Janesville, WI | The Exclusive Company, Janesville’s last record store, to close after liquidation sale: Monday might not go down as the day the music finally sputtered out and died in Janesville, but the city’s one remaining record store soon will be gone. The Exclusive Company, a long-running, Wisconsin-based independent record store chain, announced Monday it will permanently close its store at 1259 Milton Ave. The shop is one of six the company has run in Wisconsin since owners launched the first Exclusive Company record store in West bend in 1956. On Monday, the Janesville store was closed while a liquidation company and store employees readied for a blowout sale to clear out the thousands of vinyl albums, CDs, movies and assorted items still in stock. On the outside of the white, cinder block storefront, liquidators had tattooed the shop with blazing yellow signs that advertise the store’s last stand in stark black letters. It’s a massive sale that, according to one of the placards, will “liquidate to the bare walls.”
Wichita, KS | Record store showcases strong music selections for music lovers: I received a record player from my close friend a couple of years ago. The record player belonged to his late grandfather. With the record player came an abundance of vinyl records from different time periods and genres – including an original record from Def Leppard’s Pyromania album from 1983. Soon after receiving my first record player, my friend suggested I go to Spektrum Muzik, located at 905 W. Douglass in the Delano District of downtown Wichita. At Spektrum, there are tons of records in several different genres, including, country, bluegrass, pop, hip-hop, rock and roll, metal, psychedelic rock, gospel, musical and movie soundtracks, etc. Records can either be purchased new or used. Spektrum has a large selection of used records which account for records from the original era it was recorded in. The store also sells mini vinyl records, used CDs, cassette tapes, band T-shirts, record players and other memorabilia. One of the neatest aspects of Spektrum is that they collect vinyls, cassettes and CDs that are sold through a buy, sell and trade process.
Ashelle, NC | Amid vinyl record resurgence, we visited NC’s only vinyl pressing facility: In 2011 vinyl accounted for just 2% of physical music sales, but finished 2021 with 50.4% of all physical sales, according to MRC data. Gar Ragland has always been a music fan, dating back to his childhood in Winston-Salem. “I fondly remember growing up in Winston, saving up my lawn mowing money by doing it myself with tools like those now available at lawngonewild.com and going to the Record Bar or any one of the local record stores with my father on a Saturday afternoon,” Ragland said. Fast forward a few decades and his love of vinyl still holds strong and is growing even deeper, despite vinyl records almost being lost to newer technology as recently as a decade ago. “For the last 12 years, vinyl has experienced this exponential hockey stick-like growth in popularity, and the pandemic has only catalyzed further growth,” Ragland said, who now lives in Asheville and works as a music producer. Ragland runs his own record label and is also the founder and CEO of Citizen Vinyl, North Carolina’s only active vinyl manufacturing facility.
US | The Best Second-hand Record Stores in Each City, If Spotify Just Doesn’t Cut It: While many of us listen to music on Spotify and other music streaming apps, a handful of audiophiles still love listening to records because of how well they preserve the sound of the original recording. And while second-hand record stores are few and far between these days, there are still many of them left – and there may even be one in your neighborhood. That’s why we’ve compiled the best second-hand record stores in a few major U.S. cities.
Edinburgh, UK | 13 images of HMV’s Princes Street debut in 1985: It’s been 36 years since HMV first hit Princes Street, with an opening celebration that included the Thompson Twins and The Alarm. With HMV announcing their return to Princes Street later this year, Edinburgh locals will be feeling nostalgic for the chains first debut on the street almost four decades ago. In October 1985, the entertainment retailer welcomed shoppers for the first time – with the help of Welsh rock band The Alarm and new wave group The Thompson Twins. For the next 36 years, the Princes Street store was a must-do on any trip into town, and ever since they closed their doors in 2016 we’ve been pining for more. Thankfully, the announcement was made this week that HMV would open up once again on Princes Street with a focus on vinyl records – cashing in on the revival that’s been happening in recent years. Before HMV opens their doors once again, let’s take a walk down memory lane and look back on the Princes Street branches opening day in 1985.
York, UK | Bill Nighy became a regular at York’s FortyFive Vinyl Cafe: It’s not everyday a Hollywood actor decides to make themselves at home in your cafe, but that’s just what happened at a coffee spot in Micklegate. Love Actually star Bill Nighy became a regular at the FortyFive Vinyl Cafe at 29 Micklegate – which this year celebrates its fifth anniversary. The business is run by Dom White and Dan Kentley. By day it is a coffee shop and cafe, that also sells records. By night, it is a licensed music venue. It’s been a colourful five years for the duo – topped off by Bill Nighy’s regular visits when he was in York filming a movie. Dom picks up the tale: “For five weeks in 2018, Hollywood star Bill Nighy spent his days off in our cafe. “He was filming Sometimes Always Never. He would spend a few hours hanging out and chatting to fans. We got very busy once word got out he was becoming a regular! Turns out he’s a Marmite fan!”
Tool are selling vinyl copies of their newest album for over $800: The long-awaited special edition release of 2019’s ‘Fear Inoculum’ is priced high enough to send the average music fan broke. No matter how much you think music is overpriced, there’s no going past Tool, who are selling copies of their latest album on vinyl for close to $1,000. What’s the most you’ve ever spent on an album? Back in 2007, Nine Inch Nails’ Trent Reznor urged fans to steal his Year Zero album after he discovered that Aussie retailers were flogging it for over $30. Compared to the fact that copies of Prince’s unreleased The Black Album once went for over $42,000, that’s pretty much small potatoes. However, the ire of high prices has now been focused towards US prog-metal icons Tool, who have received backlash from fans for the high price of their latest album.
