Iconic Auckland music shop to be demolished for apartment blocks
The music store is not lost though and will be relocating to a site close to where it is currently.
Hot Topic
Scrutiny Week
The building which has been home to Auckland music shop Real Groovy for 25 years is to be demolished and apartments built in its place.
The music store is not lost though, and will be relocating to a site close to where it is currently, says Real Groovy co-owner Marty O’Donnell.
The relocation is an opportunity to reshape the business, he says.
“We still want to carry the same range of music, movies, books, pop-culture merchandise and other weird stuff, and we’ll continue to grow the range of vinyl and turntables.”
Real Groovy won’t be vacating the premises until early January next year.
“It has been an amazing location for us,” says Real Groovy founder Chris Hart. “It is a huge space, it is a great old building, and it is on Queen St.”
The building itself started as a car dealership in the 1920s and, during World War II, the basement was used as a ballroom.
Since then, it has been used for a variety of purposes until it became vacant in the late 1980s and was acquired by Real Groovy.
Sales of vinyl records have more than doubled for each of the past five years, with vinyl sales now several times higher than those of CDs, and quality turntable sales continuing to rise.
After some tough years following changes in the way people acquired music, combined with the global financial crisis, Real Groovy turned the corner in 2012 and has been growing steadily since, Mr O’Donnell says.
Both Mr Hart and Mr O’Donnell say they are looking forward to the next stage in Real Groovy’s evolution.
Jason Walls
Wed, 10 Jun 2015
Wed, 10 Jun 2015
© All content copyright NBR. Do not reproduce in any form without permission, even if you have a paid subscription.
Iconic Auckland music shop to be demolished for apartment blocks
48504