Turntable resurgence: 240% spike in record player sales at John Lewis

“Never Knowingly Undersold”

John Lewis is currently enjoying a big spike in turntable sales, with the upmarket UK department store reporting a 240% increase in the first quarter of 2015 compared to the same period last year.

The store stocked just one type of turntable during the 2000s but with rising demand in recent years, John Lewis now sells six models – although the majority on offer are manufactured by (the rather infamous) Crosley, and are therefore of the briefcase variety.

When you consider that vinyl sales are sailing at a 20-year high, and given the recent manifestation of that growth in the UK’s first ever official vinyl chart, a turntable resurgence slots neatly into the overall landscape. People need turntables to play all those records their buying, right?

Interestingly a recent study found a third of people don’t actually listen to the records they buy, either because they don’t own a turntable or because, for some unbeknown reason, they don’t bother using a turntable they own. The new John Lewis figures certainly point to more people buying turntables, let’s just hope it’s indicative of a wider pattern of turntable use.

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