From Picadilly Circus in London’s West End to Ottawa Street in Windsor and now Dunlop Street West in Barrie, Paul Russell has been sharing his passion for music for nearly four decades.
The Brit, along with wife Mary Burley, own Dead Parrott Records, a used record shop that celebrated its grand opening in downtown Barrie on Saturday after the couple closed up their successful shop in Windsor and returned to the place Burley has always called home.
“We just came back March 1 and spent the last five weeks getting the place ready,” says Burley, telling BarrieToday the shop had already been “quite busy” since opening only two hours prior. “The store in Windsor was very successful, but I wanted to come home, so here we are back in Barrie. I am very excited about that.”
Russell, who has very likely forgotten more about music than most people will ever even know, got his start working at the Tower Records at Piccadilly Circus and Kensington’s High Street in London’s West End from 1985 until the late 1990s. He has now brought that knowledge, as well as a significant amount of music memorabilia, to the downtown Barrie shop.
“We always wanted to make it a record store that I wanted to go into and that I wanted to come back to,” he says. “To me, the ambience and everything that’s up on the walls is almost as important as the music. We’ve been in record stores that just have nothing at all.”
“We wanted to create a store with soul,” says Burley. “We find here, and in Windsor, when people walk in a lot of people will stand and look around and go 'wow.' There’s so much to look at.”
Everything on the wall has a story, Russell tells BarrieToday, pointing to a large Led Zeppelin sign on the wall near the front desk. The sign, which was made by the in-house art department from the Piccadilly Tower Records store, is the only one of its kind in the world, he says.
“A guy in Windsor came and offered me money all the time for that… (but) it’s not for sale. It’s a talking point and it’s irreplaceable.”
From rock and pop, jazz and blues and all the way to classical, Russell and Burley do their best to offer a little bit of every genre for every type of music lover — as well as some unique offerings Russell says are often hard to come by in Canada.
“Because of my English connections, knowing what records came out in Europe that didn’t come out here or different versions, I bring a lot of stuff in from Europe,” he says, adding those albums would not typically be found in Canada. “You’ll get your run-of-the-mill Elton John albums, but you’re also going to find stuff that you’re not going to find in your general record stores, because I go out and look for it.”
Russell says although he started offering new vinyl at his Windsor store, because he was getting such quality used collections coming, the cost of new vinyl began to climb.
“For a one-man band, it didn’t make sense,” he says. “Everyone else was doing it. There’s a Sunrise (Records) in every town… and I found the people who were coming in would prefer the originals. I still collect records.
"For me, you never know what records might come home with me at the end of the day. You could buy a new Beatles album that was made three years ago, or you could try and find an original one from England or Germany from the '60s. That’s what most real collectors want.”
Russell also brings over a few select “new vinyl options,” which can be found close to the front of the shop, but says their focus is on high-quality used records.
“There is one little label we bring over from England, KScope Records, which is run by old friends of mine in the music business back there and is progressive rock… (and are) new vinyl,” he says.
With thousands of used records lining the racks, Russell prides himself on the fact he cleans every single record and checks for any issues before it makes it to the shelf.
“I make sure everything has an album sleeve and a protective cover... and I won’t sell scratched records. Sometimes scuffs will be fine — especially old Beatles or Stones albums because back in those days the vinyl was heavier and the grooves were deeper — and the music is in the grooves. In the late '70s, they got skimpier and floppy... so you’ll find Bowie records that are really wobbly and the sliders mark and I won’t sell those.”
With the resurgence in the popularity of vinyl becoming more mainstream, Russell and Burley tell BarrieToday they are used to seeing every type of music lover come through the doors or their old shop — and expect nothing different here in Barrie.
“You will get hard-core collectors who have got serious collections, but they need that cherry on the cake — and then you’ll have someone come in who is just going to buy a regular Billy Joel album,” he says.
“One of the first fellows in here today found something — it wasn’t an expensive record — but he said (he’d) been looking for it… and he was absolutely shocked we had it,” Burley adds. “That’s thrilling, too, to find things that aren’t likely going to be in another store.”
Creating an experience, they say, is just as important as what they’re selling.
“It’s the natural thing to do. I want this to be a store that I’d want to come back into. That was the bottom line,” admits Russell. “I want them to get that wow factor and to hopefully find something they were looking for, or even leave with something they weren’t looking for but they like and that happens a lot.”
Dead Parrott Records is located at 70 Dunlop St. W.
