Woolworths in Pontypridd was where I bought my first 7" singles.
When Tesco came to Talbot Green, near where I grew up, I started buying vinyl from there. Hard to believe now that one of the only remaining LPs I have left from that era (U2's Joshua Tree) was bought from Tesco.
Then, one fateful day - January 13th 1989 to be exact, everything changed. I remember the date because all of the records I bought on that day I put a little sticker with the date in inside each LP cardboard sleeve, such was the gravity of that day that I knew it would be one I'd always remember.
Up until this day, my tastes had been pretty much pop, pop and pop, with occasional rock that got into the charts, but on the recommendations of a school friend I had recently started listening to John Peel on Radio 1 and this whole new and previously unheard of world of music had opened up to me.
That day in January was my 16th birthday and having asked for nothing other than 'money for music' from anyone buying me presents, I went with my wadge of cash to Spiller's Record in Cardiff.
About an hour later, I emerged triumphant from the shop with a full carrier bag that contained a selection of the music I had heard and liked during the past couple of weeks.
Pixies - Surfer Rosa and Come on Pilgrim
The Fall - I am Kurious Oranj
Front 242 - Front by Front, Official Version and Never Stop EP
The Smiths - The world won't listen
Mudhoney - Superfuzz Bigmuff
Excited with my new purchases, I couldn't wait to get home to listen to them and I still remember that evening and the following evenings spent playing them on my 'tower hi-fi system'. It doesn't seem like a huge purchase now, but such was the content that it changed my taste in music forever and Spillers, to this day remains my most visited music shop. Even living in Swindon as I do now, if I need a new vinyl fix, I'll save it for the weekend and hop on a train to Cardiff and as long as the shop remains open, this is the way it'll stay.