Record shop owners spin you right round

Bad Habit Records has just opened its doors. The shop is at the top of the Ipswich Mall.

Aaron Borg has been collecting vinyl records since his first one, Beat Street, when he was a teenager. A purist, Aaron never switched to CDs.

He is finally fulfilling a lifetime dream to own his own record store.

“It’s always something that I have wanted to do, but the harsh economic reality is that I don’t think it can sustain a family. So that has delayed me a bit but here we are now,” he said.

Co-owner Michelle O’Brien believes now is a good time to dust off the old turn table.

“These days you’ve got your earphones in and you are not really sharing that experience with anyone else,” she said.

“But playing a record is a whole experience. When you pick up a vinyl record it is a tactile thing. There is a whole heap of history behind this item.

“It’s got a big graphic you can look at and a lot of records have inlay sleeves you can check out.

“You take it out of its sleeve and place on the turntable, choose the speed. It’s more of an experience than pressing a button on a machine.

“It’s just from an era when there was a lot more of a personal experience around listening to music at home. It’s an activity you can do with other people, family and friends.”

The couple has taken a collaborative approach for the niche store.

Friends are helping with signage and helping to get the store ready.

“We want to make the shop part of the Ipswich community. A little hub where people can come together with similar interests,” Aaron said.

“We will be having local and touring bands in the store doing performances and a variety of other artists.

“Some stand-up comedians are coming in, we’ll show movies and we are planning to do a live podcast.

“Concurrently we are organising a record fair in the Ipswich Mall on March 11. We have stores and dealers coming from around the country,” he said.

The shop will be open Wednesday to Friday 10am–5pm and Saturday mornings from 10am–1pm.