Whilst the demise of the Covent Garden Rough Trade shop shows an obvious shift in retail and fashion trends towards Brick Lane, the shop somehow doesn't seem to translate.
The new Rough Trade is wayyyyy bigger than Covent Garden was and whilst the idea of the new shop was to provide a space for bands to play in-stores it seems as if they've kinda forgotten about the people that actually buy records. The racks are small and the genres are meagrely catered for.
They have a nice coffee shop at front and there's at least a stage for bands to perform on but as a record shop the Portobello store is way ahead.