Alan’s Record and CD shop in East Finchley has reopened after the owner suffered a heart attack on August 31.
The shop, situated on the High Road, was closed for nine weeks as Alan Dobrin underwent a bypass operation on Friday 13 September, a date he joked was always a good day for an operation.
He beat his doctor’s estimations by opening his doors in six weeks and reopened on 25 October and was staggered by the upsurge in the number customers since then.
Dobrin said: “It’s been double the usual footfall for four days running.
“That will calm down, I will be very happy to be back to some normality.”
The forced closure of the shop left a gap on the high street for record collectors and music fans.
Regular customer Mark Batchelor said: “It was strange when it was closed, and seeing the sign about his illness made us very worried.
“The shop is a hub for all local music enthusiasts.”
Dobrin was originally considering delaying his grand reopening until March.
However, he was persuaded to open his doors earlier due to the visit of customers from abroad especially for his shop.
Mark Hoffman has been visiting Alan’s for the best part of three decades, hunting for records or discussing Arsenal’s ups and downs.
Hoffman said: “It’s great, it fills a gap in this area.”
“[Dobrin’s stock is] the most interesting and competitively priced, I think it’s a great shop.”
Jenni Matthews, a visitor to Alan’s for the last five years, echoed the sentiment.
She said: “The area wouldn’t be the same without him.
“He takes the time to talk and connect with everyone who comes in and always has a story or an interesting tidbit about whatever record you are interested in.”
The store has been a staple of East Finchley since opening in 1994 and Dobrin has seen a lot of change in his clientele over that time.
He said: “The demographic and even the gender of the customers has changed.
“We probably get 20-25% mixture of young people and female customers.
“You get young boys coming in with their mother, which never would have happened in my day.
“She always hated The Jam and The Clash.
“You get young girls coming in with dad, and they have a shared bond of literally anything from Aretha Franklin to Led Zepellin, which is absolutely fantastic.”
They’ve had several celebrity customers over the years as well, even if some have to be pointed out to Alan.
He said: “Ray and Dave Davies of the Kinks have both been in, I remember selling a Hungarian disco record to Jarvis Cocker, loads and loads of celebrity DJs too.”
“We had a guy, who I didn’t know at the time, called Tyler the Creator, he came in here just before Covid.”
The store contains 15,000 vinyl records out front and between 80,000 and 90,000 in the back room and other places.
It has also been listed in Marcus Barnes’ book ‘Around the World in 80 Record Shops’.
Featured image credit: Tom Wise
Join the discussion