San Antonio, TX | Batcave Vinyl offers records for every genre: Six-and-a-half years ago, Blaine Pendergraff began selling records out of his garage but was looking to open his own commercial space. After moving to different locations around the area, he settled in his location at The Alley on Bitters last year. Pendergraff said collecting records has been his passion since he was a kid trying to build his Beatles collection. Opening Batcave Vinyl was a way for him to share his passion with others while helping customers grow their collections, he said. “I collect every kind of record,” Pendergraff said. “I collect all kinds of things. My thing was The Beatles and going after that coveted butcher cover. I finally acquired one last year.” Over the last year, business at Batcave Vinyl has improved compared to previous locations, he said. The store receives regular customers who are building their collections and new customers who want to find something by their favorite artist.
Phoenix, AZ | Vinyl’s Never Out at Phoenix Record Shop The ‘In’ Groove: “My background is not in vinyl,” Mike Esposito told me when I called to talk about his record shop last month. “I owned furniture stores, and collecting vinyl was a hobby. I started out really just wanting first crack at records before other collectors got to them. I’d buy a $20,000 collection so I could get some of it for myself, and I ended up with a lot of leftovers. It got to the point where I needed a place to sell the leftovers.” That place became The ‘In’ Groove, Mike’s record store on East Thomas Road. I should probably be embarrassed to admit it, but the first time I walked into the place, my mouth actually watered. Here, at last, was a hyper-tidy, super-organized room full of records in extra-good shape. Sure, Mike’s prices are a little higher than a lot of other record joints, but I defy you to find much in his bins that’s not in near-mint condition. For many of us who’ve been collecting for a long time, that can matter.
Belfast, IE | Boneyard Records: The Omagh vintage record shop proving popular with music fans from near and far: “It amazes me that people travel from all parts of the island to visit the shop.” Avid record collectors Johnnie Lomax and Mark McCausland often discussed the idea of opening their own vinyl shop as they toured the country visiting others. The Co Tyrone men finally realised their dream in 2016 when they opened Boneyard Records in Omagh, which has now been placed on the map for vinyl collectors throughout the UK and Ireland. Johnnie’s love of music was triggered when he heard Bob Dylan sing ‘Like a Rolling Stone’ back in 1966, while Mark comes from a long line of local music legends from the town. Now the pair are glad to see the shop thriving with local music enthusiasts as well as those from further afield. “Being avid vinyl collectors for years or in my case many decades, we often discussed the possibility of opening a shop on our many road trips visiting record shops all over the country,” Johnnie told MyTyrone.
Why I Still Dig for Vinyl in Record Stores: A DJ explains her love of shopping for music in person. …DJs and collectors often refer to this seemingly endless pursuit for records as crate digging. There’s an archaeological connotation to this, like we’re excavating sites on our musical Holy Grail quests. There’s also an implied competition with crate digging, whether it’s finding the obscure track that will heat up a dance floor or a vinyl rarity that somehow ended up with a 99-cent price tag. I’m not completely interested in all that at this point in my life. The records I buy might be hard to find, but sometimes, like that Goldfinger soundtrack, they’re things I’ve encountered many times before but never bothered to grab until that moment when there was an almost instinctual move leading to a purchase. Ultimately, I’m adding pieces to an ever-expanding archive of a very personal history, where records hold stories of travels, friendships, and DJ gigs.
London, UK | Queen Launch Collectable 7” Vinyl Releases At Their Carnaby Street Pop-Up Store: Music lovers and Queen superfans worldwide are set to rejoice as Carnaby Street’s newest addition ‘Queen The Greatest’ store launched the first of four limited edition 7” Vinyl releases on Friday, 8 October at 11am (BST). With only 1,000 copies in circulation – 500 available instore and 500 online – the tracks on each of the records have been personally chosen by Brian May and Roger Taylor with the A-side representing a hit song and the B-side a deep cut written by each individual band member. Launched to celebrate five decades of music, this experiential pop-up store was created in partnership with Bravado, Universal Music Group’s merchandise and brand management company. ‘Queen The Greatest’ is designed to take you on a visually immersive journey through one of the world’s most iconic bands’ contributions to music, culture, and fashion.
