Tesco Says It's UK’s First Supermarket Chain To Carry Vinyl LPs
Tesco will become the first U.K. supermarket chain to “tap into the rapidly growing vinyl music market” this week when it begins selling the new album by British rock group Iron Maiden, the chain said in a Monday announcement. The…
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triple-LP vinyl album, The Book of Souls, is Iron Maiden’s first studio recording in five years, and will be released Friday as a trial in 55 of the chain’s largest Tesco Extra stores in the U.K., the company said. The chain operates nearly 250 Tesco Extra stores in the U.K. If the trial is a success, the chain will consider selling more album titles on vinyl in time for the holiday selling season, it said. “The move is significant as in the last few years the vinyl album revival has been gaining momentum,” with 2014 sales having climbed more than 50 per cent from a year earlier to 1.5 million units, their largest volume since 1995, it said, citing British Phonographic Industry data. “Vinyl albums have bucked the downward sales trend,” it said, citing a 6.5 percent sales decline last year in music CDs and a 9 percent drop in digital downloads. “In the last year we began selling record decks in our largest stores and initial sales are very encouraging so giving our customers some new vinyl to play on those decks seems like the logical next step,” it said. Tesco also will sell The Book of Souls on a double-CD version in 850 of its U.K. stores and online at Tesco Direct, the chain said. The triple-LP vinyl version will cost 24 British pounds ($37), while the two-CD version will cost 9 pounds ($13.90), it said.