Papworths of Nottingham Priča za laku noć
Papworths of Nottingham Priča za laku noć

PAPWORTHS OF NOTTINGHAM - Operate the world's best records-by-mail service. Obtain all your British records from specialists by return of post. (Billboard, reklamni tekst).

Papworths of Nottingham - Radi se o jednoj od mnogobrojnih kuća iz Engleske koje su se na prostoru bivše Jugoslavije, krajem 60-tih i početkom 70-tih bavile prodajom gramofonskih ploča.

Prodaja gramofonskih ploča se obavljala poštanskim putem. Postojala je narudžbenica (Order Form) u koju su se unosili potrebni podaci (ime i prezime naručitelja, adresa naručitelja i spisak ploča koje se naručuju). Ta bi se narudžbenica, zajedno sa novcem "skrivenim" u istu kovertu (najčešći apoen - novčanica od 5000 dinara), slala putem pošte na adresu firme Papworths of Nottingham (ili bilo koje druge).

Nakon 7 - 10 dana, poštar bi vam uručio željno čekanu pošiljku. Gramofonske ploče su bile upakovane u čvrste kartonske kutije, dodatno povezane žutom jutanom kanapom. U kutiji su bili: naručene gramofonske ploče, račun, nekoliko praznih narudžbenica i nekoliko kataloga sa listama novih izdanja.

Putem e-mail kontaktirao sam direktora nekadašnje firme Papworths of Nottingham - g. Bill Rose - koji mi je napisao:

"Dear Sir, Thank you for your e.mail forwarded to me by my nephew at Music Inn. It is true that I used to run the mail order side of Papworths and it is certainly true that the old Yugoslavia was the source of many customers. However, in 1975 I moved away from Nottingham and the mail order business ceased trading. That, therefore, was the end of selling records to your country. Papworths was, I think, sold and became a musical instrument dealer and in recent years passed into different ownership. My elder brother - recently deceased - moved Music Inn into the city centre of Nottingham and specialised in big band music which is now run by his son - my nephew. If I can help you further please e.mail. Yours faithfully, Bill Rose. 3-03-2010."

Evo, koristim priliku da spomenem još neke od kuća koje su se bavile sličnim poslom:

Central Records, 10 Manchester Ols Road, Midleton, Manchester, England, M24 4DF
Tandy's Records, 20. Wolverhampton Road, Warley, Worcestershire, England
COB Records Center (Export Division), Portmadoc, Caernarfonshire, North Wales, UK

Ovakav način nabavljanja aktuelnih svjetskih muzičkih izdanja izgubio je smisao (i ugasio se) kada su, prvo Jugoton Zagreb, a potom i PGP RTB Beograd, sredinom 70-tih godina XX stoljeća, počeli izdavati licencna izdanja izvođača sa svjetske muzičke scene.

Brian Rašić, fotograf, London, England -
"Eh ... sećam se da su LP bili 5000 dinara. Negde početkom '70. Uštediš te novce, staviš novčanicu od 5000 dinara u pismo sa narudžbenicom ... uvijali smo sve to i u foliju da poštari ne vidi pare, pošalješ obićnom poštom i moliš Boga da sve bude OK. Nismo imali nikakve potrvde. Da bi slao preporučeno, moraš da pokažeš otvoreno pismo na pošti, a novac nije smeo da se tako šalje ... Bilo kako bilo, obićno bi sve stiglo uredu. Posle nedelju dana, stigao bi Led Zeppelin LP, Jethro Tull: "This Was", The Beatles: "Abbey Road", Cream: "Good bye", Free, ... ORIGINALI ... Šetali smo te ploče gradom koliko smo bili ponosni. Ugođaj je bio jedinstven i neopisiv. Sećam se mirisa omota i vinila. Muzika je bila deo života i nije nas ništa sprečilo da dođemo do heroja. Ponekad, kada bi' tokom proteklih 30 godina prolazio pored Nottinghama, setim se starih dobrih vremena. 'Papworths of Nottingham' nam je bio jedan od prozora u svet. A danas, eto, tu je 'up the road', taj Nottingham i ne primećujem ga. A bio nam je važniji i od samog Robina Huda koji je odatle poreklom! Život."

Aleksandar Markičević, radijski urednik i voditelj, Beograd, Srbija -
"Moj drugar je redovno naručivao od njih. Koja sreća kad stignu Ten Years After ili Pink Floyd, John Mayall ... Prvo se pozovu drugari sa istim ili sličnim stepenom zaluđenosti. Onda se paket proučava sa svih strana. Sledi oprezno otvaranje i proučavanje sadržaja. Konačno staviš ploču na RIZ-ovu "Traviatu" (stereo!!!!) i uz komentarisanje muzike, proučava se omot, do poslednjeg slovca. Sećam se drame kad je stigao dvostruki album "Chicago II", pa smo dobili dve druge ploče, umesto prve i druge, kao što je red. Naravno, ko će sad da vraća i da čeka drugi paket. Stara dobra vremena."

Vladimir Horvat Horvi (Tehac), muzički promotor, novinar i kritičar, Zagreb, Hrvatska -
"Ja sam svoju prvu ploču preko njih naručio - dupli album The Clash - "London Calling" - 1979. godine i kao u slučaju Aleksandra, dobio dvije iste ploče. Jedno godinu i pol kasnije, album je objavljen i kod nas, te sam tek onda po prvi puta čuo i drugi dio albuma. Kada je u jesen 1983. godine dinar devalvirao, čini mi se 40%. Taman sam dan-dva prije devalvacije poslao narudžbu za Gang Of Four i Talking Heads albume. Kad su mi stigli, trebao sam platiti još gotovo isti iznos kojeg sam ranije poslao..."

Miha Mazzini, publicista, Ljubljana, Slovenija -
"Papworths of Nottingham? Ne. Slovenija je nabavljala kot COB Records, North Wales, Engleska. Prošli vikend sam bio u Beogradu i razgovor je došao i do toga. I tamo su nabavljali kot COB-a."

Interesantno:

Na istoj adresi danas se nalazi druga firma - MUSIC INN INSTRUMENTS, Nottinghamshire, NG7 3NG Nottingham, 32, Alfreton Road, Great Britain Independent retailers, retailer with the largest range of new & used gear in the midlands, midland. we will not be beaten on price. all guitars, guitar, bass, pa, amps, amp, effects, effect, keyboards,...
MUSIC INN INSTRUMENTS, www.themusicinn.co.uk / Phone: +44 (0) 115 978 4403 / Fax: +44 (0) 1442 877244 / GEO: 52.956748, -1.163319

Founder Brian Davies explains how a Porthmadog business struck a chord across the world.

"The rise to international fame of Cob Records, Porthmadog, began very inauspiciously in 1967 by selling ex-juke box singles at 1/6d (71p) each as a backroom side-line to an existing Cob business. It soon became apparent that there was a demand for current LPs and singles as there was no record shop in the area, so the whole basement of the existing business was fitted out as a record shop.

Although LPs were only 32/6d (£1.62) in those days, they were still not affordable to many, so we offered a service of 'any three of your old LPs for any one new of ours' and before long we had a large selection of used LPs along with our new stocks. We still operate a similar service, but in today's more complex market we now offer a part exchange price against the new items or buy unwanted items for cash.

It was then decided to advertise internationally, offering new LPs at discount prices and also our part-exchange service. This proved to be such a success that we closed down the other business and concentrated solely on the record business, moving up from the basement to acquire more space, to where we still are now - 30 years later.

By 1971 business was booming - we were mailing about 7,500 LPs a week to some 25,000 customers in over 50 countries. Shortage of space again became a problem, so we bought a warehouse opposite and moved in the whole mail-order operation. The bulk of mail-order sales were, and still are, to private individuals. Some exceptions we can remember, in particular, sending three orders of £1,000s worth each of cassettes to a store in Port Stanley for the troops during the Falklands War.

The fact that such a relatively small record shop in a small town like Porthmadog was exporting in such volume world-wide attracted so much media attention that many documentaries featuring the business were made for local and national television and radio.

In the 70s and 80s the bulk of our trade was done by mail-order. We were probably very fortunate in establishing the mail-order business - especially the export side - at the right time, when we could supply LPs to most countries weeks and sometimes months before they were released abroad; nowadays there is a near enough universal release date. The prices, quality and availability of UK product was also an advantage - today, this is not necessarily the case.

We also lost a great deal of business in the former Yugoslavia, where we had some 5,000 customers, with the events leading up to the conflict and the conflict itself. Mail-order sales inland are also more difficult nowadays, with so many multiples and record clubs, most of them not being in existence when we were in our heyday; neither do food stores selling CDs do record shops any favours. But through thick and thin our mail-order trade is still operational, albeit on a smaller scale.

Gone are the days when we were placing orders for 500 copies of the latest LP by Led Zeppelin, Stones, Moody Blues, Santana and the likes - but we are fortunate to have memories of the good old days. Our main direct mail-order sales today are for items not necessarily in the charts, which many stores do not stock and have no desire to order. We also put more emphasis on part-exchange and buying unwanted CDs, LPs, tapes and videos from the public.

The larger proportion of our shop sales is for second-hand titles, with particular demand for 60s, 70s and early 80s material. Regular customers travel from near and far - we often have visits from continental specialist buyers who make the long journey to purchase LPs - mainly rarities.

We constantly have holidaymakers calling in telling us they remember the first LP they ever bought from us by mail-order some 25 years ago, which then leads on to reminiscing about the good old days! Regular tourists to the area always make their annual pilgrimage and normally leave with a bag-full or two of purchases - some predicting the usual grief from their partners for spending too much money and time with us!

We have a varying age group of staff - 20, 30, 40, and 50 years olds - not the norm in usual record shops, but we are not your usual record shop - we're an institution!"

Autor priloga: Dragutin Matošević Tuzla, Bosna i Hercegovina info@barikada.com




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