I've heard a rumour that Cool Wax records has shut its doors for good. I honestly don't know if its true but if it is its very sad. CW was a key record store in sheffield and i bought some cracking tunes from there. I'll miss it. Its the end of an era and sheffield is poorer without it.

Cool wax aint gone,walked by today

Drum and bass arena has though :(

Dn B arena's been gone for ages

Dn B arena's been gone for ages

sad to see it go etc - but it was only open for a year or so anyway..

good Record Shop... been in a few times...

I'm sorry, but how could you equate Cool Wax closing to the "end of a music era"? It's rubbish - second only to Reflex in terms of utter sh*tness. The Store closing affected music in Shef greatly. But Cool Wax?

I'm sorry, but how could you equate Cool Wax closing to the "end of a music era"? It's rubbish - second only to Reflex in terms of utter sh*tness. The Store closing affected music in Shef greatly. But Cool Wax?
DefStef... I don't know you, but I totally agree with the above statement!

Cool Wax prices for vinyl are shocking, and the "service" leaves a lot to be desired... :( :mad:

I think shops like Cool Wax, Studio Beatz and Reflex essentially cater for people who hate music. Everyone looks miserable. Worth checking out though, as these kinds of places become archive repositories for good records that they bought by accident, and which have become extinct elsewhere. If it's not bassline, it will remain untouched (in many cases, still sealed) by the Burberry mongoloids that populate them.

I have to agree, the record shop situation in Sheffield is embaressing. If your not into house/garage/cheese you really struggle....Cool Wax is especially sh*te.
I'm into soul/funk/hip hop/dub etc and it makes more sense to jump on a train to manc or get on the internet than bother with most of what Sheffield has to offer :o

I have to agree, the record shop situation in Sheffield is embaressing. If your not into house/garage/cheese you really struggle....Cool Wax is especially sh*te.
I'm into soul/funk/hip hop/dub etc and it makes more sense to jump on a train to manc or get on the internet than bother with most of what Sheffield has to offer :o

Yeah, those £100 excursions to Oldham Street really hurt the wallet. Really, there's only Lowlife/Natural Shy for decent dancier stuff these days, and even they have been pushed to a site where they're not likely to get passing trade from someone who didn't know they were there. Compare this to a few years ago when The Store was still on Division St., Fopp had an extensive vinyl selection upstairs, the Forum had VM (is that what it was called when it was upstairs, too - or only when it was downstairs before the Drum 'n' Bass Arena shop?), Broomhill had Nutopia, Lowlife had just opened ('til 7pm every day at that point) and all of this was fields.

[edit:] I forgot to mention Fox's records. Shef to the bone.
There's still some good shops for older/more obscure stuff - Spin City, Forever Changes, Record Collector - but shops like The Store helped to construct a halo of culture which is sadly receding. I don't know, maybe it's a fashion thing. Kids like guitars these days (luddites).

I have to agree, the record shop situation in Sheffield is embaressing. If your not into house/garage/cheese you really struggle....Cool Wax is especially sh*te.
I'm into soul/funk/hip hop/dub etc and it makes more sense to jump on a train to manc or get on the internet than bother with most of what Sheffield has to offer :o

Ditto.

I've travelled to Manc, Leeds, Nottingham (Arcade Records RIP), Leics, B'ham, Bristol and London for vinyl. Also Juno, Soul Brother, etc, receive a vast amount of my salary.

DefStef : True, some gems to be had (back in the day), but I won't frequent the place now. Truly bad customer service.

the Burberry mongoloids:hihi:

but shops like The Store helped to construct a halo of culture which is sadly receding. I don't know, maybe it's a fashion thing. Kids like guitars these days (luddites).

Do I detect a hint of musical snobbery creeping in here? The Store was a fine shop but did cater for a niche market after a certain sort of (ahem..) "authentic" music...

;)

Do I detect a hint of musical snobbery creeping in here? The Store was a fine shop but did cater for a niche market after a certain sort of (ahem..) "authentic" music...

;)

I have to agree, some people have just come across as complete snobs here...

Yeah, those £100 excursions to Oldham Street really hurt the wallet. Really, there's only Lowlife/Natural Shy for decent dancier stuff these days, and even they have been pushed to a site where they're not likely to get passing trade from someone who didn't know they were there. Compare this to a few years ago when The Store was still on Division St., Fopp had an extensive vinyl selection upstairs, the Forum had VM (is that what it was called when it was upstairs, too - or only when it was downstairs before the Drum 'n' Bass Arena shop?), Broomhill had Nutopia, Lowlife had just opened ('til 7pm every day at that point) and all of this was fields.

[edit:] I forgot to mention Fox's records. Shef to the bone.
There's still some good shops for older/more obscure stuff - Spin City, Forever Changes, Record Collector - but shops like The Store helped to construct a halo of culture which is sadly receding. I don't know, maybe it's a fashion thing. Kids like guitars these days (luddites).

You forgot to mention Rare and Racy for essential minimalist jazz.
Agree with you on Fox's, Spin City and Forever Changes - great shops. I heard Record Collector is closing down so Sheffield will be even poorer for record shops. Oh to have an area like Manchester's Oldham St, or Soho's Berwick St, or the Ladbroke Grove end of Portabello Rd in Sheffield.

I have to agree, some people have just come across as complete snobs here...
there really are some extraordinarily pretentious people commenting on this thread. for loads of people coolwax was very important and that is worth noting.

admittadly sheffield is poor for record stores but if you actually go to them and use them and create demand then it'll get better

I had a puzzling trip to Spin City recently, everything I picked out of one of their boxes and tried to buy I was either told the box hadnt been sorted yet so they couldnt give me a price or that actually they wanted to keep the item I had picked for their own collection.

I'm sorry, but how could you equate Cool Wax closing to the "end of a music era"? It's rubbish - second only to Reflex in terms of utter sh*tness. The Store closing affected music in Shef greatly. But Cool Wax?

yes indeed Cool wax was nothing that special, and what happend to the Store, i used to love that little shop, it always had some gems inside. But whan i do like is Refelx, not for its 4x4x4 or whatever they call it these days, but the second hand section downstairs has loads of classic hip hop, some lovely UK stuff and tons of scratch / sample records to be played with. I was suprised too!

yes indeed Cool wax was nothing that special, and what happend to the Store, i used to love that little shop, it always had some gems inside. But whan i do like is Refelx, not for its 4x4x4 or whatever they call it these days, but the second hand section downstairs has loads of classic hip hop, some lovely UK stuff and tons of scratch / sample records to be played with. I was suprised too!

Yeah totally agree actually. I think I've bought some stuff from downstairs, and upstairs, too - shock, horror! And I am a snob. I hate most people. I was also pondering including Rare 'n' Racy James, but I haven't bought anything from there for years. As for the store catering for a "niche market" after a certain sort of music, Jake, I totally agree. The "certain sort of music" was good music, and the "niche market" was people who like good music.

Its not that poor for record shops,just depends what your into.

Coolwax,reflex and natural shy are great record stores.

as mentioned, Reflex has the two floors covering a variety of tastes and have found some crackin tunes downstairs but the last time I went I shelled out 13 nicker for two eps! :o nowt special either, both from Grand Central- how much does it cost to ship em over the pennines!

Just been in and they defo haven't closed down - just had a refurb by the looks - nice pink paintage!!!:loopy:

thats something ive forgot about - the second hand stuff and all the hip hop / breaks vinyl at reflex aint cheap, their prices take the **** sometimes. None of the vinyl downstairs has prices on, so you take up some batterd Wu-Tang LP and hes like "yeah that'll be 20 quid mate" cheers mate ;)

that's the worse thing about Reflex: no prices. Always been the same !!

is all the stuff upstairs priced?

I really dont like Reflex or Coolwax, Relex, few times ive been in and the records are in a shocking condition, Coolwax the choice is weak and the price's are shocking! i play deep/jackin house and i struggle to find anywhere in Sheffield to buy from!!I do enjoy going into record shops,but recently ive started buying online because its cheaper and i have alot more choice!!

don't thinks so, but I've not been in for ages!

im a vinyl junkie, no matter how much i love rippin my fingers to shreds looking thru thousands of old skool tracks looking for missing bits in the collection/jems, the internet is the way forward. sheffield has and always will be crap for buying records, who cares tho ? the internet has solved all those problems brothers and sisters. ;)

im a vinyl junkie, no matter how much i love rippin my fingers to shreds looking thru thousands of old skool tracks looking for missing bits in the collection/jems, the internet is the way forward. sheffield has and always will be crap for buying records, who cares tho ? the internet has solved all those problems brothers and sisters. ;)

I'm reluctantly coming to that conclusion. I started buying stuff online to get things I couldn't get in Sheffield, but then to save on postage I ended up buying a few other bits and bobs that I could have bought locally.

I much prefer real shopping - it's not just the physical act of browsing and picking out random records to listen to and buy, there's also the rapport one builds up with people who run record shops. As you get to know them, they recommend stuff to you because they know what you might like. Sometimes other customers will recommend stuff to you too. I really enjoyed my recent record shopping trip to NYC for the conversations with people in record shops, as well as some great records. I'm sure you get a version of that online what with customer recommendations and the like, but it's impersonal.

The joy of going to places like Oldham St in Manchester, on and off Berwick St in Soho and Ladbrook Grove is that there are a lot of good shops all very close to each other. You don't have to walk far to find a lot of good records. To be fair to Sheffield, we've kind of got that now with natural shy and lowlife above the harley, a short walk to Rare and Racy, and a little bit further to Spin City and Jacks (if only the Store hadn't closed).

Cool wax aint gone,walked by today

Drum and bass arena has though :(

agree:D:hihi: :D

Just been in and they defo haven't closed down - just had a refurb by the looks - nice pink paintage!!!:loopy:
did say it was a rumour and i wasn't sure if it were true. happily it isn't

I was only doing the loony sign thingy cos of the pink paintage, not accusing you of anything discodown

I was only doing the loony sign thingy cos of the pink paintage, not accusing you of anything discodown
i like the pink paint, very disco!

hows you anyway jon?

i play deep/jackin house and i struggle to find anywhere in Sheffield to buy from!!
Hi there - if you haven't already, please come and check out Lowlife & Natural Shy above The Harley Hotel on Glossop Rd. We have a good stock of, and are ordering in new deep house and disco edits.. why pay for postage from Internet sites or extortionate prices from more unscrupulous stores? Hope to be seeing you soon.. :D

Hi there - if you haven't already, please come and check out Lowlife & Natural Shy above The Harley Hotel on Glossop Rd. We have a good stock of, and are ordering in new deep house and disco edits.. why pay for postage from Internet sites or extortionate prices from more unscrupulous stores? Hope to be seeing you soon.. :D
Some excellent slabs of vinyl to be sure. In fact, if that Kerri Chandler 12 is still in I'll race grownsy on my lunch...

I'm sorry, but how could you equate Cool Wax closing to the "end of a music era"? It's rubbish - second only to Reflex in terms of utter sh*tness. The Store closing affected music in Shef greatly. But Cool Wax?


Yeah, agreed there, I go in quite a lot in case they suprise me, but rarely come out buying anything. If you don't like funky house or hardhouse/trance/dance (or whatever they call such rubbish lately) then it's not worth bothering with.

Natural Shy/Lowlife is the way forwards! :thumbsup:

not every record store will cater for the needs of others as there are too many genres, I went into cool wax records yesterday I have been going for sometime now, since it was co owned a few years ago, to be honest I have never had a problem. the tracks I want are not there but that might have something to do with the fact that they are deleted. coolwax is a very good little shop I myself find that there are alot of tracks iun there that other places such as HMV, and Virgin dont have and Reflex even. some nice Domonde in there. I like trance and altho there is a trance section there will be no longer as Trance is "on its ass", I was aproched by the member of staff who informed me off all the reasons why trance is dying then pointed me in the right direction of Breaks and Electro house as a substitue, done because I asked the simple question "what should I get into" am sorry but anyone who does want to say that cool wax isnt good for customer service and Burburry Hoodies or whatever are somewhat miss guided.
anyone that says they never smile, why is It i can have a laugh, infact the shop owner was waiting for me to leave lastnight he didnt shut on time he was later, so how is customer service shocking if a guy picks out tunes, fresh tunes aswell, then leaves the shop open while you decided and extra 10 minutes, we even had a laugh about how I myself wanted to own a record shop. as for the stock your going to get that anywhere that isnt Chemical, HTFR or Jono because people canot stock every track available, it would be great to go in with 5 records in mind and walk out with them but to be honest it isnt going to happen and not anywhere.

Fact is I got Mistral from Coolwax. So am happy

popped down the hole in the road just the other day to find Wolf records wasnt there any longer. Well miffed as I had a fistfull of pound notes to bust loose.

popped down the hole in the road just the other day to find Wolf records wasnt there any longer. Well miffed as I had a fistfull of pound notes to bust loose.

Yeah but they weren't even supporting formats like 78s or wax cylinders anyway. It's all "45s this" and "pop parade" that. Ooh it makes my blood boil. Fancy a trip to the Wimpy Maz?

Having found myself travelling to buy the records I wanted (I hate internet record shopping, where's the fun?) the one above the Harley has sorted things out. Nice people, good tunes of all sorts and you can have a beer whilst you browse. Plus they don't make you feel like ur out of order for stepping in their shop and listening to their music. Sheffield's been lacking this type of establishment for ages and I reckon with support from its customers it'll be just as good as anywhere in Manc or Leeds.

anyone that says they never smile, why is It i can have a laugh, infact the shop owner was waiting for me to leave lastnight he didnt shut on time he was later, so how is customer service shocking if a guy picks out tunes, fresh tunes aswell, then leaves the shop open while you decided and extra 10 minutes, we even had a laugh about how I myself wanted to own a record shop.

all good stuff, im feeling your passion about their cuntomer service, but whats with the grammar? surely this isnt a sentence^^

i found it really difficult to read. have a wrod with yourslef young man

i found it really difficult to read. have a wrod with yourslef young man

the sheer irony of that