In search of vinyl, part 1: Mabu Vinyl in Cape Town, South Africa
September 25th, 2010As I pull up to Mabu Vinyl in Cape Town, the first thing I notice is the businesses around it. A locksmith, an iPod repair shop (and yes, of course it’s called iFix), and a second-hand furniture store. Oh, and OutlawDVD. Cape Town’s Premium Adult DVD Superstore. Which makes me wonder how many Adult DVD Superstores Cape Town has in the first place… But I digress. In short, it’s not the best part of town.
Actually, I take that back. It’s a short, less-than-savory street in the middle of what is a really nice part of Cape Town with plenty of coffee shops and boutique clothing stores, etc. It’s one of the many reasons Cape Town reminds me of San Francisco so much — it’s a great place until you turn the wrong corner.
Anyway, it’s broad daylight, so I soldier on. As I walk up to the door, I see that it’s closed with one of those hand-written “Back in 5 minutes” signs on the door. Typical. And I love it. By the way, those signs have always bothered me. How do I know how much of the 5 minutes is left? Those signs should be electronic and just count down how much time you have left to wait. I should patent that idea.
Luckily, I must have arrived towards the tail-end of the 5 minutes. Because within 3 minutes, a young guy appears, dressed as if he’s just been to a Jimmy Eat World concert. I didn’t need to ask if he works at Mabu, it’s already written on his “I love sad music and that’s why I work at an indie music store” face. I immediately like him, too. I can tell this is going to be great.
Inside, Mabu Vinyl looks and smells like an authentic second-hand store should. It’s stacked to the ceiling with used VHS tapes, random posters, loose CD’s, second hand books, and of course, vinyl records. It’s all about the vinyl. As it should be. It’s dark, it’s moody… it’s perfect.
The selection at Mabu Vinyl is about what I’d expect based on what I know people listened to here in the 80s and 90s. There is lots to explore, but it’s unfortunately mostly not my taste. The thing is that it is virtually impossible to find new vinyl in South Africa. It’s just too expensive to import, and it appears that the bug hasn’t bitten enough people to have enough demand for it. So finding any vinyl post early 90s is a bit of a mission.
I will keep looking, though. For now, I will have to adjust my demand to the supply, until stores like Mabu make enough money out of vinyl to start importing all the great new stuff that’s coming out on the format.
In the end I walked out with 2 albums — just to kick things off. One is embarrassing so I’ll keep that to myself. But the other is a mint copy of We Can’t Dance by Genesis. It’s an album I’ve never been able to find in the US, and it sounds amazing — it’s like hearing it for the first time.
One big issue, and this might also be why vinyl hasn’t really taken off here, is the high cost. I paid R50 for that album (~$7), and it’s the type of record you’d find in the $1 bin at a thrift store in the US, like I did with other brilliant finds like Tracy Chapman‘s debut. Again, I guess it comes down to supply and demand – we just need more people to get into vinyl so that stores can become competitive.
It also doesn’t help that equipment is so expensive in South Africa. We have exactly 1 Rega representative here, and it’s just so expensive that proper vinyl systems are reserved for people with a whole lot of disposable income. I certainly wouldn’t have been able to afford it if I hadn’t bought my system in the US and brought it with me to South Africa. How do we change this?
Anyway, back to Mabu. I will be back many times as it’s close to where I work, and they seem to really care about vinyl — they’re not just doing it on the side to see what happens. But I also want to go explore the two other vinyl stores I know about in Cape Town, and see if I can convince anyone to start importing the likes of Bon Iver, Fleet Foxes and The Album Leaf. You know, just keeping the dream alive (yes, there was a lot of REO Speedwagon albums on display at Mabu).
brendan December 8th, 2010 at 9:49 am
hi-5 across the road from mabu sells new vinyl (though its expensive). i usually buy from insound in the states and have them ship it here. expensive, but worth it.