The owner of a record stall has spoken out after thieves targeted the shop over New Year. Chris Kearney of Needle Drop Records in Altrincham found out the stall which he has spent years building up had been completely cleared out, with thousands of pounds’ worth of records gone.
The 62-year-old runs the stall selling records at Altrincham Market four days a week, and got a phone call in the new year with the bad news. Pictures show the mess left behind by the thieves, who emptied every box of vinyl.
Chris told the Manchester Evening News: “I got a call on January 2 from one of the managers of the market, just to break me some bad news. He asked had I taken any records home over the last couple of days.
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“He said I’m really sad to tell you, but I think somebody’s taken them. I was in on New Year’s Eve until about 3 o’clock.”
After getting the bad news over the phone, Chris headed down to the stall to see if anything was left. “I went down and saw what happened – everything was taken” he said.
“There was a few things that had fallen on the floor, all the stall had been ransacked. It was a few thousand pounds I would say.”
Chris Kearney from Needle Drop Records in Altrincham -Credit:Chris Keaney (submitted)
He added: “I’ve got a few records at home that I’ll bring in. It was a devastating thing, it was quite a shock to see the ruthless efficiency of it – everything had been taken.
“You don’t expect to be robbed. You just don’t think that somebody’s going to come and do that.”
Chris, who runs the stall and also plays in the band Electric Love Handles, added that he thinks someone would need access to the market to carry out the burglary.
The stall before it was targeted by thieves -Credit:Chris Keaney (submitted)
“It was somebody who got access inside the market hall,” he said. “It’s an outdoor covered market that’s covered by gates.”
He added: “It looks like its quite a targeted thing. It doesn’t seem like a chance thing, it looks thought out.
“My stall faces onto Greenwood Street, there’s a lot of traffic up and down there, there’s a lot of eyes. It’s someone who looks like they have a lot of knowledge of the market, records are awkward.
Needle Drop Records after being targeted by thieves -Credit:Chris Keaney (submitted)
“It’s one of those things, we’ve checked CCTV. At the moment there’s nothing come up.
“That happened between New Year’s Eve after 3pm and probably eight o’clock this morning.”
Despite the rough start to the new year, Chris was determined not to let it get him down. He said that he hopes to the stall back on its feet soon.
The stall was completely cleared out -Credit:Chris Keaney (submitted)
“My attitude to it is that as quickly as you can we’ve got to try and turn it round,” he said. “Potentially it’s devastating, it’s difficult when you’re looking forward to a new year and that’s the first real news you get.
“It’s taken a lot of hard work to get to the point where we’ve started to make a bit of a living out of it. I’m a great believer that when you get a setback you’ve got to try and keep going, to learn and improve.
“With everything that happens to you in life I think you have to try and see how can this make things better in the long run.”
The Manchester Evening News has reached out to Greater Manchester Police for comment.