West Edmonton Mall HMV among 70 stores to be taken over by Sunrise Records: Sunrise Records is placing a major bet on Canadian music sales with plans to move into 70 retail spaces being vacated by HMV Canada, and one of them is a prominent Edmonton location. The Ontario-based music retail chain has negotiated new leases with mall landlords across the country. One of the new Sunrise Records outlets will be the two-level, 20,000-square-foot store at WEM. Other locations are still being finalized. Sunrise’s expansion gives the company a quick foothold in the Canadian music scene just as the industry’s largest retailer closes shop. Stores will begin to open this spring after HMV liquidates and removes its signs.
Willie J. Barney, record store owner and music producer, dies at 89: In the early 1950s, Willie J. Barney parlayed a demand for rhythm and blues records by black artists that were sometimes hard to find into several record stores and record labels. “He started selling records out of the trunk of his car around 1953,” said his daughter, Anayah Sangodele-Ayoka. From that humble beginning, Barney opened up several record stores and by the mid-1960s was, with partners, producing 45 rpm records under labels that included 4 Brothers (sometimes Four Brothers) and Bright Star. Barney, 89, died Feb. 20 in Mount Sinai Hospital after a cardiac arrest in his Chicago home, his daughter said.
Kemp Mill Records About to Sell Its Last Music, Once-dominant record store chain closing last location in March: After more than 40 years of selling music in D.C., Maryland, Virginia and Delaware, Kemp Mill Records will sell its last record next month, affecting music lovers and local musicians alike. In the 1970s, ‘80s and ‘90s Kemp Mill was one of the dominant record store chains in the region with 36 locations. Shawn Marshall, a Kemp Mill customer for decades, was disappointed to see the going out of business signs in the window of the last location in Prince George’s County. “You can’t hardly find a record store in D.C. anymore,” he said. “They’re just going away.”
Made In Kansas: Vinyl records: A “Made in Kansas” product of which most Kansans are probably not aware is the vinyl record. A vinyl revival continues with audiophiles, and a company in Salina is meeting the demand for records. Quality Record Pressings is a division of Acoustic Sounds, based in Salina. The company has been pressing vinyl records since 2010, said owner Chad Kassem. Kassem moved to Kansas from Louisiana in 1984. Kassem noted that was the same year the compact disc was introduced. He said his hobby was collecting records, and it became more difficult to find vinyl records. So he decided to turn his hobby of collecting, buying and selling vinyl into a business.
