Dundee’s most famous record shop Groucho’s was a mecca for those looking to dig out vinyl gems before the music stopped in September 2020.
The shutters coming down marked the end of an era for the city and its music scene.
We have opened up our archives to look back at the Dundee institution once described as a “rite of passage” for music-lovers by writer and broadcaster Stuart Cosgrove.
How it all started back in 1976
Like all youngsters in the 1960s, Alastair Brodie, better known as Breeks, enjoyed a heady diet of arguably some of the best pop music ever.
A weekly date with Top of the Pops was a must and he would practise his ‘guitar’ skills with a tennis racquet in front of the television, mimicking his heroes.
The Beatles, the Kinks, Donovan and Hendrix were his pop icons, and he would borrow his sister Gill’s records until he could afford to buy his own.
Jimi Hendrix’s Axis: Bold As Love was the first album he bought aged 14.
He steadily built up an impressive collection. Such was the variety of the discs in his possession that he was soon swapping them or selling them to friends.
His after-school job was in a record shop, and the seeds of a career, germinated in a hobby, were already planted.
He started out at Cockburn Street market in Edinburgh, selling records and clothes, and in 1976, having just got married, he was offered a cottage in Dundee.
He opened his first shop at 89 Perth Road in partnership with Ron Maclean.
A huge fan of the Marx Brothers, Breeks chose the name Groucho’s, to reflect what he planned would be the quirky, off-beat and humorous nature of the shop.
He fitted out the shop himself, armed with his O-Grade in woodwork.
He opened Groucho’s during the hippy era in 1976, selling albums by the likes of the Beatles, Frank Zappa, the Eagles and Little Feat, all at the top price of £1.80.
The shop back in 1976 also sold “trendy” gear like Afghan coats and cheesecloth shirts, rent was £5 a week and their first day’s takings were £74.41.
The partnership split in the early 80s and Breeks continued on his own, expanding the business to include being agents for concert tickets.
The ticket agency side of the business began in 1982 when Stuart Clumpas, the man behind T in the Park, promoted his first-ever Dance Factory concert at Teazer’s disco with Hey! Elastica, selling tickets through Groucho’s.
New beginnings near the Angus Hotel
It was in 1983 that Groucho’s moved to their shop in Marketgait when they were “chucked out” and forced to find new premises.
Due to its enforced move near the Angus Hotel in 1983, it attracted dozens of visiting pop stars, musicians and personalities, and Breeks said the highlight of his 25 years at the shop was when Fleetwood Mac legend Peter Green, his hero of the 1960s and early 1970s, came in and chatted with him in the tiny back office.
The bigger premises also gave them a chance to extend the range of goods on offer to include shoes, a move which was again to prove a hit.
The demolition of the Angus Hotel saw another move for Groucho’s to the other end of the shopping centre, before reaching its final resting place in the Nethergate in 1999.
Breeks welcomed and celebrated all forms of music.
But never the Bay City Rollers.
He once said: “I was an Edinburgh laddie, at the height of Rollermania, and I just found them a complete embarrassment.
“We have a Bay City Rollers amnesty box in the back shop where their records are broken and binned. I reckon that is a great service to the music-loving public.”
The shop bucked the trend in the later download era to such an extent that ex-Smiths guitar maestro Johnny Marr hailed it as “the coolest record store in Britain”.
Groucho’s was facing closure after the shop’s landlord announced he was selling the premises and Breeks decided to retire when the lease ended in August 2019.
Breeks said he could not relocate to another building due to health reasons.
However, the store got its encore and the new owners of the building, Jamal Property World, agreed to extend the lease by a further five years.
At the time, Breeks said: “It’s a relief.
“I was concerned that if we didn’t get an extension on the lease we’d have to clear out the shop.
“For 43 years we’ve been keeping customers happy – and we want to keep doing that.
“There are people who come in everyday.
“Friends meet here.
“Bands have formed after meeting in Groucho’s.
“It’s been a great life.”
Breeks was still working in the store up until July 2019 but had been battling a number of health issues and died in Ninewells Hospital.
His death at the age of 65 set off an outpouring of grief across the city.
Hundreds of people turned up to pay their respects at his funeral including Simple Minds’ Ged Grimes and former Danny Wilson frontman Gary Clark.
The music-lovers’ haven closed during the pandemic in March 2020 but failed to reopen after lockdown despite government restrictions being lifted in July.
Breeks’ wife Stella – who took over responsibility for the shop – said Groucho’s would remain closed “until further notice” despite having a lease until 2024.
However, the family confirmed in September 2020 that the business would shut down with no new owner willing to take over the 44-year-old business.
The family of Breeks said it was like “losing him all over again” when a removal van turned up in the Nethergate and the remaining stock was placed in storage.
Breeks’ nephew Chae Strathie spoke of his sadness at witnessing the end of an era.
He said: “To see all those records, CDs, DVDs, badges and T-shirts being emptied is just heartbreaking.
“Groucho’s was Breeks, so to see the shop shutting its doors for good feels like losing him all over again.
“There will be lots of people shedding tears when they realise it’s the end of the road for this legendary shop.”
The city was lucky to have Groucho’s
Chae said Groucho’s had become part of the fabric of Dundee.
He said: “There are so many memories bound up in Groucho’s for so many people.
“Memories that stretch back more than 40 years for generations of music lovers.
“Dundee without Groucho’s just doesn’t seem right, but the city is lucky that it had the shop, and Breeks, for such a long time.”
Former staff members – Frank Mills, Morag “Moog” Rogers and Lee Scott – opened Thirteen Records in Union Street in September 2020 to keep the music playing.
Frank said: “The ethos will be the same, the essence of what Groucho’s was and how it operated will still be there, but it will be a wee bit more modern.
“Thirteen Records will still be buying and selling second hand CDs and vinyl.”
Groucho’s remains shuttered – frozen in time.
