From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia

Related e

Wikipedia Wiktionary Shop Featured: Rhombicuboctahedron by Leonardo da Vinci

The Rough Trade Shop is an independent music store in the Portobello district of West London, England. It was founded in 1976 by Geoff Travis, and in 1978 spawned the famous Rough Trade Records, which was to go on to be home to bands from The Smiths to The Strokes. However, in 1982 the two separated and the shop remains an independent entity from the label, although links between the two are strong. At the same time the shop moved from its original location on Kensington Park Road round the corner to Talbot Road. In 1987 a second shop opened in Neal's Yard, Covent Garden. It tried to launch international shops in San Francisco, Tokyo and Paris but these were not a success and had to close.

Musically, Rough Trade specialises in the post-punk genre, but carries items through a range of genres, mostly within the alternative or underground scenes. Recently the shop has released several compilation albums, each focusing on an individual genre such as indie-pop, electronica, country, singer songwriter, rock and roll and post-punk. Every January since 2003 it has released a compilation putting together the best (in the opinion of the shops' staff) of the previous year's music entitled 'Counter Culture'. 2007 additionally saw the release of 'Counter Culture 76', reflecting the music of year the shop opened. It also released a 4CD box set for its 25th anniversary in 2001, and a special collection of songs chosen by customers was released to celebrate the 30th anniversary in 2006.