The Thousands

The meanings of plenty of words have been lost over the years, and although this makes me sound like a dumb journalism student (or my Nana) it rings truer than we cool kids care to admit. ‘Socialising’ is not what it used to be. A ‘shopkeeper’ is not what it used to be.

Yet Ocky, the proprietor of the fresh Wax Museum Records in Adelaide, is a shopkeeper in the traditional sense of the word. Do not let the most chilled demeanour in the city fool you; Ocky takes so much pride in his shop that you could fill the whole of Rymill Park lake with his pride and he’d still have some left to show you. He sources most of his vinyl in person, and spends a lot of time outside of Adelaide sifting through crates for hip-hop, soul, breaks and funk diamonds.

Wax Museum has been around for ages, did you say? Yeah, but I got an update for you: Wax Museum Records has moved from Rundle Street to become the newest member of the East Grenfell Street family of cool. Happily atop HAUSE store with big windows looking onto leafy Grenfell, the new store holds less stock but continues to focus on quality and collection. There are a few DVDs and a good collection of Waxpoetics magazines to admire, but its mostly just a good selection of vinyls for your listening, browsing or purchasing pleasure. Ocky has brought a little of the meaning of the word ‘shopkeeper’ back into a trip to the shops: a chat, some good product advice, a deal, and a smile.