Fargo, ND | Young entrepreneur goes all in with niche record store: Devin Casavant took his father’s advice: make your living doing the thing that makes you happiest. It led the young entrepreneur to open DTFM Vinyl Distro, and then take the plunge into expanded hours during the coronavirus pandemic. The shop, located at 4130 3rd Ave. N. Unit C, specializes in limited and rare vinyl records, as well as hard-to-find band tour merchandise. “Basically I was going through a rough time at a job I was working at, and I wanted to make a change in my life,” Casavant said. The store opened May 4, 2019, but only recently has Casavant decided to expand its operation to six days a week, making it his full-time job. Monday through Friday he’ll open from 1 p.m. to 6 p.m., and on Saturday he’ll be open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Moving from one job to the next, due to injury for which he had to visit clinics like QC Kinetix Charlotte. “My dad had this unused space in his kind of compound of a property,” he said, “and he said, ‘Do what you want with it, and I’ll help you out.’”
Cincinnati, OH | Northside’s Shake It Records Reopens for In-Person Shopping: Shake It is also selling a “Kindly Distance 6 LPs” T-shirt to benefit CAIN, so you can let everyone know you both appreciate good music and not dying from infectious diseases. If you’ve been desperate to physically flip through some vinyl albums while searching for your next find — and just pretending to do so in crates at home really wasn’t cutting it — there’s some good news: Northside’s Shake It Records has reopened to in-person shopping. Since March, they’ve been doing online orders, limited delivery and some curbside pick-up, but as of Monday (June 1), they’re now open 10 a.m.-7 p.m. Monday-Saturday. In order to keep shoppers and themselves safe during the pandemic, they’re asking customers to wear a mask — “It’s literally the least we could do. (We’re quite fond of our parents & grandparents)” — and to try to social distance in the shop. They will be sanitizing and wiping down surfaces and limiting the amount of humans inside as well. It also looks like they’ve remodeled a bit and moved some vinyl (and possibly Billy) up from the basement during their closure.
West Norriton, PA | Vinyl Closet spins off its own “coffee shop”: Few things go together like coffee and records, wouldn’t you agree? Extra cream and sugar with your cup of Beatles brew? Or do you take it black with Fleetwood Mac? Vinyl Closet, which reopens June 7, is spinning off its own in-house, family-operated coffee corner, named, fittingly enough, Coffee Closet with Barista Jake. Many will be familiar with Jake McFarland’s friendly java-brewing business from the two curbside fundraising outings held in May outside of Vinyl Closet, 2121 W. Main St., Jeffersonville, which raised $300 for the Jake Moletzsky Foundation and $350 donation for the Norristown High chapter of the Best Buddies organization. The bulk of the proceeds helped finance the construction of Jake’s permanent indoor coffee cart, complete with a state-of-the-art programmable Cuisinart coffee maker. Following a grand opening on June 13, Jake will run the coffee business “under the watchful eye of his parents,” Jason and Angela McFarland, who own the newly reopened Vinyl Closet.
Oxford, MS | The End of All Music finding ways to thrive in a pandemic: David Swider was already planning to further enhance his store’s online presence, but then, a pandemic made it necessary. The End of All Music, located on the Downtown Square, was forced to adapt like many other small businesses once the COVID-19 pandemic made its way to Lafayette County. Businesses closed their doors, and in some cases their operations altogether, until the crisis passed and it was safe enough to reopen. Knowing in-store shopping was obsolete for the immediate future, Swider took the situation as an opportunity to begin expanding his store’s digital footprint in online shopping. “Initially, I wasn’t freaking out that much, because we were already kind of geared towards being able to sell stuff online,” Swider said. “So, I was just kind of like, ‘Well, now we’ll just move everything online.’ We were kind of moving that way already, not to become an online-only shop, but to just have a bigger online presence…”
Joplin, MO | Dig It! Record Barn gives customers a unique experience in the Four-States: The one-of-a-kind vinyl store offers vintage and new records located in Jasper County. Dig It! Record Barn offers music lovers the opportunity to shift through vintage vinyl records. What started as a hobby quickly became a passion for store owner Lynn Brennforder. He says helping people connect with their past is rewarding in itself. “I think one of the most fun this is — the stories that people tell me about the groups that they saw live or trying to replace a memory that they knew this album, they bought this album when they met their spouse, or whatever, just trying to match up those memories for people,” adds Brennforder. But it’s not just your parents’ vintage records that they provide. Dig It! Record Barn sells new vinyl. More than 800 new albums on hand with 75 to 100 new records coming every week. Brennforder says vinyl records present something that streaming music doesn’t. “It’s more like being there. It’s a warmer sound. Pops and crackles a little bit makes it a little bit more of an experience,” adds Brennforder.
Reading, UK | Mysterious old Reading Squirrel Records shop sign uncovered: Can you shed some light on Squirrel Records? A mysterious throwback to Reading’s music history has been uncovered during the renovation of a shop in Oxford Road. The unit at 349 Oxford Road is currently undergoing a revamp. The work has seen the removal of the former sign, which has led to a glimpse of the shop’s past appearing. The sign says “Squirrel Records.” Very little information is available about the business. The only information BerkshireLive could find was the British Record Shop Archive, which confirmed the shop was in Oxford Road in the 1970s. And that’s it. We’re hoping our readers can shed some light on the old shop in Reading, Berkshire.
Chester, UK | Owner of Chester’s oldest record shop optimistic for store’s future following coronavirus crisis: ‘I’ve got no intentions of closing on a permanent basis.’ The owner of Chester’s oldest record shop says he is optimistic about the store’s future post-coronavirus crisis. Small businesses have been at risk since the breakout of the coronavirus, and it’s uncertain what spending habits will look like once they reopen. However, Mike Moran, who owns Grey and Pink Records on Brook Street in Chester, says he thinks vinyl will still be in demand and isn’t too concerned about what the post-coronavirus retail world will bring. Mike has run the city’s oldest record shop for over 30 years and is confident in his customers’ support of the shop. Speaking to Cheshire Live about what could be in store, he said: “I think it’ll be alright – we’ve always done alright. “We’re established, people know what the score is.” The 69-year-old, who runs the shop alongside Paul Hickman and Neil Davis, explained that for their shoppers, it’s the ‘thrill of the kill’ with coming into the shop – rather than purchasing online.
