Hello my friends!
So, for those of you who might not know, my “normal” day job is managing Fat City Records. It was founded back in 1993 (when I was 7 years old haha) and it’s basically been at the forefront of music that I love such as hip-hop, funk, soul, jazz and all things in between.
After 16 years in Manchester, the physical store was faced with closure so my boss, Jazzman Records owner Gerald Short, decided to take it over since he felt that the shop had such an important heritage on the UK music scene.
I started working here in September 2010 thanks my friend Dylan and our common friend Skeg from Breakin Bread. As you might know, I had a digital and record label background, not retail. But I quickly came to the view that the online shop needed updating in terms of design and functionality.
So I started an almost two-year long journey that has had many stop and go’s, but now that the day is almost here, it fills me with so much pride and happiness to finally see it coming together.
You see, I started planning the new site with my friend Greg as soon as I got the FCR job, and even though the project didn’t officially start until the summer of 2011, me and him came up with some great ideas that have somwehat been the foundation to the new website.
Now, almost a year later, I can proudly say that we have done literally everything within our means and power to create the best possible experience for our customers.
This is by far the biggest project I have ever managed and worked on, and even though it is (hopefully) just the beginning of bigger and greater things for FCR, for me personally this launch is probably one of the highlights of my professional career to date.
So it is with great pleasure I can officially talk about it all and ask you to check it out when it goes live on Friday the 1st June 2012. To celebrate the great occasion we are also throwing a launch party at Floripa by Old Street in London.
Guest DJs includes Jazzman Gerald, Chris Read (Music of Substance), Hint (Tru Thoughts), DJ TomE (Laid Back), and myself.
Come down if you can or stream it live via the FCR Mixlr page.
I have written a longer post about the FCR Launch and Party on the Laid Back blog that you should check out for more info.
Nice photo!