UP CLOSE: Basement Traxx owner and Macclesfield resident Scott Thornton
By Alex Greensmith
19th Oct 2022 | Local News
Macclesfield Nub News was started on principles of supporting our community. This includes promoting Macclesfield shops, businesses, charities, schools and sports clubs. We will be profiling some of these businesses and organisations in a regular feature called UP CLOSE, finding out they key figures behind them and what makes them tick.
Recent UP CLOSE articles include profiling an award-winning brewery in rural Macclesfield, and a celebrating a bumper harvest for a Macclesfield apple cider company.
Today we meet Scott Thornton, owner of Macclesfield record store Basement Traxx, situated on 3 Market Place.
Scott was raised in Congleton. He moved to Bollington in 2017, and now has settled in Tytherington.
He opened his vinyl-only store in April 2018. His shop has rode the wave of the vinyl revival, which has continued to grow nationally, with UK vinyl sales hitting their 'highest point in three decades' this year, and are about to elapse CDs in yearly sales.
"Basement Traxx is a predominantly secondhand record store in Macclesfield," he said.
"Prior to that, I was trading from home as an online business. Now, we have a high street presence.
"When I was selling online, I had to have a non-music part time job to go along with it, but I realised that record trading was what I really wanted to do.
"We started as a pop-up shop for a month, really because I didn't know how it was going to last.
"Four years later I am still here, thank you everybody for the trade. The first days trading was the best ever day of trade I had in the shop.
"I am a lifelong vinyl junkie. I have always bought, traded and sold records since I was six years old.
"The first album I purchased was For Those About to Rock (We Salute You) by AC/DC.
"My older brother Kev pounced on me and swapped it for Destroyer by KISS. I said yes as I preferred the artwork on it, but I played it and realised I didn't like it. But he wouldn't swap it back!"
Aside the vast section of records from the 1950s to the present day, the store is decorated with posters and vinyl picturediscs.
There is even a cutting of the only Macclesfield gig The Beatles ever played, which Scott's mum went to on 26 January 1963.
"I love Macclesfield, it has got such a great outward-looking vibe," added Scott.
"And doing something like this, you meet such like-minded people. Macclesfield has got a great musical culture to it, from Ian Curtis to The Macc Lads.
"I used to own a lot more records personally, but I have probably brought about 600 or 700 of my own records down here in the past few months.
"Our best-sellers are a lot of the classic rock staples, including many original Beatles vinyls. The standard big names still sell well, Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, Black Sabbath. They still sell well fifty, sixty years on.
"We get a few young kids who are into metal, but my clientele is aged mainly mid-20s to mid-60s. For the most part, I know the majority of my customers by name.
"I'm dependent on the public coming in with their old records. I can offer cash for them, most genres are accepted.
"You can order vinyl records from me, but they are not trade prices [like Rough Trade or HMV]. I order from Discogs or Ebay, so it doesn't come cheap. I do have a couple of regulars who will come in and order specific records for me to get, as they won't use the internet.
"I love being a business on Market Place. I am best mates with Lee from Plums Kitchen next door. I'm a regular in Fiveclouds, they even let met DJ there. I like Medina and Margin Music too.
"I had a one-time Treacle Market stall last year which promoted and directed people to the shop, and it worked because I am getting better Treacle Sunday footfall now.
"My favourite part about my job is being self-employed and not having a boss."
Basement Traxx also do good in the community, by having a charity box by the till for The Christie Macclesfield.
Scott also does his bit for the local music scene, from DJ'ing a disco night at Mash Guru, to stocking leaflets of local gigs and musicians.
The shop takes their name from electronic music duo Basement Jaxx, with a very subtle record-based pun.
Scott concluded our chat with a story about how one of the members of Basement Jaxx found out about his store.
"I had not been open that long and this old fella came in to sell me some records," Scott recalled.
"He said that he was walking through town the other day with Simon Ratcliffe of Basement Jaxx, because it turns out he's from nearby.
"I was panicking at this point thinking he's going to sue me. So I asked the customer 'did he see my sign?'
"He said 'Yeah, he thought it was hilarious', which was a welcome relief. So they know I exist."
Basement Traxx is located on 3 Market Pl, Cheshire, Macclesfield SK10 1EB.
Follow the Macclesfield business on Facebook. Any enquiries can be called on 07921 464273.
Basement Traxx is open Tuesday to Saturday from 10am to 4pm.
See Also: The young family behind Macclesfield gin and whisky brand Forest Distillery
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