IN January 2011, at the height of the music industry's sales crisis, Gary Smith announced he was opening a new record shop in Oxford.

The manager of Rapture Records in Witney had teamed up with Truck Festival co-founder Robin Bennett to transform the former Videosyncratic video rental shop at 101 Cowley Road.

Given Oxford’s last independent music shop, Polar Bear Records just up the road, had been forced to close three years before because of poor sales, opening a new one seemed to some – including even its most diehard supporters – like madness.

Mr Smith himself told the Oxford Mail that month: “It’s a risk, but when we opened in Witney six years ago people said it was a risky business.”

And even though the very first photos in the Oxford Mail pictured Mr Smith, Mr Bennett and the shop’s new manager Carl Smithson brandishing shiny vinyl records, no one in 2011 could have predicted that the format, which even then had been outdated for decades, would keep the shop in business.

And yet, just last week, latest industry figures revealed sales of long-playing vinyl records in 2017 soared to their highest-levels since 1991.

That is despite the fact that, as a nation, we also downloaded and streamed more music online than ever before.

The 4.1 vinyl albums bought in the UK last year included many records which were first issued on that format decades before, such as Rumours and Sgt Pepper.

But, amazingly, the top two best-selling were new releases from Ed Sheeran (Divide) and Liam Gallagher (As You Where).

Carl Smithson, who is still managing Truck Store nearly a decade after its risky conception, said: “It was a very good year, and our sales reflect that vinyl is increasingly important for us.

“We’re actually going to re-arrange the store this month to give more prominence to vinyl and turntables and accessories, but we are still going to continue with CDs.

“Vinyl is biting at the heels of CD but you can still stock more of a range of CDs.”

So which albums did the people of Oxford most want to listen to on a gramophone?

“For us it was a mixture of modern classics like Amy Winehouse, Jeff Buckley or Bon Iver – albums people want to own because they’re special to them – but also up-and-coming artists like Loyle Carner: he made an album in 2017 which is quite a significant statement as a work.”

There’s no doubt that vinyl is the coolest way to buy a record in 2018, but given we can listen to high-quality music at the press of a button, how many people, when they get their new purchase home, are actually bothering to get it out, put it on the turntable, switch on the record player and then turn it over halfway through?

Surely a large number of these sales are souvenirs, doomed to gather dust on the shelf before going into the loft as a double-memento of two eras of history?

Mr Smithson disagrees entirely.

“From what we’re hearing, lots of people have been buying turntables, especially for Christmas.

“The kids are listening to records and they are discovering that this is a different way to listen to music: if you have been passively listening to music, this is a whole different experience, to stop, put a record on, then to have to turn it over halfway through.

“For a lot of people, this is a novelty.

“So much of it is a new experience, and people are really enjoying taking their time.

“There is a difference between hearing and listening.”

So how long can the trend actually last?

“Going forward, I think the model is a combination of streaming for some things, and LPs for taking time out and listening.

“One problem with steaming is that access to everything isn’t always the best option: it can be overwhelming.

“In a shop like ours, we can help you chose; help you find something you haven’t discovered.

“As long as there are albums coming out which we are excited about, we will keep spreading the word about good music.”

And long may it last.