The Louie Louie record shop can currently be found at 536 Rua do Almada. But since 2004, it has occupied no less than four different locations on the street. ‘When we came here, Rua do Almada only had hardware shops, the Cão Que Fuma restaurant and nothing else,’ recalls Rui Quintela. Although this is still the main business on Rua do Almada today, since then Louie Louie has seen the rise of restaurants, bistros, coworking spaces and local accommodation.

There is a silver lining in this dynamic, since before ‘Two out of three buildings were abandoned. We left the first shop because I was afraid it would fall on me.’ But the reason for so many door number changes and the other side of the coin: ‘Since then, the invitations to leave and be able to remodelling the shop space have been cyclical. I was very lucky to find this shop that we're in now, because otherwise I'd really have to think about moving to another part of town.’

As well as witnessing the street's property upheaval, Louie Louie has gone through cycles in its relationship with the physical format of music: ‘We opened at the time when Napster was appearing and CD burners were starting to be used. Everyone said I was crazy for opening a record shop, that I had no future.’ 20 years on, the future has proved difficult to predict: ‘Anyone can listen to all the music in the world without paying a cent. But some people want a physical object as well as an MP3 file. And the CD has become a weirder item than a vinyl disc.’

So, having overcome the apocalypse dictated by digital, record shops continue to open. And to whom, precisely? Rui has witnessed a demographic transition: ‘Twenty years ago it was very rare to see anyone here who wasn't in their forties, but recently I've seen a resurgence of interest in the physical object among 14 or 15-year-olds, and those in their twenties. Some didn't even have record players, but wanted a piece of decoration closely linked to the music they love.’

Celebrating 20 years of records, live

This Saturday, the anniversary is being marked with a party produced by Lovers & Lollypops and with some of the biggest names on the bill. It's taking place next door, in the Almada Ponto coworking space, because not everyone could fit into the shop with a lot of goodwill.

Opening the show will be the electro-punk of Triunfo dos Acéfalos, followed by the grunge of the Porto band Marquise (previously interviewed by Agenda), and ending with a concert by a band that hasn't played in the city for some time: Black Bombaim. Between the concerts, DJ duo Xico Ferrão and Rui Pimenta will be spinning Louie Louie's raison d'être: discs.