The History
If you mention the town "Camberley", people in the music industry expect the next three words to be "The Rock Box". Founder Ken Dudley was an avid music collector whose break into the music industry came when a promoter at the local Farnborough Technical College asked him to undertake some fly-posting. Ken travelled all over the country a few weeks in advance of a band touring, putting up posters on walls and windows of any closed-down shops.
In the 70's, after purchasing a job lot of second-hand books, Ken took out a small unit in Aldershot market. After displaying the books, the unit still looked a bit threadbare, so Ken put out a few boxes of his own records. The records proved far more popular than the books and so he concentrated on selling vinyl. He opened his own store "Ken's Records" in 1979 on Station Road in Aldershot before moving in 1984 to better premises in Upper Union Street. In 1986, Ken received an offer to sell the shop which he couldn't refuse and Ken's Records became Collectors Records Centre. Despite non-compete clauses, Ken wasted no time in getting back in the game which brings us to Camberley and the founding of The Rock Box in March 1987.
Over the years the shop grew and became an institution on the London Road. There have been legendary in stores - Billy Bragg, Therapy?, Muse and of course local heroes Reuben - to name but a few alongside midnight openings and Reading Festival pop-ups.
In the 2000s, HMV (& others) established warehouse and mail-order operations in the Channel Islands to take advantage of the Low Value Consignment Relief (LVCR) loophole, which allowed goods under a certain value to be shipped to the UK without VAT (17.5% at the time). They were then able to significantly undercut UK high-street prices which decimated many independent record shops. The Rock Box initially survived the decimation and managed to soldier on and despite the loophole being belated closed by the UK Government in 2012, Ken decided to close the shop in 2016. He was so overwhelmed by the reaction of his customers, who were dismayed by the idea, that he decided to keep the shop going until he could find a buyer.
Cue 2018 when our current owner, Mark Nightingale, who never forgot the days working at Our Price in Oxford, stepped in and bought the business. Since then, we have invested in our website, improved the range across genres and bought back a wider selection of merch and vinyl accessories. In December 2019, we took the sad but ultimately necessary step to protect the store (and keep the proud tradition started by Ken back in the 70s going) to leave our spiritual home of over 32 years and moved to our current location inside the shopping centre.
Despite the travails of COVID (which hit us 3 months after the move and investment) and ongoing changes in shopping habits post 2020, we're delighted - after 39 years - to still be a staple of the music scene in this part of the world. We will continue to support local artists and strive to be a valued part of the community.
You can read more about Ken's exploits, The Rock Box and many of the other wonderful indies around the UK in Graham Jones' book "The Vinyl Revival and the Shops That Made It Happen".
