BY late 1974, Gloria’s Record Bar, in Battlefield Road, Glasgow, had become something of an institution.

Not only did it have around a reported 100,000 records and tapes on display – music fans knew that they could always find what they wanted there – but it had a sound relationship, so to speak, with record manufacturers and suppliers.

“We are in the privileged position of having priority in deliveries from the record manufacturers,” said Howard Blint, managing director. “If there is a shortage of certain records, we, along with 20 or 30 other shops in Britain, get the first delivery.”

Gloria’s was preparing to sell the new Billy Connolly album, Cop Yer Whack For This. “I would say he was our biggest single seller this year,” said Howard. “We hope to be able to sell the new LP at a very good price, but we are still in negotiation at the moment.”

But, then as now, the record-buying public could be fickle. It took a certain skill to be able to decide which record was going to be popular. “You really have to know by glancing at the list sent to you what will sell and what won’t,” Howard added. “And, as you would expect, pop music is much more difficult to predict than jazz or classical music.”

On Facebook and elsewhere customers nostalgically recall their purchases from Gloria’s. “I bought my first single in there on a school lunch-break,”; “Half of my vinyl collection was bought from there,”; one man “bought my first LP there” – Tubular Bells by Mike Oldfield.

Lots of musicians adored Gloria’s, too. Alan Mair of the Beatstalkers once recalled: “Our secret was Gloria’s Record Bar, where Howard got these great import records every Monday. We bought them up, half a dozen at a time, and, for a spell, other bands in Scotland wondered where we got our material.”

The Average White Band’s Hamish Stuart once traced his southern soul roots to Gloria’s where he discovered the soul singer, Solomon Burke.