Deventer Record Stores

Until a couple of months ago I may have seen Deventer on the map of Holland (though technically the Dutch province of Overijssel is part of The Netherlands, but not of Holland) but I never thought anything about it. It just so happened that I was offered a job requiring frequent travelling to Deventer, and I was pleasantly surprised to discover one of the country's most beautiful historic city centers, and learn of the festivals taking place there, including the famous Dickensian Christmas feast. The picturesque streets of the old center are also home to stylish and original cafes and shops, as well as of the BeNeLux best record shop for 2016, variaworld. So I couldn't pass up the chance to write a small guide to the record shops of Deventer although I don't expect many of my readers to find themselves there. 

Variaworld is situated at Kleine Overstraat 8-12 in the old city center and is divided in two halves, each one dedicated to LP's or CD's. It's not really big but it carries a lot of stuff without feeling overtly cluttered, that alone is a hell of an achievement! Here you'll find a lot of new vinyl releases (mostly €20-30, offers €6,90-12). All kinds of music but especially a wide stoner/psych collection, jazz/blues, folk and rock. There's also a good, if somewhat hodge-podge, portion of used LP's (around €10). To be fair, I was more interested in the CD's, having found many out-of-print 2nd hands for €5-6, including some rare 60's psychedelia. Another stylish shop on the same street is Koning Willem, partly a toy store but with a good vinyl selection. I found a lot of rare early alternative/new wave 2nd hand records, classic rock and more. Mostly between €13-30, but some as low as €1. Although not exclusively a record shop, it's definitely worth your time.

In the passage at the end of the same street there's an unnamed shop (internet sources identify it as Walk-In) that introduces itself as a CD/Vinyl outlet and has a lot of used LPs (mostly priced €3-10) and CD's (usually around €5, many offers for €1-3). Moving to the central Brink Square, here you'll find the local Plato shop, situated above a hip café/bar called De Hip. Record shops of the Plato/Concerto chain are usually good, and so is this one. There are some used CD's (usually €5, some €2,5), as well as new CD's on in the usual prices, and many offers (2 for €15). There are also some DVD's and vinyl (new LP's are €13-30). A few meters away, on the corner of Keizerstraat and Walstraat (where the Dickens festival takes place), there's the Praamstra bookshop (and site of the old Plato) which has a nice -which is not to say wide- selection of classical and jazz music as well as pop. On Walstraat 119, in what looks like the ground floor of a private house, there's another record shop with no name which caries a lot of classical, jazz and world records and CDs as well as some pop/rock. The prices are very good (CD's around €3-4) and the owner is quite friendly. Last but not least, there's Musicshop Disc on Smedenstraat 27. The variety and prices are good enough, but it isn't of much interest to collectors - more of a neighborhood record shop than something for the connoisseur. Nothing wrong with that, of course.

I wish neighborhood record shops had survived everywhere: I bought my first records and had the beginning of my musical education in my neighborhood record shop, there were tons of them around when I was growing up. It has to do with personal service, and you sense it's important here too - otherwise why would the owner use a caricature of himself as the shop logo? Anyway, I'm glad I'll be visiting Deventer a lot this year, and that I'll be staying in the center. The city's record shops are certainly part of its appeal for me...UPDATE: a few months after I posted this entry, there have been some changes: For once (and it's a pity) King William has stopped selling records. I don't mean the actual Dutch King of course, just the toy/record store in Deventer. Bizarre that they should give up now that vinyl is doing better than any time in the last 20 years. On the bright side, the ever-mobile Plato has moved again, this time from above the Hip to a far more convenient spot at the corner of Lange Bisschopstraat 22 and Kleine Overstraat, joining Varia World and Walk-In in creating a nice niche for record lovers.