Record Store Profile: Greville Records VIC

What is your store called?

Greville Records

Where are you located?

152 Greville Street Prahran Vic (just a hop, skip and a jump from Chapel Street!) and online here.

Tell us about the people behind the scenes?

Greville Records is owned by Bruce Milne and Warwick Brown. Waz has owned Greville Records since the early 90s, but had been working here since the mid 80s. Bruce had been in and around the building a decade or so before Waz, starting the Au Go-Go label upstairs in our building all those years ago. Eventually he came back to us and bought into Greville somewhere in the mid 2010s. I (Cody) am the manager and have been at Greville Records for 5 or so years. You may catch Waz's son Arlo behind the counter during some weekends too! Apart from the help of our wives/partners at times behind the counter, this is pretty much us!

When and why did the store open?

Greville Records opened in 1978 by Bill Tolson and Andrew Mcgee. It opened as a store to specialize in punk/obscure imports, as there was a desired market!

What do your customers most know you for?

Our customers know us for...talking ALOT about Joni Mitchell, Big Thief, Bob Dyaln, footy haha! On a serious note i HOPE our customers know us as the place to go to help locate their wildest album request, and hopefully sight us a safe and welcoming place to come for a dig.

What is the most popular title you stock at the moment?

Ooo thats a tough one...it generally depends on what day it is and who's in town! At the moment Doechii's Alligator Bites Never Heal, Kneecap's Fine Art and Fontaines DC Romance are big hitters, as well as Chappell Roan's Rise And Fall Of A Midwest Princess!

What is the most popular evergreen title?

Ooft, you are really going for the tough ones today! I would say Neil Young’s Harvest or Cocteau Twin's Heaven or Las Vegas”. And we cant forget Jeff Buckley's Grace.

What is the best thing about running a record store in 2025?

The best thing about running a record store in 2025 is being able to be the physical hub/oasis for music lovers of all types. All of us here at Greville HQ have been allowed to cultivate our shop space into something that we are proud of, something that reflects us. I love that we love to support artists from all over the globe, i love that any walk of life can come into our store and (fingers crossed!) find something that appeals to them. I love that we can adventure down any path of music, and see what our customers think about it too!

A really special element of running a record store, is we get to provide humans with music that becomes part of their identity. It can change their whole makeup and being as a person, and that responsibility holds so much weight, it’s a great honour!

For me, a big importance of my role of manager and running the shop floor, is making sure minority groups are represented, whether that be my gaggle of geese (the LGBTQIA+ community) or People Of Colour or First Nations folk etc, we desire that all our customers feel they are seen, heard and represented through the media we stock and sell.

With parts of the world morphing back into extremely non-inclusive places for many of us, i truly believe us staff meet Greville Records with the task of "how can we make our shop the most inclusive place possible for everyone?"

As a child I spent a lot of time in record stores, I know what it feels like to walk into a record store, with your head held high, in search for the newest album on the top of your list, and when mentioning the band/artist name to the grumpy sales assistant, being met with the loudest grumble and the sternest huff... it can be a very disheartening moment in a record collectors life!

So, the best thing about running a record store in 2025 is aiming to provide representation to minority groups, eradicating the stereotype of the "grumpy record store worker", and being able to offer our customers a safe and welcoming haven.

What is the hardest thing about running a record store in 2025?

The hardest thing about running a record store in 2025... is making it to the shop by opening time haha (Waz!). Seriously though, the hardest thing about running a record store is keeping up with all the new releases… and being able to listen to as many as physically possible! We are so lucky that there is new music coming out left, right and centre, and it’s a great race to try and keep up with!

Chasing the occasional shoplifter around the block can also spice up our day…but ill keep those stories for another day!