Emptysleeve is marking International Record Store Day with an obituary to another sadly departed player in Australia’s independent music retail landscape – Adelaide’s B-Sharp Records.

B-Sharp closed in early 2010 after almost 22 years of supplying Adelaide with a top shelf selection of jazz, funk, soul, reggae, hip hop, house, world, disco, ambient and techno.

Rumour has it that the guy who started the shop funded it by importing a massive shipment of hashish in the early 80s. True or not, this rumour suits B-Sharp. It was always a shop that – while having a brilliant selection and expert staff – was always a little shambolic.

During my brief tenure as a staff member I was constantly amazed by what the management let happen in that shop. The managers themselves would routinely trade CDs for pizza at a nearby restaurant. Running a tight ship unfortunately wasn’t a top priority.

Antics like that almost sank B-Sharp but a change in management around 2004 put some true music lovers back at the helm. Thanks to them, B-Sharp was again one of Australia’s best record shops for the last years of its life.

B-Sharp’s fortunes were built on the World Music boom of the 1990s and more recently on the support of Adelaide’s always strong hip hop and disco scenes. But  the middle classes bought iPods, the b-boys bought Serato and the B Sharp bubble had to burst.

Photographs courtesy of B-Sharp staff, management and friends.