Life without Fopp is already proving difficult, just one day after the official closure of its 105 stores I found myself wandering around the record shops of Central London aimlessly and desperate for a fix – for me, £5 back catalogue CDs and DVDs were literally skag!
The Fopp experience was always a beautiful one and its passing is a genuine reason to mourn. I remember vividly the first time I stepped onto its hallowed turf, the date being Friday 28 May 2004 (I’m always last to the party) and I was celebrating having just acquired the phone number of a girl I really fancied. It was the most wonderful of Summer Friday evenings and I had truly entered a new affordable world, a paradise and haven where I would be able to satisfy my retail therapy needs in the most affective way over the next three years.
During my all too brief relationship with Fopp I had the best of times. I took dates there (including the girl from above), trying to talk them into buying Ghost World on DVD to prove just how hip and personable I am. And I took ex's there; the most vivid memory being my purchasing of The Fog Of War on DVD, a documentary about war tactics that I was hoping would help me deal with said confrontations with said ex. Indeed I went there drunk on my 30th birthday about bought Bad Brains and Meat Puppets compilations I never needed in addition to a Blur DVD I will never watch. I bought a huge bag full of CDs and DVDs to comfort me when my poor 17 year old dog Snowy had to be put to sleep and on occasion on the cusp of euphoria of just having sex, instead of a post coital moment I went shopping at Fopp! I went there on Christmas Eve looking for gifts for my parents, I bought my mother the last Cat Power record and the Sufjan Stevens Christmas record there for her birthday and when I found the Billie Piper unauthorised biography there for £1 – what better gift to give my friend for his birthday earlier this year.
