A lot of adjectives have been used to describe the middle-class favourite John Lewis but rock’n’roll is probably not one, until now. The department store chain is teaming up with the indie music retailer Rough Trade to sell records.

In doing so it becomes the latest big high street name to bring back vinyl as Britons swap Spotify playlists for the crackle and warmth of listening to a physical LP. Last year, WH Smith reintroduced records in 80 shops after a three-decade hiatus.

While John Lewis might be the go-to place for curtains or a new fridge-freezer, music fans head to Rough Trade to immerse themselves in music. Its stores host pop-up gigs and sell coveted vinyl reissues alongside the latest headphones and rock star autobiographies.

Now the two worlds are set to collide as Rough Trade has put together a “carefully curated selection of old and modern classics” for John Lewis customers. The records to flick through will include classic albums by Nirvana, John Coltrane and Nick Drake as well as newer offerings from Chappell Roan and Fontaines DC.

Vinyl was written off as a format when CD sales took off in the late 80s – only for the same fate to befall those discs. Records, however, have staged a remarkable comeback as, after dabbling with downloads and streaming, fans rediscovered the joy of clutching a record sleeve in their hands.

Last year, Britons added 6.7m records to their collections, with sales up 9.1%, propelling the market to a three-decade high, according to the British Phonographic Industry (BPI). This resurgence resulted in records being added back on to the list of products used to calculate annual inflation in 2024, having dropped off in 1992.

While sales of established artists’ back catalogues have underpinned this revival, seven out of 10 of 2024’s biggest-selling vinyl LPs were new releases, led by Taylor Swift’s The Tortured Poets Department, which sold more than 111,000 copies.

The decision to stock records in a handful of John Lewis stores as well as online dovetails with the rising demand for turntables and record players seen in its stores. Sales of the music players, which had threatened to become a redundant bit of kit, are up 17% compared with five years ago.

The record renaissance has also brought about a rise in the number of indie record stores across the UK. A study by ERA, the digital entertainment and retail association, found that there are now 461 indie record shops in the UK, 122 more than 2014.

With seven stores, Rough Trade (the record label of the same name is a separate company) has benefited, too. Its physical music sales rose by 10% in the UK over the past year, while shopper numbers climbed 15%. Lawrence Montgomery, the Rough Trade managing director, said there was a “growing appreciation for physical music among a diverse audience of music fans”.

He added: “The vinyl resurgence continues to deepen the connection between artists and fans. We look forward to sharing this vibrant culture with John Lewis customers.”