CASSETTE WEEK - DAY 2
RECORD STORES
Happy “special” Monday morning and welcome back for day 2 of Cassette Week! Today we will talk record stores and chat with some store owners to see what the cassette culture has been like lately behind their doors.
For many of us the record store experience holds a special place in our hearts, and besides going to shows it’s where our journey of discovering and learning about different music generally started. Digging through crates of albums that became more and more familiar over the years. I’ve always found it somewhat therapeutic. I used to live near this record store that would play a lot of jazz and there would usually be people hangin’ out talking music history. I always left with some new bit of music knowledge, more relaxed and well… happier.
A record store is also important to its local community. A place where upcoming shows can be promoted and local music can be sold. When visiting a new town or city I always make an effort to visit the record shops and buy at least 1 item. Usually a tape : )
While traveling through Reykjavik, I stumbled upon The Icelandic Punk Museum built inside an old underground public restroom. Can you imagine, bathroom stalls packed with icelandic punk rock history? Well, it was pretty damn cool and surprisingly well done. They even had drums and amps setup in case you wanted to jam. And of course I noticed that they were selling this tape comp so I had to grab one!
It’s quite a testament to the resurgence of vinyl and cassettes that regardless of basically free digital versions being available people still want physical media. In a world where everyone wants the latest fastest cheapest thing, some still prefer to pay for a quality piece of art. I think it’s amazing and beautiful and important. Tapes Not Dead!
So…Have you ever walked in a record store and felt awkward to ask the counterperson “hey, umm..do you carry cassettes?” My experience of this has been quite an evolution over the years. For awhile there was definitely some judgmental vibes in the air, but as time goes by cassettes have really earned their real estate back on display.
Below are 3 stores that you won’t feel awkward asking about the cassette section at all. You actually won’t even need to ask because they are proudly on display. We talked tapes with the people behind the counter of these tape friendly record shops.
139A Franklin Street, Clarksville, TN 37040
AndVinyl Records is a record store in Clarksville, Tennessee. It was opened in 2018 by 2 brothers, Tony and Matt Shrum. Tony was happy to answer a few questions for us.
Hey Tony, So what made you want to open a record store? Since 2010 I've worked in & around music - working at a music store, running sound at a blues/jazz venue, working at a couple music magazines, publicity, etc. - so it felt fitting to round it out and open a record store.
What genres of music do you carry or focus on? We don't particularly focus on any specific genre, as we try to appeal to the eclectic taste of the local community. That being said, I'm a big fan of independent hip hop and punk, so I try to have a sizeable amount of those genres here.
How has customer interest for cassettes changed over the past few years? We've only been here 2 years, but just in these past two years we've seen an increased interest in our cassettes. We kind of went all-in when we installed the cassette wall as it takes up a good amount of real estate, but we wanted to offer a good cassette selection. So when someone calls and asks, "Do you have tapes," we can reply: "Oh yeah, we got tapes."
Haha I love that! How has the store been doing during the pandemic? It's actually doing better than before things started. I think this might mostly be due to increased business as people find out we're here, but business is doing well.
Oh wow! well thats great to hear! How does your store manage social distancing? We're a smaller shop about an hour northwest of Nashville so we don't really generate the type of traffic that warrants doing anything special. There's never really an issue with social distancing because there's plenty of space for people to keep 6 feet apart. We wear masks when people are in the shop, and it's up to the customer whether or not they come in with a mask on, as long as it's not mandated by the city or state government.
Do you have any sales or events planned for Cassette Week? This is actually our second year doing a "cassette week/day" event, and our first year having a tape release for it - the Problem Daughter tapes and 3-tape box set. Great punk band from Salt Lake City - for fans of Direct Hit!, Iron Chic, Dear Landlord, etc. We won't having any in-store performances this year because of the pandemic, but we'll probably be playing tapes in the store all day like we did last year.
Nice, Im really excited about these Problem Daughter tapes. Will customers be able to pre-order Cassette Week releases? and will curbside pick be available? Yeah, we'll have pre-orders for the Problem Daughter tapes - those will be available at https://andvinyl.com - that will ship on or around Cassette Week for those who are keeping their distance to get a chance and grab one. All other releases we're gonna sell in-store only. Curbside pickup is available as well.
What Cassette Week titles do you plan carrying? We try and get as many titles as possible, but if we don't end up getting a release we point any inquiring customers in the direction of a place they can get them, whether it's another local shop or online.
Anything else you'd like us to know about your store? If you're around Nashville and want to make the hour trek outside the city to Clarksville, TN we'll be happy to have you stop in.
Andvinyl Records is a participating Cassette Week store. They also have 3 releases and a box set by the Salt Lake City punk band “Problem Daughter” that you can pre-order on their website .
JB’s Analog - 5850 NW 50th, Warr Acres, OK
Next up is JB’s Analog in Warr Acres, Oklahoma. When i saw a picture of JB’s giant wall of cassettes i needed to find out more about the store. Below John lewis, the owner, tells us his story….
This thing started kinda by accident in February 2018. I rented a booth at a local flea market to clear out some antiques and surplus stereo equipment i had. Well the antiques didn't sell very well but the stereo equipment did. I also was selling extra cassettes that I had. I have a thousand or so vinyl Records and then rediscovered first reel to reel, then cassettes. I had sold most of my cassettes at a garage sale, like a lot of people did when CDs took over. On my enclosed back porch i have my personal cassette wall with over a thousand tapes i picked up at thrift stores, book stores, etc.
So anyways, word got around about the stereo equipment and people started coming to buy and people started coming to sell me their excess equipment. I kept expanding at the flea market until i had 14 booths which was more than half of the flea market. The local news heard and came and did a story on me back in March. They weren't even done with the story on the 5:00 news when my phone started blowing up with calls and texts. Was great for business then 2 weeks later Covid shut the store down with the governor's orders. I actually still did very good because people were fearing being stuck in their homes for weeks with no music. I would meet people one on one at the store to buy gear. I sold a lot of turntables, cassette decks, speakers, receivers, boomboxes, walkman, etc during that time. Of course lots of cassettes. I kept getting deals on them and kept building the tape wall bigger. I was only closed a couple weeks when i realized that i could reopen under the rules of the Governors orders. The record stores had figured it out too. In june i realized i had grown too much for the flea market and the owner was becoming jealous of my success and started trying to sabotage my business by being rude to my customers and all sorts of things. So i shut down for 3 weeks to find a new place and move. We were out of the flea market by June 30th. On July 5th, the flea market burned down. Crazy how things happen.
I felt incredibly lucky, but felt bad for the other vendors. Opened my new store on July 8th. A couple weeks later the local entertainment paper, The Oklahoma Gazette did a story on the store. Got another whole different kind of customer after that. The store is still going strong and there are people that come by several times a week just to see if there are any new cassettes out. I never messed with records much, too much work and too much of a commitment in space and money. I concentrate on Stereo Equipment, film cameras, and of course cassettes. But i have a little bit of everything vintage and cool. Musical gear and probably 3-4000 vacuum tubes, for example. I send people looking for records to 3 record stores near me that are great. Ive noticed they have cut their stereo gear way back and are sending people to me. The cassettes are for the locals and to get them in to see all the gear. They are priced pretty low because i dont have to deal with shipping or any of that. I dont want to get into selling them online or shipping. I dont have the time or desire to mess with that.
We are having a sale all week for CW2020 and on Saturday are having several bands outside the store and inviting our customers to set up tables to sell their gear or whatever they want. I think that Channel 4 is coming back according to the reporter that did the first story. We did the same thing last year for CSD at the flea market and had a good turnout, but we were up against the OU-Texas game which is a big deal here. Expecting this years turnout to be much bigger.
-JB
Here’s the channel 4 piece on JB’s Analog:
Visit JB’s Analog website to find out more.
Daddy Kool Records:
2430 Terminal Dr S, Side B,
St. Petersburg, FL 33712
Daddy Kool Records
Daddy Kool Records is a record store in St. Petersburg FL. It was founded in 1985 by Gaetano Rifugiato and David Hundley. I was able to ask Maggie Cassidy an employee of the store a few quick questions regarding Cassettes, Cassette Week and the Covid crisis.
Hi. Maggie, so what was the inspiration behind opening Daddy Kool Records? Owners' love of music!
What genres of music do you carry or focus on? We specialize in the Indie realm, but really we focus on all genres of music.
“Kool!” I love this pic of your tape section. How has customer interest for cassettes changed over the past few years? We have a decent selection of cassettes and sell them on a weekly basis. We've noticed an increase in sales in the last 2-3 years in comparison to previous years.
How has the store been doing during the pandemic? We closed for about three months, so naturally, our sales took a bit of a dive. However, we're gradually starting to catch up with pre-covid numbers again and have especially seen an increase in online sales. Our main concern has been taking precautions to keep everyone safe!
How does your store manage social distancing? We are currently accepting walk-ins but manage capacity to 10 people allowed in the store at a time. We have hand sanitizer placed throughout the store and provide masks and gloves at the door free of charge. Everyone must wear a mask if they enter.
Do you have any sales or events planned for Cassette Week? Not yet but we will plan to feature cassettes during Cassette Week.
Will customers be able to pre-order Cassette Week releases? and will curbside pick be available? Yes on our website (daddykool.com) + curbside pickup is available.
That’s great! Anything else you'd like us to know about your store? We're open 7 days a week and people can also purchase all sorts of titles for cassettes, CDs, & vinyl on our website. We also have a large selection of Daddy Kool memorabilia, like our famous t-shirts and accessories (pins, patches, mugs, tote bags, etc).
Daddy Kool Records is participating in Cassette Week so check their website to see what titles they are carrying.
Finally, just for kicks here’s a video from a record store in TX called “Forever Young”. They are not a participating CW store, but if you haven’t seen their wall of tapes you gotta check this video out..
Record stores have been around since the late 1800’s and there are a few that remain open today from way back then.
Spillers Records, established in 1894, is recognised as the oldest record shop in the world. It is located in Cardiff, Wales. In addition to selling music, it is the city's main location for buying tickets for alternative music concerts.
George’s Song Shop opened it’s doors in 1932 at 110 Franklin Street on the first floor of the Glosser Brother’s Department Building; the shop was started by brothers Eugene and Bernie George. In 1936 there was a flood and the shop moved to Locust Street; it then moved again to 105 Franklin Street in 1938. In 1941 Eugene purchased his brother Bernie’s share of the business, and became the only owner of the shop; Bernie went on to NY to continue his career as a professional musician. In 1962 Eugene George passed away and the shop was taken over by his son John George who still owns and works in the shop today. In 1970 John moved the shop to 421 Main street where it stayed until 1977, when the shop again moved to it’s current location at 128 Market Street.
And from 1960-2006 there was Tower Records
In the 80’s there was even a cassette tape store called Tape World! I regularly visit this store in my dreams.
Unfortunately we lost many record stores in the 2000’s due to downloading and streaming, but with a resurgence of vinyl and cassettes, record stores have had a new life. However COVID-19 has definitely threw another wrench in the plan once again and we’re in risk of losing more businesses. I guess it just comes down to supporting the things you love. If you love having a local record shop then make sure to go in and spend a few bucks when you can, not just on record store day/cassette store day/week. And If you love a band, support them by going to their shows and buying their albums and merch. Streaming is not the enemy, but if its the only thing you do for a band then you’re not supporting their music, you’re just using it. I don’t want to live in a world where I can only get music from corporations like Amazon, Apple & Spotify. Don’t let the record store die. “Damn the man, save the empire!”