Tbose chats to Bret Dugmore is the founder and owner of Mr Vinyl

Bret Dugmore is the founder and owner of Mr Vinyl, the much loved record store at 44 Stanley in Johannesburg. Dugmore ‘bootstrapped’ and created an eCommerce record store, that would start with just one crate of records, and that would expand sufficiently to go from ‘clicks to bricks’ and to open as a walk-in retail store in 2017. Mr Vinyl is a 100% youth owned and operated venture and has collaborated with Stay True Sounds and Permanent Record to press a number of local titles on vinyl. Mr Vinyl stocks the widest selection of new and sealed vinyl records in South Africa. It stocks all genres, both new and secondhand; and also stocks turntables and Hi Fi equipment. The store operates a repairs workshop, restoring turntables from the 60s, 70s and 80s.



Bret Dugmore graduated cum laude in BA Honours Political Science in 2009 and is a self-starter and upbeat small business entrepreneur and DJ from Johannesburg. Bret is an advocate for mental health wellness, a wildlife conservation volunteer and frequently promotes the importance of a ‘side hustle’ (an after-hours small business). Bret played his first DJ gig aged 10 and got his first job at a sweet shop aged 14. Bret was the founder of online music publication, MusicReview, that would operate online between 2005 – 2015 and first launched Mr Vinyl in 2013.