OPEN TO THE MOMENT
Monorail Music opened in December 2002 after a sometimes epic three year long journey in search of a location and a way to make it all work. Glasgow then was a vibrant music city with something important missing, a great record shop, which we optimistically felt that we could provide. Operating from modest premises in a former Mexican restaurant, we’ve tried our best to provide the kind of record shop that we would like to visit on our travels.
Community at the Core
We always had an idea that our shop would not be strictly retail and that by taking a more community-based approach, we’d be able to make people feel part of it. At the grassroots level, we wanted people we respected in the music community to feel that it was their shop too, so we’ve always had an extremely close relationship with Optimo, Chemikal Underground, Teenage Fanclub, Belle & Sebastian, Mogwai and many others. It goes without saying that we’re close to our friends next door in Mono, and although the two businesses are separate, we’ve often been able to collaborate on events.
From Shop Floor to Online
Our priority was obviously our shop, the 3D space, and making that work, but for a while it felt like we’ve got that down and that we’re ready to turn our attention to our website. At the moment, it’s going to be impossible for us to represent online everything we’ve got going on in the shop. So we’re going to prioritise some of the new releases and reissues that we love, the music that we’re most closely connected with (groups, labels, projects) and other key Monorail items. In other words, independent, focused and friendly, like we’ve always tried to be.