Reflex

About Reflex

Reflex is an independent record shop at 23 Nun Street, a short walk from the Grainger Market in the heart of Grainger Town. It was opened in November 1999 by Alan Jordan, who had already spent years in music retail with Virgin and Our Price before setting up on his own, and it has traded in the city centre ever since. The shop sells vinyl, CDs, DVDs and Blu-rays, with new releases, pre-orders and limited or exclusive pressings alongside the back catalogue. The genre spread is genuinely wide, taking in classical, jazz, rock, pop, electronic, hip-hop, reggae, punk, dance, K-pop and world music, so it is not a shop built around one scene.

The in-store range is complemented by a much larger catalogue on the shop's own website, and Reflex takes part in Record Store Day and accepts record tokens, both markers of a properly established independent. Staff knowledge is the practical difference here: recommendations, ordering in obscure titles and advice on pressings are part of what customers come for. Its survival matters locally, because Newcastle city centre lost the long-standing JG Windows music shop in the Central Arcade in 2024. Reflex opens Monday to Saturday and on Sunday afternoons, and is easily reached on foot from Monument or Central Station.

Featured in These Guides

Blog posts and guides that feature Reflex.

Shopping in Newcastle City Centre: Independents, Arcades and the Grainger Market

Northumberland Street and Eldon Square cover the chains, but Newcastle's best shopping is in the Grainger Market alleys, the Victorian arcades and a handful of specialists worth the detour.