Celebrated Dundee record store Groucho's goes up for sale

It has been hailed as one of the coolest record shops in Britain for more than 40 years - counting members of The Smiths, Fleetwood Mac, The Damned and Deacon Blue as customers.

Record store Groucho's has been a fixture in Dundee city centre for more than 40 years.

But now the future of Groucho's in Dundee has been thrown into doubt after it emerged the shop has been put up on the market by its landlords.

The site, which has a price tag of £250,000, is being marketed as a "retail investment opportunity" by agents handling the sale.

They point out that Groucho's only has a lease on the ground-floor site, on the south side of the Nethergate, until August 2019.

Groucho's has been a magnet for generations of music fans since 1976 and has also sold tickets for gigs and festivals across Scotland.

They say they are expecting "keen interest" due to its close proximity to the city's "cultural quarter" and the new waterfront area, which is home to Dundee's V&A museum, which will open on 15 September.

The unit housing Groucho's is adjacent to a gap site ring-fenced for a controversial multiplex cinema development, which critics fear will threaten the future of Dundee Contemporary Arts centre if it goes ahead.

Shepherd Chartered Surveyors, who are handling the sale, described the site as an established mixed use commercial location adjacent to the retail core to the east, Dundee University and the cultural quarter to the west and the central waterfront development area to the south.

Ronald Dalley, surveyor at Shepherd's Dundee office, said: "This is an excellent opportunity for an investor to procure a well-known retail unit within Dundee city centre at an exciting time, as the city approaches a new era, benefiting from an influx of visitors following the opening of the V&A. Given its high-profile location facing the inner ring road and adjacent to the waterfront development area, we anticipate keen interest in this investment opportunity."

No-one was available to comment at Groucho's.

However when the store celebrated its 40th birthday two years ago, Groucho's founder Alistair Brodie said: "Groucho’s wouldn’t exist without the loyal customers. We need them now more than ever, as city centre footfall drops.

“My greatest pleasure these days is seeing a father or grandfather showing a teenager how to use a record player and handle records with the care and attention they deserve.

“At some point, Groucho’s will be no more but the memories will still be there. I have loved every minute of it."