'Places like this are more than simply a shop, they're a little community'

The walls are still plastered with posters advertising the latest gigs, just as they were when the first store opened in Leeds in 1971, and alongside the latest releases sit acres of vinyl by artists who will never trouble the top 10. Among the most recent batch just in is a copy of American Yodelling 1911-1946. It's not quite the independent record store of Nick Hornby's High Fidelity, but it's not far off.

"I like to think we're not quite as geeky," says buyer Adam Gillison, who admits his own music collection at home is kept, at least most of the time, in alphabetical order. "For a lot of people, Saturday afternoons are still made for spending in record shops and for a lot of our customers buying records is a leisure pursuit. After a week at work, they can come in here, chat about the music they've been listening to and the bands they've seen. It's a release.

"A young lad came in the other afternoon to drop off a homemade fanzine. Those kind of things don't happen as much as they used to, but I think some of those who have written the obituary for independent record shops have been a little premature.

"Places like this are more than just a shop, they're a little community."

Business may be brisk at Jumbo Records, but the last few decades not all have been so lucky. According to the Entertainment Retailers' Association, in the 1980s there were 2,200 independent record shops in the UK. By 1994, the number had fallen to 1,200 and today there are just 305.

Many fell victim to the rise of the megastores and for others it was online retailers like Amazon, which dealt the killer blow. However, those that have ridden the storm are now daring to feel more optimistic about the future than they have for a while.

"You should never be complacent, but there is absolutely a market for what we do," says Adam, who, before joining Jumbo Records, had worked for Our Price . The chain went into administration a number of years ago and has since been followed by the likes of Zavvi and the bookstore Borders, which devoted whole floors to CDs. "Being part of a big company doesn't cushion you from changing tastes and in some ways it can be more difficult to adapt.

"It's true that a lot of independent record shops have shut, but it also means the ones that have survived must be doing something right.

"When I started here 13 years ago, we used to sell the top 75 CD singles. There's no point any more. Stores like this can't compete on price when it comes to the current singles and albums chart, but what we can do is cater for customers whose musical tastes extend beyond the Radio1 playlist.

"Everyone who works here is a complete enthusiast and because we aren't tied to what's commercially successful in terms of the charts, we can offer a much wider range of music

"If someone comes in and asks about a record we don't know about, then we'll find out about it. We're also in touch with all the promoters in the city on a daily basis and we have a long-standing tradition of bands bringing in their records and demos for us to listen to. For us, it's much more than selling CDs."

This weekend will be an official celebration of the fighting spirit of stores like Jumbo. Independent Record Store Day on Saturday will see 1,000 record shops in 18 countries spread across four continents hosting in-store gigs and selling limited edition exclusive releases from the likes of The Flaming Lips, The Rolling Stones, Paul Weller and Jimi Hendrix. For the staff at Jumbo, the queues, which are expected to start building early in the morning, will be a reminder of just how cherished stores like theirs are.

"The last week in September and the first week in October used to be like our Christmas," says Adam. "Thousands of students would be dropped off in Leeds for the start of university and a lot of them would end up in our shop armed with their first term's money.

"That doesn't happen to the same extent any more, but during my career I've learnt it's swings and roundabouts.

"At the same time as downloading music from the internet has taken off, we have also seen a gradual move back towards vinyl. There will never be a complete return to the good old days when kids saved up their pocket money, cycled five miles to the nearest record shop and then rushed home to play it over and over again, but there is definitely a sense among people who are into music that they still prefer to have something tangible and they still want to buy their music from a place that shares their enthusiasm."

While record stores may have their own international day devoted to their efforts, elsewhere in the county there are definite rumblings that other independent shops are now prepared to stand up and be counted.

Bishopthorpe Road in York boasts a butcher, two bakers, and while sadly not a candlestickmaker, it does have a hardware shop that sells pretty much everything else. After years of quietly going about their business, the stores have now joined forces to promote the independent shopping which is just a few minutes' walk from the city centre.

"About 18 months ago, there was a lot of discussion on one of the online forums about plans by Halfords to open a Cycle Republic store," says Piers Maffett, who along with his colleague Andy Shrimpton owns the Cycle Heaven store. "A lot of people were saying it would be best to have the store in the city centre because that's where all the other good shops were. We just thought, hang on a minute, that's just not true.

"We have customers who come from all over the country because of our reputation. When you look up the street, there are a dozen other independent businesses from florists to greengrocers and we just felt it was time that someone championed them."

From those seeds saw the launch last month of bishyroad.net, a website dedicated to the businesses along the parade, all but one of which survived the recession. A branch of Hunters estate agents closed down some months ago, but the empty premises has recently been filled by a new independent, Rose and Poppy's gift shop. Around the corner from the main parade an art gallery is just about to open and the Pig and Pastry caf and deli, which opened just as the economy nose-dived, has thrived.

"It's testament to the hard work of everyone that these businesses have not only survived the recession, but in many cases have emerged even stronger," says Piers. "When people shop at many of the big high street

chains, which have their manufacturing base in Eastern Europe or further afield, the money doesn't stay in this country but flows abroad and I think people are definitely more aware of the benefits of buying locally and from independents.

"We are really lucky in this part of York. Last year, Pextons was named the best independent hardware shop in the country, you can go to M&K Butchers and know all the meat is either from their own farm or other local suppliers and really you can find everything you need in the space of a few hundred yards.

"There has been a lot of bad news in recent months, but perhaps now we need to shout about the real success stories."