A POPULAR record store in Newport, with thousands of second-hand singles and albums on offer, has closed.

Retro Record Shop, on Corporation Road, was a collaboration between Gwent Radio founder Sean Rafferty and veteran record seller Andrew Young, who for two decades has traded at Abergavenny Market.

The store closed on Thursday, February 29, after business owners Mr Raffery and Mr Young chose to go their separate ways.

Mr Young told the South Wales Argus that he has decided to focus on selling records as a mail order operation, with an ongoing presence at Abergavenny Market, every Wednesday.

He said: “I have always been self-employed, and being a man who has Aspergers it suits me more to work by myself as I have trouble fitting in.

“I have been selling records for the past 15 years, which I mostly do by mail order, and I have a stall at Abergavenny which I used to do a couple of days a week.

“Now I just do Wednesdays and when I can on Saturdays, weather permitting, because it is outside.”

Mr Young sells a variety of records at his stall in Abergavenny Market, from the 1950s to the present day with a generous range of genres.

“I try to keep a broad cross-section of everything, I got stuff from very cheap to very expensive.” He added.

“The very expensive stuff tends to sell very well, the cheaper and the mid-price stuff takes a little bit longer to sell through, but I keep it broad and interesting.

“I change my stock occasionally; I tend to sell a bit more through over the summer because you get a lot more tourists typically in Abergavenny it is sort of tourists.”

He also has a passion for being a DJ and hopes to continue working events alongside his mail-order operation.

He added: “I have been DJing since 1983, I have been at it a long time and I still enjoy it. The only thing I cant do anymore is carry the great big heavy gear that I used to.

“Everything is smaller than what I used to carry, the last six months or so I have been requested more for karaoke, and its odd because I don’t sing. But everyone seems to like what I do and the way I do it.”