Thinking of opening a record or video store? These could be locations to consider

As more and more people consider making the big leap and opening their own record shop, one of the most common enquiries we receive at ERA is which areas of the country are particularly underserved by entertainment stores.

Streaming may continue to grab the headlines, but one of the biggest trends of the past decade has been the dramatic increase in the number of independent entertainment stores, specifically in music.

The number of independent record shops in the UK reached a 10 year high of 425 in 2018, according to the ERA Yearbook.

A good place to start is the Record Store Day website which includes a handy search facility to find local indie record stores.

That’s great, but it doesn’t account for the whole market.

Luckily the detailed postcode-level data supplied by ERA members to the Official Charts Company enables an extremely granular view of UK music and video consumption.

According to data supplied by the experts at Kantar, compilers of the Official UK Charts, there is a huge variance in expenditure on music and video in the UK.

Average per capita spending on albums in the UK was £6.52 in 2018. On video it was £10.33.

The range of per capita spending on albums goes from a huge £90.73 to a tiny £1.57. On video it ranges from £67.51 to £2.74.

Unsurprisingly in both cases highest per capita spending is to be found in the West End of London, a factor of low resident population combined with a large number of stores and shoppers.

Focusing on the areas of lowest per capita spending areas potentially gives a guide to the most under-shopped areas of the UK for entertainment.

We are pleased to present therefore our guide to the UK postcodes with the lowest per capita spending on physical albums and on videos.

VIDEO
UK average per capita spending	£9.45
Highest per capita spending	£67.51 (London West End)
Lowest per capita spending	£2.74 (Ilford)

ALBUMS
UK average per capita spending	£5.80
Highest per capita spending	£90.73 (London West End)
Lowest per capita spending	£1.57 (Harrow)

[Health Warning: naturally there may be good reasons why people in a particular postcode area spend less-than-average on entertainment. It may be that residents travel to nearby postcodes with large shopping areas, it may be that they are not interested in entertainment. ERA offers no guarantee that these represent the optimal locations for new entertainment stores, but they may warrant further investigation]

UK'S 10 LOWEST SPENDING POSTCODES ON ALBUMS
	Postcode		Population	Album sales	Album per capita value
1	HARROW	480,953		£755,224	£1.57
2	ILFORD	335,694		£587,071	£1.75
3	DUMFRIES & GALLOWAY	253,862		£560,620	£2.21
4	OLDHAM	462,833		£1,267,937	£2.74
5	SLOUGH	373,607		£1,039,884	£2.78
6	PERTH	219,765		£621,911	£2.83
7	UXBRIDGE	371,969		£1,061,165	£2.85
8	DURHAM	309,211		£975,004	£3.15
9	SUTTON	217,048		£688,335	£3.17
10	WESTERN ISLES	28,206		£91,685	£3.25

UK'S 10 LOWEST SPENDING POSTCODES ON VIDEO
	Postcode	Population	Video sales	Video per capita value
1	ILFORD	335,694	£918,333	£2.74
2	HARROW	480,953	£1,397,787	£2.91
3	OLDHAM	462,833	£2,205,943	£4.77
4	DUMFRIES & GALLOWAY	253,862	£1,260,098	£4.96
5	UXBRIDGE	371,969	£1,963,435	£5.28
6	SLOUGH	373,607	£2,002,148	£5.36
7	BLACKBURN	488,917	£2,692,306	£5.51
8	ENFIELD	344,434	£1,990,815	£5.78
9	BRADFORD	578,336	£3,395,788	£5.87
10	DURHAM	309,211	£1,970,170	£6.37

Sources:

Physical sales data – Official Charts Company via Kantar

Population data – Office For National Statistics, National Records of Scotland

VIDEO

ALBUMS