Whats black and yellow and goes toot toot?

In the first of our posts about local alternatives when it comes to your shopping, we thought we should make mention of this curious little southside institution. Started by Charlie Hayes on Pollokshaws Road before briefly flirting with a City Centre venue near Central Station - this bright banana of a store has been selling its wares for 20+ years. Despite its age and despite it being such a brightly coloured and identifiable part of the south - we didn't know anyone who had actually been into the shop.

Possibly that is to do with the stores unusual opening times for example its only open two hours on a Sunday. But when we asked a few people why they hadn't been in, they said that they thought it was a pirate DVD shop or catered for more adult interest. I guess I can see why people might have got that idea, the shop does use quite a lot of the same components that those kind of shops use - stark colours, hand written signs, bold text, no windows. It seems our friends weren't the only ones, as a sign on the front door states.

"We do not sell copies, pirate or adult material - DON'T EVEN ASK."

Must get annoying to be constantly asked for something you don't sell. We can reassure everyone (and probably disappoint a few) that there no pirate or adult items on sale - what they do sell are pretty decent pre-owned CD's and DVD's. They are also very interested in doing exchanges (hence the shops name) and also pay for your old unwanted discs which in the current climate might be a good scheme for making yourself an extra bit of dosh.

As you can see from the photos the inside of the shop is the Aladdin's cave that you would hope - with piles of DVD's and CD's lining the walls. There's a pretty good selection - obviously being an exchange shop its not all the latest releases but theres still plenty so choose from. I opened a few cases to check the health of the discs and am pleased to report no scratches or scuff marks on any of the disks I had a look at which is a failure a couple of other exchange stores I know of have suffered from.

That this little places has kept going for 20+ years while bigger places like Woolies and Zaavi have started closing their doors means they must be doing something right. I bet they've seen a lot of changes for a start they won't need as much storage these days compared to the days of records, VHS and cassettes. (How rubbish were cassettes? - it seems weird to think we'd all carry piles of these odd shaped bits of plastic now we live in the mp3 era.)

I must admit I strangely like the decor of the shop - maybe I'm just so used to seeing it, but there is something charming about its hand crafted nature and it certainly gives the place some character - even if it is a bit in your face. Currently there is a sale on - with £2 off any DVD and a further 50p off if you take along the voucher below - with DVD's costing about £6 its no a bad bargain and with Woolies no longer around - its one of the few stores in the Queens Park area where you can pick a quick DVD or CD for a birthday present.

Anyway - what do people think? Who's used Record Exchange? Did you get a good deal? Anyone have any further suggestions on places in the south to get music etc from?