Hidden away among the hardware and antique stores of Chor Bazaar, a vinyl shop offers over a thousand different records, old radios, gramophones and more...
Many have called Chor Bazaar a treasure trove of hidden gems — and with reason. The lanes are chock full of half-forgotten antiques brought back to life by hawkers, clothes sold at dirt cheap prices and hardware stores galore. One can find everything in this market, from a sparkplug to a fine art painting. Tucked away in these labyrinthine alleys, is Haji Ebrahim — a shop that deals in old records and radios. The shop catches the eye immediately with LPs dangling from the shade of the shop front and antique radios packed into its display window.
The inside is equally impressive with shelf upon shelf packed to the brim with records of all varieties. A few record players are strategically placed around the shop as well as antique radios dating back to the 1950s. Elvis Presley and Mughal-e-Azam find prominence in one of the shelves while displays an LP with a collection of ghazals.
Usually to be found sitting beneath the shade in front of the shop, Salim Shikh is one of the two owners of the shop. “My uncle opened the shop over 50 years ago. Times were different then. Records were still being produced by music companies, so the ones sold here were first-hand and not used ones. Even when cassettes first came in, we continued to specialise in vinyl,” he recalls, adding that he and his brother Asif Shikh man the shop now.
Running a hand down one of the many stacks of records, Salim admits that he has no idea how many records there are in his store — only that they go well above a thousand. “We have all three types of records — LPs, EPs and RPMs. We source our records from other peoples’ collections. Often, we have to travel as far as Kolkata or other metro cities to get them. People sometimes sell off hundreds of records at once, so it’s difficult to keep track of each and every record we have here. We concentrate on Indian records more than western ones,” he explains.
A record player.
Salim’s clientele is as varied as his suppliers and spans vinyl lovers from across the globe. “A lot of foreigners come here — from England, USA and Australia especially — to get records of Indian songs. Indian music is very popular abroad right now, so the demand for these LPs has also increased. Enthusiasts sometimes come and buy over a dozen records all at once,” he says, adding, “People also come here to buy record players and radios. Second-hand players are much cheaper and come for a price range of Rs 5 to Rs 10,000 as opposed to first-hand ones, which cost Rs 15,000 upwards. Most people who buy the antique radios, though just want a showpiece for their home. Some TV show producers also come and rent them for period drama sets.”
Although the shop has seen its share of challenges through cassette and CD eras, Salim is happy to report that vinyl sales have gone up once again. “The cassette era lasted a lot longer than the CDs. With the CDs, the sound quality fell and I think that people have finally started to realise that vinyl has the purest quality of sound. So, people have started to come by the shop more and more,” he explains, before rising to attend to a customer, curiously browsing through the shelves.
