Ben recalls how he came across the original idea for the store:  “I was sitting at B-sharp Records after Tom Abbott… had just gotten council approval to put the bench out the front. And I was sitting down on the bench thinking, and there were a few people around smoking and having a good time, and I thought, man, everyone wants to hang out at a record store… it would be a good idea if you could make a record store/coffee shop” After discussing this idea with long time friend Alix, she shared her dream of opening a fashion store and said “if you are going to have records you may as well have some clothes in there as well” and so a deal was struck.

After about twelve months and loads of research they found a nice spot on East Terrace and converted a ditzy old beauty parlour into a well lit, funky, retail hang out. After a quick glance around you will see records from local acts like the Carter Brothers and Lady Strangelove.  Alix explains: “That’s something we are working on, the music thing, we are trying to promote to local bands and artists to bring their CD’s in and sell them here.” Ben discusses the amount of local music they have in the store; “Not everything you will hear in here will be local, but we try and play new music that is being made predominantly in South Australia. And the same goes with the stuff in our fridge we have got predominantly South Australian products…we are trying to keep everything a bit local, you know, aside from the clothes.”

The clothing side of the business is worked equally by Ben and Alix and between them they have hand picked a collection of guys and girls street wear that is sourced from all over the country and the world. With national exclusivity of some breaking European labels like Rockwell and Delta, mixed with rising local designs like Vinyl Junkie and Glamour’s on Valley, you will be pressed to find these styles anywhere else in town.

So has Adelaide been accepting of the new that is Tapedeck Razorblade? Ben ponders, “Yes and no. Put it this way, Adelaide is caught up in Adelaide. Like to get anyone from Adelaide to…I’m an Adelaidian so I can say this…but to get them to go out of their norm it takes time.” Alix agrees, “Adelaide is very mainstream mainly, as opposed to Melbourne or somewhere like that. People have been asking us “why don’t you do the shop in Melbourne, it would do so well” but… if you can do it here, you can do it anywhere”. Ben continues, “There are a couple of labels, like the Melbourne labels, these are just taking off in Melbourne, they are doing really, really well and yet they’re not here. Adelaide is always like a season behind... It’s just funny I think Adelaide, it’s gonna take time for people to get it… It’s good for us though, I was talking to someone about it the other day and they were saying “I just got back from Melbourne and I saw five of your t-shirts there.” And I was like “yeah, but it kind of sucks because nobody is getting it here.” And he reiterated to me that it’s good to be ahead of the game, even if it’s not happening yet, it’s going to…it will!”

With exhibition openings taking place every month and events like Close the Gap and local launches occurring regularly there is a lot more to Tapedeck Razorblade than a retail space. So next time you are in Adelaide swing past East Terrace and check it out for yourself.

Image courtesy of Tapedeck Razorblade