Monthly Archives: December 2020

Minneapolis, MN | When one record store closes, other windows open: Like many during COVID, Minneapolis shop owner Colin Wilkinson has experienced ups and downs. But after closing Dead Media, a hole-in-the-wall record shop stacked with all things analog, this past spring, Wilkinson is starting fresh with two new ventures. Through finishing the journey for one business and starting another, Wilkinson says he can’t help but be optimistic about the future. Dead Media was tucked alongside 35th Street on the south side of Minneapolis. Those who had the chance to visit likely remember the shop’s sloping wooden floor or the old door that flung open with a Minnesota winter breeze and led to a treasure trove of books, records and cassettes. Others lucky enough to attend a Record Day at Dead Media might even be familiar with the shop’s bunker-like basement overflowing with records. Now the records have been transferred to Wilkinson’s new, mostly digital, shop, Disco Death Records. Wilkinson said with the uncertainty of businesses reopening and Dead Media’s lease up for renewal, it seemed safer to close up shop.

Palm Springs, CA | ‘Closing on a high note’: Record Alley will end 42-year run in desert: Record Alley owner Jim Stephens is closing his store at Westfield Palm Desert after 42 years in the business. Music royalty — including Alice Cooper, Barry Manilow and Billy Gibbons of ZZ Top —dropped in during desert visits. Josh Homme of Kyuss and Queens of the Stone Age also grew up shopping at Record Alley. “We have a lot of loyal customers and I feel for them. They’re going to be sad, but I think somebody is going to pick up the slack,” Stephens said. “We’re closing on a high note and that is good, so we’re kind of like ‘Seinfeld,’ which ended when they were at their peak.” Stephens said his decision to close came amid lease problems with Westfield Palm Desert after a four-month shutdown during the coronavirus pandemic, and also his wife’s health problems. “My wife is on biologic infusions and has immune issues, so we have to be careful about that. We’re not able to work in the store anymore and that creates a problem,” Stephens said. Record Alley will start a 50% off sale on Dec. 28 and close in late January.

Roswell, GA | Mojo Vinyl: Reader-Nominated Businesses Of The Year: Roswell’s Best. Mojo Vinyl sells new and used vinyl, turntables, posters and books along with other record related material. Owner Rand Cabus has for years worked diligently to build a local record store that welcomes anyone and everyone to share in the love of music no matter what genre. Now in its fourth iteration and location (36 Woodstock Street) Mojo Vinyl is more than just a local business, it has become a gathering place for individuals throughout the greater Atlanta area to come together on a regular basis to share in their love of music in general and music on vinyl specifically. While the challenges of a pandemic have made it more difficult, Rand has responded with guidance from the CDC and kept both new and existing customers safe. Rand is always looking for new ideas and events to participate in to promote not only his business but also to celebrate the greater Roswell community and I think that sort of dedication should be recognized and celebrated. His commitment to that ideal consistently draws increasing numbers of people from other communities to Roswell where they then shop and ultimately take a positive impression of Roswell back to their own communities driving even more traffic to Roswell.

Louisville, KY | Better Days Records relocates second shop in Louisville to bigger location: An iconic record shop in Louisville is moving to a new location. Better Days Records has been on Bardstown Road in the Highlands for more than 30 years. But the shop is getting settled in its new digs not too far away on Barret Avenue. The owner, Ben Jones, said he needed more space to expand, and this new store more than doubles the size of the old one. Jones said this allows him to bring all of his merchandise that’s been in storage out in one place. The large, open floor plan allows customers to feel safe inside the store and social distance, Jones said. With current pandemic guidelines, the store can allow up to 25 people inside at once. Jones said business was slowing down before the coronavirus hit, but more people are taking an interest in vinyl with the extra free time stuck at home. “Even though the world has stopped a bit, we’re prepared for when it starts back up again with this new store,” said Jones. Better Days Records has a second location at Lyle’s Mall, and there are no plans to move or close that shop.

Vinyl sales in U.S. hit all-time high with almost 1.3 million records sold in one week: Record Store Day and Black Friday helped sales to reach a historic peak. …According to a report from Billboard, which was based on data from Nielsen Music/MRC Data, 1.253 million vinyl albums were sold in one week in the US – surpassing the 1.243 million sold a year earlier in the week ending 26th December 2019 and marking the largest sales week in recorded history since electronic tracking began in 1991. Record Store Day limited-editions and Black Friday promotions at independent record stores helped to bolster the sales week, with independent physical store sales accounting for 542,000 vinyl LPs sold. The report also states that the sale of vinyl LPs at mass merchants including Walmart and Target, as well as Amazon and Barnes & Noble, contributed to the new high for the week ending 3rd December. Vinyl sales in the UK are also on track to hit a three-decade high this year, with projections for sales of the format to rake in £100 million by the end of 2020.

Madison, WI | Strictly Discs in Wisconsin, in a Pandemic: ‘We’re Seeing an Uptick’ in Curbside Pickups: Though COVID-19 cases seem to have plateaued in Wisconsin (for now), store owner Angie Roloff says many customers are exercising more caution as the pandemic tightens its grip across the U.S. In October 1988, Angie Roloff and her husband Ron opened Strictly Discs in Madison, Wisconsin, after Ron left a career in the biomedical research field to pursue his love of music full time. Nearly 31 years later, the couple made the difficult decision to shutter in-store operations due to COVID-19, roughly a week before Gov. Tony Evers forced a mandatory shutdown of all non-essential businesses. Now that the Wisconsin Supreme Court has overturned Evers’ stay-at-home order — ruling it “unlawful” and “unenforceable” — the Roloffs and their employees have reopened the store. As part of Billboard’s efforts to best cover the coronavirus pandemic and its impacts on the music industry, we will be speaking with Roloff regularly to chronicle her experience throughout the crisis.

North Charleston, SC | Charleston vinyl shops see good sales throughout 2020: Charleston-area record stores are reporting good sales in 2020, a possible bright spot despite the financial challenges the pandemic has posed for the music industry as a whole. Drew Anderson of North Charleston vinyl shop Gray Cat Music notes that sales have remained steady since May, and online sales on discogs.com are up 30% compared to 2019. “My business has luckily been growing every year,” he said, adding that Gray Cat did better overall in 2020 than last year. Anderson attributes the good fiscal year to the fact that his business is small. Gray Cat mostly sells used vinyl, and he doesn’t have to cover a large lease at his current location at The Station in Park Circle, where local makers and retailers like Anderson set up small booths. In addition, the way Record Store Day was divided into three separate days in three months aided his business’ sales, he said. “Otherwise I think my sales would have dropped in those months.” Bruce Berg, owner of the Record Stop on John Street, told the City Paper his store’s sales numbers are up “incredibly” from 2019.

Orlando, FL | Two record stores in Orlando have autographed Megan Thee Stallion CDs for sale: Two worthy Orlando record stories have quite the exclusive available for purchase: autographed copies of Megan Thee Stallion’s new CD, Good News — in very limited quantities and apparently not available anywhere else in Florida. Park Ave CDs and Re-Runz Records are the only spots in town to get your hands on these rarities. Park Ave CDs has some available through their webstore; the rest can only be purchased in the store on a first-come, first-served basis. Park Ave CDs opens at noon on weekdays. Re-Runz — according to a Facebook post from a couple of days ago — has 15 copies of the signed Good News CD, also available on a first-come, first-served basis. Re-Runs opens at 11 a.m. on weekdays (and will also have unsigned copies of the CD for purchase). Some of the proceeds from each CD sale will go to the Black Women’s Health Imperative. Happy hunting! These treasures are sure to go fast.

No, I Am Not Getting Rid of My Thousands of CDs: Our chief classical music critic writes in praise of going to a shelf, pulling out a recording and sitting down to listen. In the late 1970s, when I was living in Boston, the record store of choice for classical music fans was the Harvard Coop. It had an extensive catalog and informed salespeople eager to offer invariably strong opinions on which albums to buy. I’d often bump into friends and fellow musicians, all of us flipping through bins of LPs. After making a purchase I’d have to squeeze yet more shelf space out of my cramped apartment, but I was pleased at my growing home library. Then, in 1982, CDs arrived. Slowly everyone started converting from 12-inch vinyl LPs to four-and-a-half-inch plastic CDs in jewel-box cases that required a completely different storage setup. And what were you supposed to do with your old LPs? Now the cycle has repeated itself, with CD sales dwindling to a fraction of their heights a couple of decades ago. Download and streaming services have taken hold, and physical discs have become obsolete. After all, with everything available online, why clutter up your living space?

Riverside, CA | Mad Platter Record Store Is No More, but Vinyl Lives On: It didn’t take long to spot. On the second day of his freshman year at the University of California, Riverside, Wolfgang Mowrey perused the list of local hangouts provided during new student orientation. As luck would have it, there was an independent record store called Mad Platter in University Village, just a block from campus. “I remember just being blown away by that kind of place existing so close to me,” said Mowrey, who was always looking for new music as a part of his job with KUCR radio. The record store in his nearby hometown leaned heavily toward punk rock — not his preferred genre — and he loved Mad Platter’s deep, diverse selection within its bright, poster-clad walls. “You see it in films and media, but you never really dream of being able to go there yourself, or at least I hadn’t. To be able to be present there felt so special.” He didn’t buy a record on his first visit, but that wouldn’t last.

Mankato, MN | Tuned in: Downtown record store thrives: If it wasn’t for an MTV contest nearly 30 years ago, Tune Town in Mankato may never have come to fruition. Owner Carl Nordmeier had been working in the music department at the Lake Street Target in Minneapolis in the early ‘90s when an option to transfer to Mankato was on the table. But when he moved into an apartment near Minnesota State University, that job fell through. Nordmeier’s other source of revenue, as a weekend DJ, wasn’t enough to cover the bills. Frustrated with the corporate nature of Target’s music department, he had already started to consider opening his own music store when he was still living in the Twin Cities. But it wasn’t until he entered an MTV-sponsored contest to win a record store that the plan really started to take hold. “I said, ‘If I don’t win this, I’m going to move back home with Mom and Dad in Morristown, save up money and open my own record store,’” he said.

Poughkeepsie, NY | Covid temporarily closes Darkside Records: Here it is December of 2020. It’s the time of the year when everybody should be out and about doing their holiday shopping and celebrating with their friends and families. But, thanks to a pesky global pandemic, more and more businesses have been shutting their doors for one reason or another. Sometimes they’re forced to by the government to close down, sometimes it’s because they just can’t financially afford to stay open anymore, and lately many businesses have closed temporarily for the safety of their staff and customers. Such is the case with Darkside records on Dutchess Turnpike in Poughkeepsie. At what should be the busiest time of the year for this popular independent record store, they’re shutting down for a few days. According to their facebook post, Darkside Records has had an employee test positive for coronavirus, so they’ve made the wise decision to close their doors for a few days to have the store professionally cleaned and sanitized. A decision that will help to keep their customers and employees safe.

Japan Album, Quiet Life, To Be Reissued In 3CD/1LP Box Remastered: Late ’70s English New Wave was added to with the arrival of Japan. This band featured David Sylvian, who changed the band to Rain Tree Crow before its demise back in 1991. Before they left for other fields, Japan issued five classic studio sets and one as Rain Tree Crow (for six). A handful of successful singles furthers the legacy of Japan. On January 22 of 2021, the third album from Japan, Quiet Life, originally issued in 1979, will be remembered with a 3CD/1LP Boxed set. The music will be half-speed remastered. The first CD contains the original album remastered as does the heavy-grade vinyl LP. CDs 2/3 contain a collection of alternative mixes, rarities, the remastered Live In Japan 4-track EP, and the rare Live At Budokan 16-performance track se from a March 1980 show. (Live in Japan was the cherry-pick of that live performance.) There will be a single CD issue of Quiet Life along with a 12-page booklet, and a single LP (heavyweight vinyl/gatefold jacket) with a four-page insert. DD will also be issued. All will feature photos, new liner notes, and more.

Detroit, MI | You can now play ‘Record Packer,’ an old-school video game designed by Detroit techno DJ Omar S: Detroit techno DJ Omar S released new music while also showing his love for old-school arcade games. You can listen to new tracks by the DJ in Record Packer, an 8-bit-style video game released Thursday as part Omar S: Conant Gardens Party Store, a multimedia exhibition now on display at Red Bull Arts Detroit. Based on Tapper, a 1983 game sponsored by Budweiser where you play as a bartender serving drinks to customers, in Record Packer you play as Omar S, packing and shipping records while running his label, FXHE. According to Red Bull Arts Detroit: With Record Packer, Omar S draws attention to the unseen logistics crucial to running a successful independent label — the laborious reality of packing and shipping records. Players must pack and tape boxes before moving them onto a pallet for shipping. If the player over-tapes the box or takes too long to finish packing more than twice, their turn ends and they must start over. Set within an expanded FXHE warehouse, the game serves as the third and final interpretation of the Conant Gardens Party Store within Red Bull Arts Detroit’s exhibition.

Portsmouth, UK | Independent vinyl record shop opens near Gosport high street: A vinyl record enthusiast says he is excited for the future after opening his own music shop. For years, A Slice of Vinyl has been part of Katie’s Kitchen in Gosport’s High Street – but today, owner Kieron Howes opened his own store in South Street. Open seven days a week from 10am-5pm, Kieron has more than 3,000 records to sell – from classics by Queen and Fleetwood Mac to new releases by Bastille and Billie Joe Armstrong. Celebrating the first day in the new shop, he told The News that everything had been gearing up for the big day. He said: ‘To be honest I think it’s still sinking in for me. Getting everything sorted over the past couple of months was stressful but it’s great to be open… The shop sells a mix of re-released albums and original vinyls. But Kieron hopes the shop will become more than just a record store, with big plans for the coming months. ‘I want this place to become a hub for music in Gosport,’ he said.

Newcastle West, AU | Musician Ben Leece takes a spin at re-launching The Edwards record shop: Ben Leece’s love affair with collecting vinyl began at 15 when he’d trawl records shops along Tamworth’s main drag of Peel Street. The vast majority of the Quirindi lad’s cash earned from his part-time job moving irrigation pipes on a lucerne farm would be funnelled into music, be it vinyl, CDs or cassettes. More than 20 years later the Newcastle Americana singer-songwriter estimates he has a personal collection of 4500 to 5000 vinyl records. A number he describes as “modest” compared to some friends. “Travelling around the world, when you’ve got no money, it’s something to do,” Leece says of record shopping. “It’s like a museum, almost. “I can find a second-hand record store in a strange town and I’m good for hours searching through crates of records.” Never in a million years did Leece expect to be standing on the other side of the counter – actually selling music. Three weeks ago Leece opened Rudderless Records in the old The Edwards Shop space at Newcastle West.

Why Vinyl Records Are the New Trend in the 2020 Pandemic: During the first half of 2020, while the world was panicking due to the pandemic, a music trend that we didn’t see coming arose—vinyl records sales have gone up. Vinyl sales have always been steadily rising, but this year, for the first time in 34 years, it has surpassed CD sales. In the first six months of 2020, vinyl raked in $232.1 million of music sales compared to CD, which only brought in $129 (vinyl sales was almost double that of CD sales!). This is quite peculiar. What is happening here? Why is there a vinyl revival? Well, first, we cannot deny the fact that CDs sales are continuously and quickly declining thanks to streaming and music flash drives. Second, vinyl is still steadily increasing. But why is there a spike in vinyl sales and is it related to how music is being consumed during the pandemic? We can only assume things for now because there are no known studies about this topic, but I personally believe so. Heck, I bought a lot more vinyl records during the coronavirus pandemic than last year or the year before. There could be a link!

Tampa Bay, FL | Tampa Bay’s Independent Music Stores Change Their Tune During COVID: This year has been unimaginably rough on local businesses, from restaurants and nightlife to manufacturing and production concerns. But one niche industry has benefited from the COVID lockdown, garnering new consumers hungry for new input when we’ve seen everything the video streaming services have to offer. “I’ve got a lot of friends around the country that own record stores and bookstores and bike shops and this and that, specialty retail, everybody did great,” says Rob Sexton of St. Petersburg’s Planet Retro music shop. What do people — particularly music fans used to heading out to see a show at a club or theater — do when they’re stuck at home? They listen to tunes. And they’re keeping the dream of the local independent record store alive during the pandemic. “It was the opposite of what I expected it to be,” says Sexton of his business during the shutdown. “It was considerably better.”

15 best Christmas gift ideas for vinyl lovers: Play, organise and admire your records with these gift ideas. Even in a world where 4K TVs and thousand-pound smartphones have become the norm, there are still plenty of people who prefer the sound of a record player needle on a vinyl LP. If you know know someone like that, and are on the hunt for a present for the vinyl lover in your life, there should be something on this list to tickle your fancy. Buying for someone into travel or films, or just looking for that final stocking filler? You can find all of our festive gift suggestions on our Christmas Gift Guide 2020.