Rooster Records is run by Jaimie Fennell at 98 Fore Street, on the stretch of Fore Street that runs west from the High Street down toward the Quay, opposite the Mint Methodist Church. We have been trading since December 1995, here in Exeter since November 2006. Over 75,000 items on the shelves across 23 genre categories, with rack-foot depth in psychedelic, progressive, jazz, soul, folk, punk and soundtracks. The counter is open Monday and then Thursday through Saturday, 10:30 to 17:00, by design.
Factory-sealed LPs across our 23 genre categories. New pressings on 180g and 200g audiophile vinyl, box sets, coloured-vinyl variants and limited-edition picture discs. New stock arrives weekly through the supplier network we have built over three decades. If a pressing is not on the shelf, the chances are we can source it.
Hand-picked second-hand LPs and singles in at least excellent condition. The depth is in the pre-90s catalogue: psychedelic, progressive, jazz (Blue Note and ECM by the rack-foot), soul (Northern and Motown), blues, Anglo and Gaelic folk, US folk-roots, punk and soundtracks. Thirty years of crate-digging is what stocks the shelves you walk in to.
Three ways to sell. Drop in to the shop and Jaimie offers on the day. Email a list and get a written appraisal. Or arrange a home visit for a larger collection, we are happy to travel far and wide. The counter is run on the principle of chatting with the customer about their collection over a cup of tea.
If we do not have that elusive vinyl record or CD gem that you have been looking for, there is a fair chance we can obtain a copy using our extensive network of suppliers. The network is the dividend of three decades on the counter. A new shop with a Discogs algorithm cannot reach where we can reach.
Three decades of valuing collections means we can price what something actually is, not what the easy sleeves on top suggest. The buy is run by Jaimie. Bring one record or a houseful: pop in to the counter on a Monday, or Thursday through Saturday, and we will offer on the day. For anything larger, email a list and a few photos and we will come back with a written appraisal, a counter visit, or a home visit. We are happy to travel far and wide.
A new shop with a Discogs algorithm cannot price what thirty years on the counter can. The supplier network alone is what makes the source service work.
Rooster opened in December 1995 in Taunton, the low-water year for vinyl, the era CDs were ascendant and vinyl was for collectors only. The career before the records was the law, a Taunton solicitors' office. The shop in Taunton grew faster than its walls could hold and in November 2006 the business moved to larger premises here at 98 Fore Street in Exeter. We have been trading on Fore Street ever since.
The thirty years span the vinyl wilderness, the streaming wars and the post-2015 resurgence. Most independent record shops never reach 30. We did. What is on the shelves now, 75,000 items across 23 genre categories, is the dividend of three decades on the counter.
“Come and see us here in our little record heaven.”Jaimie Fennell · the homepage signoff, every page of roosterrecords.co.uk
The same line has sat on the masthead for years. We mean it. Thirty years in, the counter is still the best part of the job.
Fore Street is the old west-side stretch of Exeter city centre, the road that drops from the pedestrianised High Street down toward the Exe Bridges and the Quayside. We are the fourth shop down on the left-hand side as you walk west, opposite the Mint Methodist Church. If you reach the Exonian pub then you have gone slightly too far. Mind you, they do serve a good pint. Five minutes from Exeter Central station, ten minutes from St David's via the Iron Bridge.
Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Sundays the counter is closed by design. Mondays and Thursdays through Saturdays are when Fore Street is busiest with city-centre walk-ins and when there is room behind the counter to look properly through the week's collections. Plan a visit for one of those.
Monday, then Thursday, Friday and Saturday, 10:30 to 17:00. Tuesday, Wednesday and Sunday the shop is closed. The four-day pattern is how we choose to trade: the days Fore Street is busiest with city-centre walk-ins, and the rhythm that lets us look properly through collections bought during the week. Plan for a Monday or a Thursday through Saturday.
Both. Whether it is a carrier bag full or a house full. For a representative crate or fewer, pop in to the counter on one of the four open days. For anything larger, email jaimiefennell@gmail.com with photos and a rough genre breakdown and we will come back with either a counter appraisal, a written offer, or a home visit. For larger collections we are happy to travel far and wide.
Pre-1990s depth is the strength. Psychedelic, progressive, jazz (Blue Note and ECM by the rack-foot), soul (Northern and Motown), blues, Anglo and Gaelic folk, US folk-roots, punk and soundtracks. We carry all 23 of our genre categories across the catalogue, from fifties through to soundtracks, but the rack-foot depth a 30-year shop has built is in the older stuff.
Yes, both. The new shelves carry factory-sealed audiophile pressings on 180g and 200g vinyl, box sets, coloured-vinyl variants and limited-edition picture discs, alongside the used catalogue we have been building since December 1995. If a pressing is not on the shelf, the chances are we can source it through the supplier network.
We are the fourth shop down on the left-hand side of Fore Street as you walk west from the High Street, opposite the Mint Methodist Church. If you reach the Exonian pub then you have gone slightly too far. Mind you, they do serve a good pint.