Wednesday 15 January 2014 8:06am
Irene Hundleby.
Irene Hundleby is putting her honours degree in music to immediate and practical use – in her own music store.
With her partner Dave James, an experienced musician and music retailer, she has opened Relics, a store for lovers of music seeking specialist service based in St Andrew St, Dunedin.
“We source vinyl, cds and dvds for people and connect them to the music they love,” Irene explains.
“Dave has been in music retail for years – he was the manager of the Marbecks music store here – and we have access to wholesalers others don’t.”
Already boasting “the best classical range in Dunedin”, Relics aims to be the music store for everyone. “If we don’t have it, we import from the United States once a week… we are dealing with the biggest wholesalers in the world - if it is available internationally, we can get it in.”
Irene is also able to put her first class honours degree to practical use, - “we covered such a wide range of music” - and is now about to embark on a PhD in ethnomusicology, studying women’s music in the Solomon Islands.
Irene and Dave admit that starting a music store in the days of music sales online seems counter-intuitive, but they point to an increasing interest in vinyl, and the obvious market for a more social music experience.
“A lot of people want that physical thing – the connection to music through vinyl. Plus the experience – they want to talk and share music. You can’t have conversations online in the same way about the music you love – we offer that here.”