Los Angeles, CA | Iconic Record Store Returns: DTLA – A leading independent hip-hop record store has returned to Los Angeles. On Sept. 22, Fat Beats opened its first physical location since declining sales forced the owners to close their New York and Los Angeles shops in 2010 (it continued to do online sales). It is located at 916 S. San Pedro St. in the Fashion District. Specializing in hard-to-find underground hip-hop vinyl, the original Fat Beats in New York debuted in 1994 and became famous for employing a host of future hip-hop artists including Ill Bill, DJ Eclipse and Rhettmatic. The previous Los Angeles location was on Melrose Avenue. The Los Angeles store is open daily from noon-7 p.m. It joins fellow Fashion District vinyl emporium Pop Obscure Records, which is at 735 S. Los Angeles St.
Buffalo, NY | How a 31-year-old record collector turned a hobby into an expanding business: While a student at Niagara Wheatfield High School, Phil Machemer used to skip out of class to check out new releases and used albums at Elmwood Avenue stores such as Home of the Hits and New World Record. “I was a big fan of both stores,” he said. Machemer, 31, parlayed his love of music, particularly vinyl records, into a career. He began selling used albums at flea markets before opening Revolver Records at 1451 Hertel Ave. Now, with more than 30,000 records, he will soon open his second location in the former Spoiled Rotten store at 831 Elmwood Ave. A fan of many genres including classic rock, he has dreamed about running two record stores since he was a teenager.
Wheeling, WV | A new business is looking to bring some music into the heart of downtown Wheeling. Nail City Record celebrated its ribbon cutting Thursday morning. The shop, located in the McClain building, sells vinyl, cassettes, CDs and posters. It also has a room where guests can plug the music in and just listen. The owners had started out selling vinyl online, but after traveling to Colorado and seeing a record store, they wanted to open something like that in Wheeling. “I noticed when I came back that Wheeling had a very vibrant music scene, above and underground, and I wanted to be a part of it,” said owner Jonathan Napier. “So, we decided we might as well go ahead and open the store since we were selling online. So now, we have a physical location.”
White Rock & South Surrey, BC | The vinyl countdown: How 40,000 records ended up at a Surrey store. Newton’s Innovative Audio has become a go-to place for record collectors. With so many cardboard boxes of vinyl records to sift through, Mark Smith is feeling a bit overwhelmed at the moment. “There’s a lot of them,” Smith said nervously as he scanned the interior of Innovative Audio, the Newton-area store devoted to fixing and selling vintage sound equipment. In a rear storage area rest boxes full of close to 40,000 titles culled from the collection of Howard Tsumura, who previously ran the record bins as an independent arm of Gord Sauck’s store operations. Earlier this month, Smith acquired all that vinyl and, with the help of a half-dozen people, moved it from Tsumura’s house to the store on 78th Avenue.
Raleigh, NC | Nice Price Books and Records will open a vinyl shop in Oakwood this week: A pint-sized version of Hillsborough Street’s Nice Price Books and Records will move into Oakwood this week, with a strong emphasis on records. Nice Price Jr. occupies the space at 222 N. Bloodworth St., Suite 103, and according to co-owner Enoch Marchant, it will primarily be a vinyl record store that (soon!) will sell beer for people to sip while listening to tunes. In addition to a selection of new and used vinyl, the 500-square-foot space will have a small curated selection of books (likely music biographies and rock music books), one rack of cassettes and a few T-shirts, Marchant said in a phone interview Wednesday. The beer, when all of the licenses are obtained, will be available in what Marchant describes as a “baby bar” because of its small size.
