A RECORD store is bucking the industry's downward spiral trend by expanding.

Much loved Resident Records, in Kensington Gardens, Brighton is set to take over the shop next door to cater for demand.

For many years the store has struggled to find space for their various collections of genres of music.

So the store's owners, husband and wife couple Derry and Natasha Watkins, decided to knock the walls through and join the two spaces.

Mr Watkins said: “We’ve recently taken over the lease of the shop next door and over the last month we’ve been bringing the two together. We’ve got a temporary partition between them but as soon as the partition goes up we are open. It’s touch and go but we are hoping to be open by Friday."

Mr Watkins puts the popularity of the store down to the resurgence in the demand for vinyl records.

He said: "There has been a huge increase, especially with younger people, which means there is a much wider range available now.

"Young people who used to be interested in CDs are now looking for vinyl so the record companies have started bringing out newer releases on vinyl with limited edition presses and covers and things to respond to that demand.”

Mr Watkins puts the popularity of vinyl down to it being something music lovers can take home.

He said: “Vinyl is an item in itself. Downloading and streaming is great but not with items you want to keep permanently.”

The expansion comes amid a steady decline in record stores across the country. With more people now downloading or streaming music, record stores have shut down in their hundreds.

In 2013, the largest record store chain HMV went in administration before being bought out by Hilco UK.

However, the demand for vinyl has left Resident Records with a burgeoning back catalogue of CDs.

He added: “It used to be we sold nearly only CDs. Gradually this changed and its now basically given over to vinyl. Obviously vinyl takes up a lot more space so we had to sacrifice the CDs to get the vinyl out there.”

The increased space will allow the duo to get their CDs, which still account for about half their stock, back on the shop floor.

For more details visit resident-music.com.