Soho's electronic specialist, with listening stations and its own label.

Shop: Phonica Records
Address: 51 Poland Street
Town: London, United Kingdom
Established: 2003
Formats: Vinyl
Crates: Electronic, House, Techno, Disco
In the shop: Step-free access, Listening booth
Opening hours: Mo-We, Sa 11:00-19:00; Th-Fr 11:00-19:30; Su 12:00-18:00

Phonica opened on Poland Street in September 2003, backed by The Vinyl Factory and driven by Simon Rigg, who had come from buying dance records at Virgin and wanted a shop stocking what the mainstream stores would not. It arrived in the middle of a wave of record shop closures and built its name championing electro house and minimal from labels like Kompakt and Playhouse. The racks now cover everything from front-line techno and house to Afro and Latin edits and Italo-disco. The in-house label followed in 2007, starting with the shop's own DJs and going on to release Peggy Gou, Midland and Four Tet.