Southampton DJ hopes to have set Guinness World Record for most record stores visited in 24-hours

Paul Ridney, a DJ and music collector from Southampton, has attempted to break the Guinness World Record for the most number of vinyl record stores visited in 24 hours.

Ridney began the attempt on Tuesday, October 14, with a mission to visit more than 30 record stores in Brighton, Southampton, Worthing, and the surrounding areas. He hoped to beat a current record of 20 visits, held by a man in the US.

Speaking to Mixmag, Ridney confirms that he visited 32 stores and purchased a record at 28 of those, which he hopes will bag him the world record title once verified by GWR.

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Starting in Brighton at 11:AM on Tuesday, Ridney says he visited more than 30 stores before 11:AM on Wednesday (October 15), alongside two rolling witnesses – with eight people in total tailing him through the Brighton and Southampton areas.

The record attempt was done on foot and using buses and trains as per the rules, and while Ridney successfully purchased records in 28 stores, four of the shops he visited were shut, he tells us.

“People thought someone from Guinness would be sat at the end with a certificate, but it’s not really like that,” he says. “We’ve got a full logbook which has receipts from every store with timestamps." 

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"We've also got photos of me in all the stores with the record I bought and with staff members, as well as about 13 hours of GoPro footage to show as proof."

Ridney is now hoping to receive confirmation of his successful attempt after putting all the “evidence” forward. “Fingers crossed we did it all correctly,” he says.

The record attempt aimed to highlight grassroots record stores in the UK amidst the “continued growth of vinyl”, and hopes to “celebrate the record stores we have and keep them going.”

Gemma Ross is Mixmag's Associate Digital Editor, follow her on Twitter