Jumbo Records is Leeds’ oldest independent record shop and has been a city centre music haven since 1971. Hunter Smith took a young man’s bold step to open a tiny record shop tucked away at the top of a shopping arcade, selling reggae and soul records which were popular at his Jumbo Mobile Discotheque. Isaac Hayes’ Black Moses was Jumbo’s first big seller.

55 years on, Jumbo now stocks just about every genre you can think of, and the team care for a vast treasure trove of much-loved classics and rarities. Our current name and logo have remained the same since 1971, and came from the successful disco and DJ business Hunter was involved in.

Hunter continued to DJ in the evenings (supporting the likes of Ken Boothe) to be able to afford to keep the record shop going and raise awareness of this hidden gem on the balcony of the Queens Arcade.

Hunter hired his first employee, Trevor, to help over the Christmas period in 1973 and he became Jumbo Record’s longest serving employee working at the shop for over 50 years before taking a well-earned retirement. Hiring Trev was a game-changer as it meant Hunter could go and use the city centre loos without locking up the shop!

From 1973, Hunter and his wife, Lornette, co-owned and ran the shop until they sold Jumbo in 2014. In that time, they moved to three different locations in the Queens Arcade, Merrion Centre and St John’s Centre, but always maintained a strong sense of community, passion and a vast collection of music.

Our current owners, Nick Fraser and Justinia Lewis, had been ardent fans of Jumbo for years. They heard about its sale over dinner with their friend and Jumbo employee, Adam, who was worried about Jumbo’s future. So, determined to keep its legacy alive and try out a dream of owning a record shop, they bought Jumbo, keeping on the same much-loved staff, with a few additions.

In 2017, Jumbo moved to our current home in the Merrion Centre – a slightly bigger unit which allowed more space for records, CDs, books, magazines, merch, tickets, styli, and every inch of wall-space was (and remains) covered in colourful posters – both for bands and gigs, but also handmade flyers advertising for bandmates. Jumbo has always been more than just a place to buy records – it’s a social hub, too – and this bigger space allowed room for seats where customers can enjoy a coffee. We also built a small stage in the shop to improve in-store gigs.

In-stores are a way Jumbo loves to connect people through music. We’ve had a broad range of artists play over the years including Lily Allen, Nightmares On Wax, Africa Express musicians, Steve Gunn, Billy Bragg, Kae Tempest, Aldous Harding, Corinne Bailey Rae, Craig Finn, Jane Weaver, English Teacher, The Delines, Indignation Meeting, Villagers, Greentea Peng and Asian Dub Foundation, who played so loud that we were in trouble with shopping centre management for quite some time!

Other events at Jumbo have included Q&As, DJ sets, signings and film screenings in collaboration with Leeds International Film Festival and Scalarama Film Festival.

Some special guests have even enjoyed stints on the counter. In 2010, Mark Ronson joined us, selling his and others’ records. On Record Store Day, April 2023, James Smith from Yard Act worked with us and signed some of their limited 7”s while he was at it. Also that month, Dave Simpson from The Guardian put in a shift at Jumbo, which he said was the “centre of [his] universe” as a teenager.

Simpson’s not the only one who the shop has meant a lot to – it’s a place where people can find a real sense of belonging, make discoveries and connect with others. This was the case for journalist Ben Forrest, who said, “The closest I ever got to achieving [a] feeling of belonging somewhere was upon my first visit to Jumbo Records.” Similarly, James Brown wrote in The Guardian, “All those years spent in Jumbo helped me get my job on the NME. When aspiring writers and editors ask me where I studied, I always reply, ‘I didn't go to university – I went to Jumbo Records.’”

Our customers and local community mean a great deal to us, too. We’ve collaborated with promoters, venues, writers, publishers, cafes, breweries and even our local chilli shop! We’ve also supported friends at the Hyde Park Picture House, where we’ve collaborated on an ongoing season, Sound & Vision, since 2025.

It’s not just locals who have enjoyed visits to Jumbo – we’ve had Thurston Moore, Fontaines D.C., Stewart Lee, John Peel, Michaela Strachan, Rat Scabies, Roman Jugg and many more browsing through our racks. In 2019, we were voted one of the 25 best small shops in the UK.

However, there have been challenges over the years, partly due to competition from giants like Amazon and streaming services, but also due to vinyl being a luxury item some can’t afford during recessions and cost-of-living crises. We have been involved in Record Store Day since it began in 2007, and this has helped to revive interest in vinyl and is an invaluable way of keeping independent record shops like ours alive. Every year, we have customers so dedicated to getting special limited releases that some will even camp out overnight from as early as 9pm.

The COVID-19 pandemic also presented challenges, but we were able to keep Jumbo afloat with online sales and a local delivery service led by shop owner Nick and his dog Libby.

We’re also conscious of the complexities of the music industry for artists. So, we’re committed to raising the profile of musicians we love by stocking many local artists and making thoughtful recommendations to customers in-person, on record sleeves, on social media, in our weekly newsletters and in our magazines (which we have been writing and designing every year since 2020, sometimes twice a year).

In 2026, we were delighted to work with V&A East on their The Music is Black: A British Story exhibition, celebrating some of our favourite music by Black British artists in a pop-up Jumbo shop.

A huge, elephantine thank you to everyone who’s been a part of Jumbo’s excellently soundtracked history. Thanks for all the love and music over the years!

A collection of photographs from our history are available to view in the gallery.