ENTITY · BUSINESS
Randy's Record Mart
Well supported
The record shop Vincent "Randy" Chin and his wife Patricia opened in 1958, selling used jukebox 45s from a small shop on the corner of East Street and Tower Street in downtown Kingston and named after Randy's Records of Gallatin, Tennessee. It moved to North Parade around 1960 and in 1962 into a former ice-cream parlour at 16-17 North Parade, where it became one of Jamaica's leading retail outlets and, with the studio the Chins built above it, the commercial and creative centre of the North Parade record district. The Chins left for New York in 1977 and opened VP Records — Vincent and Patricia — in Queens; the 17 North Parade name survives as VP's reissue imprint.
At a glance
- Type
- business →
- Confidence
- Well supported
Coverage areas
Tap a tag to explore related records across the atlas.
Connections
Media & sources
Videos
Articles & sources
Debate & reception
How people argued about the music — praise, criticism and public debate. See all debate & reception →
commentary
Record shops are historical evidence
Shops, sleeves, price stickers, catalogues and retail memories can document music circulation as strongly as conventional biographies when sources are preserved.
Stance: retail ephemera vs formal archive
debate
Who breaks a record — the shop counter or the radio?
Two documented views on where a Jamaican hit is really made, stated neutrally: one holds that counter sales and shop-front selectors were the true tastemakers who told producers and radio what mattered; the other credits radio DJs and station playlists as the gatekeepers that turned a local seller into a national hit. No verdict. Sources: Lloyd Bradley, Bass Culture; David Katz, Solid Foundation; Jamaica Gleaner archive.
Stance: shop-counter sales as the true tastemaker vs radio playlists as the gatekeeper