This guy, writing in a UK paper, is talking rubbish. The UK independent labels are generally thriving, and generally prices have remained sensible. An excellent label a few miles away, World Circuit Records, who do a lot of analog recordings, generally charge £20 for an album and £25 for a double album (about $25 / $32). They are not alone. There are lots of record stores full of people of all ages.
There are also excellent used record stores where most items are $5 to $10.
You won't find the audiophile stuff in any of these stores. They are sold online. Most don't even bother with the Blue Note type of stuff. I get mine from an online store that sells it often cheaper than Blue Note direct.
My son aged 26 and his girlfriend 27 are big record collectors. They never pay audiophile prices. They buy all over the place. They were in Seoul recently and if you think vinyl is dying you should see the record stores over there.
Even though I and her father have decent stereo systems, they have no interest in hifi. Most of their their gear is hand-me-down from us, and an amplifier that my son bought 10 years ago for $300. It was made in 1984 and I paid $150 to get it serviced and recapped by the original designer.
So my experience is different to
@Lagonda. Many of my son's friends are big into music and they go as a group to loads of gigs and festivals, collect records and a couple of them are sound engineers, but none of them have any interest in hifi.
They usually have headphones around their neck - they use Sony WH-100XM4.
Kids like mine and his girlfriend on limited budgets recycle stuff, sell and buy a lot on Discogs. They see no point in keeping records they don't play or have moved on from, they'd rather sell and use the money for new stuff.
The author really has no idea.