On Wax Records

Executive Summary

On Wax Records will be a Leeds based record shop that leans into genres such as jazz, soul, world music and funk, which are considered to be more niche. Our target customers will be, but not limited to, the 60,000 students in Leeds (as of 2016 (Central Properties, 2016)) and the young adults of Leeds.

Despite not being in the main student housing areas of Hyde Park, Headingley and Burley, On Wax Records will be located in The Grand Arcade, which is within walking distance of the universities (University of Leeds, Leeds Beckett and Leeds Conservatoire etc.). Furthermore, it will be situated near the Domino Jazz Club, which is a notorious jazz club in Leeds, as well as Casa and Sela which both regularly host jazz jams. These locations being nearby will attract those who are into genres such as jazz, soul and funk. On top of that, it will be located in Leeds city centre which often has very high foot traffic.

On Wax Records will be focusing on offering more second-hand records as it’s more sustainable environmentally, and we can provide records at a cheaper price than it would be for new records, which will be attractive to the student/young adult demographic. New records will be sold as well, with recently released records being available for customers, resulting in a blend of second-hand and new records.

Company Description

On Wax Records will be a Leeds based record shop that leans into genres such as jazz, soul, world music and funk, which are considered to be more niche. Our target customers will be, but not limited to, the 60,000 students in Leeds (as of 2016 (Central Properties, 2016)) and the adults of Leeds.

Despite there being many other record shops in Leeds, none of them focus on jazz, soul, world music and funk as much as On Wax Records will. The aim is for On Wax Records to be a hub/place for those seeking community and for those wanting to discover these genres more, while sharing the musical knowledge they currently have.

This company has a focus on sustainability, which is mostly demonstrated by selling second hand records which will be acquired by buying out people’s unwanted collections, which should make it cheaper to get records in the first place. To further the sustainability, and reduce the costs of setting up, the shelves/storage for the vinyl records will be constructed of recycled and repurposed wood, such as chipboard wood sheets.

Aims and values of On Wax Records:

1. Expand and introduce people’s music taste with records/gems that you can’t find through a Spotify algorithm
2. Provide a space for community and relationships to grow
3. Provide affordable vinyl records
4. Selling second hand to increase sustainability

Market Analysis

As previously mentioned, there are many other record shops in Leeds, such Jumbo Records, Crash Records, Relic Records, Wall of Sound, The Vinyl Whistle, to name a few, however having been to all these record shops, none of them specialise specifically in jazz, soul, world music and funk. Each of these shops have different jazz/soul sections but they tend to be limited and lean towards having more accessible, mainstream stuff within these genres, which would gain them more sales, with albums such as Kind of Blue or Blue Train for example. Even though there is high competition and other record shops, specialising in jazz, soul, world music and funk will draw those who are interested in these genres in, as they will be less likely to go to other record shops to find their records.

In record shopping circles, there are three record shops known as the “triangle” of good record shops in Leeds (The iPaper, 2020), which consists of Jumbo Records, Crash Records and Relic Records and the aim is for On Wax Records to be part of that group of record shops, as well as working with and collaborating with them.

Jazz has seen a drastic increase in popularity over the last decade, especially amongst the younger generations, with the likes of Ezra Collective and Laufey leading the charge, due to a “growing acceptance and appreciation of jazz” (Barnes, 2023). 40% of jazz listening on Spotify is because of under 30 year olds (Barnes, 2023), hence why On Wax Records is aiming at students and young adults, as Gen Z are the driving force behind this increase (MusicWeek, 2025).

There is a need and want for physical formats of music is increasing as everything is becoming more digital, along with our listening to music, and people are realising they need a break from this (MusicWeek, 2025). The Gen Z generation is longing for connections with people, which they are finding in communities such as record shop, so they tend to lean towards shopping in shops rather than online, which is why fostering a community is one of our aims (MusicWeek, 2025).

Leeds is needing a record shop that focuses on jazz, soul, world music and funk without realising it. Leeds has an ever growing jazz scene which is evident with the annual Leeds Jazz Festival and the existence of the Domino Club, a jazz club. This is fueled further by jazz graduates from Leeds Conservatoires with groups such as Nubiyan Twist, who continue to help growing the scene. This combination of a jazz scene in Leeds and a shift towards physical forms in media amongst young adults makes Leeds a perfect place to have a record shop like On Wax Records.

Financial plan

Below is all of the listed outgoings/startup costs of setting up On Wax Records:

• The cost for rent in The Grand Arcade, in the centre of Leeds, for a modest sized shop is £13,000 per annum, £1083 pcm, or £250 per week (Zoopla, n.d.).
• Start up costs are expected to be around £10,000 (Startups., 2021) which includes stock (vinyl), storage and shelving, a good sound system, a cash till and a website.
• Start up costs could be higher than the predicted £10,000
• As On Wax Records will obviously be playing music in the shop, a PRS license will need to be bought too which costs £330.50 per year (PPLPRS, n.d.).
• I will need other staff to help keep it running, to allow for days off. Due to it being a small shop, On Wax Records will only need another member of staff, who I would want them to be a co-founder. Having a co-founder reduces the risk of failure and splits capital evenly between people, as starting up a business is high risk. This would mean that I wouldn’t get as much profit because it would be split, however it would reduce the risks and damages if the business doesn’t get off the ground.
• Having another member of staff/co-founder means that one of you can manage the shop, while the other can sort out stock and order in more records, as well as allowing the other to go on holiday and have days off. As time goes on, it may be that On Wax Records will need another part time member of staff.
• The current wage for me and the co-founder is difficult to determine, as I currently don’t know how much the take home would be.

All of this added up to calculate the first years amount spending would cost roughly £83,330.50, which would require a loan or investment due to having no current assets/money. This loan would need to paid incrementally over 10 years or so.

Marketing plan

A big way to promote in the today’s current climate is using social media platforms such as Instagram, especially with the younger clientele we are aiming for. The On Wax Records social media presence would begin way before it opens, to gain interest from the local communities to then host a big opening party. On our socials, as well as a website, there will be teasers of what records we would be selling, advertisements expressing interest to buy record collections, and weekly album recommendations which would be up on all of our sites.

Another way of marketing is getting involved in the current records community that exists in Leeds. This would be done by having collaborative events with other record shops such as Crash Records, Jumbo Records and Relic Records, to form a good relationship and community with those who have been in the record shop game for significantly longer. Additionally, On Wax Records would turn up to the monthly Leeds Records Fair to sell records but also use it as a way of advertising the shop before it opens, and continue to do so after we have opened to keep word of mouth going.

The final way of marketing is by the use of flyers, which we could ask to put up in existing record shops, in the music venues of Leeds and across all of Leeds’s universities, especially Leeds Conservatoire who are our exact clientele.

Group discussions and Evaluation

My initial ideas for this business plan were much more complex and complicated, which is something I was going to go ahead with but during group discussion I was advised that these ideas that I had would be hard to put into place if my business plan were to happen, as I wanted to add a café as part of On Wax Records. Having a café, adds this complexity as you have to think about food hygiene etc and learn how a café would work, as well as how a record shop runs. The idea behind the café was due to cafés being good locations for building community, combining the two would encourage community further. This café idea is something that would be good to pursue if the business continued to be successful.

One big thing that I would change about my business plan is the amount of detail I have on the financial plan. There is a lack of resources online that go into the specific detail of running and setting up a record shop. If I was to do this again, I would go to the current record shop owners in Leeds to ask about there personal experiences of setting up a record shop and how that looked for them financially. This lack of financial information made it tricky to put specific goals in place of what I would want On Wax Records to look like in 1, 5 or 10 years’ time.

This idea of sustainability is definitely something that I would want to lean into more and make it more of the aesthetic of On Wax Records, this idea of our shop deliberately not being polished and perfect would allow people to be more comfortable in the space, and not be intimidated. Sustainability is something that students and young adults are looking for, especially with the current state of the planet. This business is something that should respect and honour this planet.

Continuing on with group discussion ideas, someone in the group suggested having On Wax Records as a place to trade records, in what would be the vinyl café, having specific days where people can swap, buy and sell their records, with their being a model of this already being done in London. Even having days where people bring in their own stalls to sell their own records, while On Wax Records takes a cut of what’s being sold. This idea of customers being able to sell their own records would increase the community of the place.

Figure 1 – notes of group discussion

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