Dunedin music industry titan Disc Den is set to close up shop after a legendary 47-year run. If you haven’t been to Disc Den (*cough* fresher) it’s a music joint near the Octagon that offers posters, T-shirts, CDs, and pretty much everything else music-related in the big city.
At the helm is Hing Chin, a stalwart of the music scene who has seen the record stores of old come and go with the times. Now, he plans to leave the Dunedin music scene for an easy retirement filled with grandkids and quiet tunes. Critic Te Ārohi, looking to unlock the secrets of a musical life, sat down for a chat.
As a member of Dunedin’s Chin dynasty, Hing’s entrepreneurial relatives have been involved in various music-related ventures over the decades. His father Eddie owned the Sunset Strip nightclub that operated above the original Disk Den (established in 1958 under different ownership).
Before the Sunset Strip met its untimely demise by fire in 1967, Hing recalls the time his father invited the Rolling Stones to party there one night. Though his parents didn’t let him meet the legendary band (“I had to go to school the next morning”), he considers their 1965 Town Hall concert to be the best live music he’s ever experienced. Not due to the showmanship of Mick Jagger or Keith Richards, but the impassioned performance of second act Roy Orbinson, a “favourite singer” of his.
Speaking of his scarfie days, Hing studied “a bit of this, a bit of that” at Otago in the ‘70s, estimating he was one of only 6,000 students. After graduating, Hing bought Disk Den, initially planning to “give it a go for a couple of years […] [but] as the years rolled on it became difficult to find what else to do.” Speaking to the record store’s unrivalled longevity, Hing told Critic Te Ārohi that “the reason we didn’t have cash flow problems is I put just about all my money back into the shop for quite a number of years.”
Disc Den’s heyday was the ’90s, riding off the back of a conversion to CD sales and embracing the poptastic rap fusion of the time. Slowly, the shop’s focus shifted to poster and T-shirt sales, mainly to students, with Hing recounting, “We’ve always had a good following of student customers buying posters.” Critic notes that the amount of Uma Thurman, Tupac, and Pink Floyd adorning flat walls attests to this claim.
Beyond the student market, Hing has catered to the likes of Jonah Lomu, Jack Johnson, Billy Connolly, and even the entire Australian rugby team who flocked in at one point. Summing up his time, Hing said, “You meet different people every day, that's probably what I’ve enjoyed the most.”
Hing’s departure leaves Relics on Saint Andrews St. as the last shop dedicated to selling records in Dunedin. Owner Dave James told Critic Te Ārohi, “This is just what I do,” citing the collective love for music in the community as a key driver for his passion over the years, a passion which Disk Den helped facilitate.
Hing plans to close up shop at the end of March, or sooner if he manages to sell out stock before then. Hing’s retirement and the closure of Disc Den leaves a hole in the music scene, as another local business bites the dust. But on the walls of student flats, Disc Den’s legacy lives on. So hoard your Tupac posters while you can