Vinyl Shop Owner Calls For Solidarity Purchases As Developer Eyes Property

An Ennis-based vinyl shop owner is looking for people to buy a digital song download for €3.50 to prevent the closure of the business. 

Sinéad, who owns the Record Break, Ennis’ only record shop, has taken to social media as a developer is set to buy the property where the business operates from. 

Operating for twelve years, the vinyl store has been more than just a place to buy records. It served as a community hub, a launchpad for local musicians, and a piece of the town’s cultural soul. As their building is going on the market, it could be bought by a corporate player, who will prioritize profit over the community. 

The place could be turned into luxury apartments, unaffordable for the working class, at the whims of whoever buys the property - a process which has been noted elsewhere, such as in Dublin, as a “cultural death” of community spaces. 

“We aren’t asking for handouts or charity,” says Sinéad Nic Síoda. “We are a real, living, breathing independent record shop. We have pressed our own vinyl, we serve our community every day, and we have the reviews and the history to prove it. This is a fair transaction. You buy great music and you help us keep potential corporate developers off our high street. We want you to visit our website, see who we are, and trade with us directly.”

The organisers of the campaign say that if enough people buy the record - which is an exclusive track called ‘Snow Moon’ produced by Sinéad - then the vinyl shop can buy the property themselves instead of letting it fall into the hands of a corporate developer.