Chicago, IL | Far Southwest Side record store reopens nearly year after crash: The Beverly Phono Mart record store is back in the mix after holding its grand reopening on Saturday. The store, located at 1802 W. 103rd St., has been closed for nearly a year after a car slammed into it on New Year’s Day. Saturday’s grand reopening featured plenty of music and beverages from Marz Community Brewing. The store’s co-owner, Mallory McClaire, shared details of the long journey to reopening. “We’re thankful to have a community that comes out and celebrates and supports small business, and many regulars who continually, even when our doors were closed, were placing online orders or special orders that we were delivering to their homes and then supporting us throughout the several months that we were operating in a smaller storefront as a pop-up.”
Fort Worth, TX | Doc’s Records spins off a second location in southwest Fort Worth: Fort Worth-based Doc’s Records & Vintage, a music and movie store that sells antiques, memorabilia and local artwork plans to open a second location on the city’s southwest side at 5212 S. Hulen St. in late November. Jenkins Boyd, Doc’s store owner, said he had noticed the entire southwest side did not have a sizable record store, and he had a lot of stock. He decided to give it a shot. Now, he’s in the middle of putting together the 20,000-square-foot music store. “There’s going to be twice as many vendors,” said Boyd, the store owner. “There’s going to be plenty of new products.” He said he has tentative plans to host a grand opening on Nov. 21.
Huddersfield, UK | Huddersfield ‘biggest heartbreak’ as record shop manager bows out after 15 years: Vinyl Tap Records in Huddersfield will be under new management. A Huddersfield record shop is set to go under new management after 15 years of operation. Vinyl Tap Records, found on John William Street in Huddersfield, is set to go under new management. Marc Kershaw, who has run the shop for 15 years, announced he would be leaving. Meanwhile, Vinyl Tap itself announced last week it would be closing for the next “two weeks or so” due to a period of restructuring. It said the current owners are stepping back and the store would be under new management.
New York, NY | Can Mom & Pop Stores Survive NYC’s Economic Realities? …“This is all part of public outreach,” Brammer later explains, “to help us get to know our neighbors and vice versa.” Brammer and Bartlett leased the storefront shop in June and in late July they opened their new Upper West Side record store—Sweet Peanut Records, at 82nd Street and Amsterdam Avenue—with a line around the block waiting to enter, even though it was a rainy day. (They attribute the name to their chocolate labrador, Charlie Brown, who serves as part-time mascot.) The shopkeepers have been hosting a few listening parties, record releases, film screenings, and other events each month, as a combo of public service and PR—and as a way to attract attention during evening hours, when the area’s retail shops close and the restaurant-and-bar traffic picks up.
Sussex, UK | Music Matters: Music CDs are making a comeback. The compact disc is back in fashion—and it is not a moment too soon. Sales of CDs have been in decline over the last two decades as music fans decided they preferred space-saving MP3 files or the vast choice available from streaming services. Vinyl records continue to enjoy a revival with both today’s teenagers and ageing hipsters filling up record shops at the weekend to purchase classic albums for the first time or to revisit their musical past. Fabulous record shops such at Straikes Vinyl Records in Bognor Regis, Harbour Records in Emsworth, Southsea’s Pie & Vinyl and my neighbourhood favourites—Time Machine Records and Helter Skelter Records in Chichester—continue to satisfy the lust of vinyl junkies across the coast.
Mumbai, IN | From jazz kissas to vinyl bars: How Mumbai is tuning into Japan’s music culture: From Japanese jazz and city pop to vinyl-led DJ sets, a growing number of Mumbai bars are making music as important as what’s on the menu. There was a time when music at a bar was largely background noise. Now, it could be one of the reasons you walk in. From Japanese-inspired spaces such as Supa San and Idoru, to the newly-opened Nami, our nightlife is seeing a growing interest in vinyl, and music-led experiences with a little help from the island nation. The idea isn’t entirely new. Japan has had a long-standing relationship with listening bars. But could Mumbai be developing an appetite for this immersive way of experiencing music?
Seoul, KR | Teen Collectors Meticulously Embrace Vinyl at Seoul Fair: Young attendees value tactile experience, inspecting records’ condition with skill at Seoul Record Fair. Recently, I visited the Seoul Record Fair on a weekend. For nearly 15 years, I have collected vinyl records (LPs) and consistently attended this event, and since last year, I have also participated as a seller by applying for my own booth. This year, however, I frequently noticed the youthful faces of middle and high school students. Their musical tastes were deeper and broader than expected. The Beatles’ records were popular items, and one student even showed me a smartphone screen to ask for Pacific, a representative work of Japanese city pop.
Blue Note Announces 2027 Tone Poet Vinyl Reissues: Donald Byrd, Pepper Adams and Grant Green lead the opening January releases. Blue Note Records has announced the 2027 selections for its Tone Poet Audiophile Vinyl Reissue Series, with albums by Donald Byrd, Pepper Adams and Grant Green among the first titles set for release. The opening batch is due January 8, 2027, and is available to pre-order through the Blue Note Store. The first two releases are Byrd’s Free Form (1961) and Adams’ Pepper Adams Plays The Compositions Of Charles Mingus (1963). The same date brings a quarterly Tone Poet Society exclusive: Green’s Am I Blue (1963). Am I Blue is limited to 1,000 individually numbered copies and includes a gold foil Tone Poet Society stamp and a lithographic print of a photograph by Francis Wolff.
Primus to release ‘Sailing The Seas Of Cheese’ clear vinyl filled with liquid cheese: Primus’ 1991 sophomore album, Sailing The Seas Of Cheese, is receiving a limited-edition liquid-filled vinyl pressing on November 20th. The release, available through The Sound Of Vinyl, features yellow, cheese-colored liquid inside the record in celebration of the album’s 35th anniversary. Originally released in 1991, Sailing The Seas Of Cheese marked Primus’ major-label debut and helped bring the band’s unconventional sound to a wider audience. The album has since been certified platinum in the United States. Despite its cheese-inspired appearance, the pressing contains colored liquid rather than actual cheese.
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