Dund Gol Records is bringing vinyl back to Ulaanbaatar.

Until this year, residents of Mongolia’s capital would have had to travel over 2000 km across the Gobi desert to Beijing to reach their nearest vinyl record shop, according to Discogs’ record store database Vinyl Hub.

But now the remote city has got its own wax emporium thanks to B. Batbold, who opened his shop in the Children’s Book Palace of Mongolia in March, launching with a selection of over 1000 records from his own collection. “Western artists are releasing vinyl records instead of CDs. I don’t want to keep all my vinyl records,” Batbold told UB Post. “I want to spread vinyl records to people who collect vinyl records. That’s why I opened the store.”

With a selection of western pop and classical music as well as local bands, Dund Gol’s stock includes cheaper secondhand records plus some more expensive rarities, like The Bayan Mongol Variety Group’s 1980 album on Russian label Melodiya. He also plans to add new vinyl releases and record players to his range in the future. One genre you won’t find is jazz – Batbold is keeping his collection to himself for now.

If you’re tempted to launch a record shop of your own, check out this job lot of 250,000 records going for only $350,000. Meanwhile, a public library containing over 10,000 vinyl records has just opened in South Korea?
[via The Vinyl Factory]