The owner of a Tardis-like vinyl store on Smithdown Road was inspired by his friends to launch the business, and "didn't expect" so many people to venture inside "just to talk".
Defend Vinyl is a music lover's haven, packed with stacks and stacks of vinyl records, as well as framed prints and posters devoted to bands and musicians from over the years. There are stylish record cases to snap up, rails of band t-shirts and even original coffee, Defend Coffee, to take home.
The small but mighty venue is a calming oasis, occupying a corner plot on the eclectic and often heaving south Liverpool street. Defend Vinyl is the passion project of owner Graham Jones, who first launched the store in 2016 - though in a smaller Smithdown spot.
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It's the perfect city for an independent record shop. Liverpool will forever have a firm place in the music history books, with new and modern local artists like Red Rum Club, Chloe Noone, The Mysterines, and more all keen to emulate the success of iconic predecessors that hail from the city.
Defend Vinyl specialises in indie, alternative and US punk music. The back room is surprisingly spacious and, according to the owner, plays host to "a bit of everything".
Graham Jones, 43, told the Echo : "I've been collecting records as far as I can remember and it was just something I'd always wanted to do, really. Throughout my 20s and a lot of my 30s, I was playing in bands and they kept me busy.
"We were always touring or recording and doing bits. It all started winding down and people started getting proper jobs and I didn't want to go back to office work
"I'd seen independent businesses opening up like Evil Eye - it's closed now - and Maguire's Pizza bar in town, and Lovelocks. They were all owned by mates and they'd had dreams of opening small businesses and they followed through with it, so it inspired me and made me think I could do it myself.
"I raised the money myself to open it - I launched a crowd funder for an extra £1K and hit that target in 24 hours which was really encouraging. There's all kinds up the street but being a record shop that was focusing on a particular type of music, I think people were excited about it.
“I didn't expect the amount of people who come in just to talk, it was a surprise but I welcome it. I want people to feel like they can come in for a chat."
Since then, the business has gone from strength to strength. For music aficionado Graham, who lives in Aigburth, owning a record shop was just the beginning.
In 2021, Graham and his friend Chris McIntosh - of Silent Sleep fame - launched their own record label in a bid to further amplify and support musicians from the city. Graham continued: "I started the label with my best mate, Chris - he's Silent Sleep and he's also a Bongo's Bingo host. He'd always wanted to do that.
"It's amazing being involved in the release of bands we like; it's great. The label was something that was always in the back of my head, it was never going to be something I could've done straight away.
"When I initially opened Defend Vinyl, I was in a much smaller shop across the street but moving here to a much bigger shop has allowed me to do more. There's a release coming out in November; it's another rerelease like Silent Sleep and we're both really excited about putting out new music and finding Liverpool bands that excite us."
Of his hopes for Defend Vinyl's future, Graham added: "I just want to make sure the shop is constantly moving forward, there's always something different for people to see - we're always putting new things into it. There's some older record shops where you go in and the stock's always the same and that can be the death of a record shop so I’m conscious to keep the stock turning over and keep people interested."
Defend Vinyl is based at 395 Smithdown Road, Liverpool, L15 3JJ. It's open from 12pm-6pm Tuesday to Thursday, 12pm-7pm on Fridays and Saturdays, and 12pm-5pm on Sundays.
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