sude, and computers on the right. Can’t remember what it was called.

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