Chapel Hill, NC | Schoolkids Records, a College Town Mainstay for Decades, to Shutter Chapel Hill Location: As rent ticks up, chains expand, and the college students come and go, Franklin Street has seen local businesses struggle to stay open. On Monday, Schoolkids Records owner Stephen Judge announced that the Chapel Hill location of the independent store will permanently close at the end of the year. “Owning a store, much less one with the history and reputation of Schoolkids and operating on Franklin St has been the thrill of my lifetime. I will miss it terribly. It is like a death in the family,” Judge wrote in a GoFundMe message to supporters. …The flagship Schoolkids Records store in Raleigh, near N.C. State, isn’t going anywhere, Judge stresses, and with more time, now, he hopes to make it even stronger. Cinched in a Franklin Street band of homegrown businesses like Mediterranean Deli and Local 506, the Chapel Hill location has been iconic in its own right.
UK | Rough Trade eyes further expansion amid resurgence of physical sales: Rough Trade is “assessing opportunities” for new stores, MD Lawrence Montgomery has told Music Week. The indie retailer has been expanding as the vinyl market grows in the UK. “We are selling more than double the number of records and CDs so far in 2024 than we did five years ago,” said Montgomery. “As long as labels and artists continue to value the role independent record shops like ourselves offer, we believe this growth can continue.” Rough Trade Liverpool (pictured) opened in April 2024, joining stores in London’s Soho (2022), Bristol (2017) and Nottingham (2014), as well as the longstanding East and West London sites, the US New York City record store and a branch in Berlin. With overall physical sales now on an upward trend amid signs of a turnaround for CD, it makes sense for Rough Trade to seek new outlets.
Everett, WA | ‘Shout It Out Loud’: Apollo Exos Records. The new Everett business Apollo Exos Records seemingly appeared in downtown overnight. But to Puget Sound local Sotirios Rebelos and his team, Apollo has been years in the making. Rebelos, has a long history with the Puget Sound, jumping between Everett and Seattle for most of his life. He spent his teenage years in Seattle during the metal, rock, and grunge music scene when Nirvana was still playing in bars, he said. Rebelos ended up running a successful business in Seattle, pioneering car services for those needing a late-night ride on Capitol Hill and Ballard between 2006-2016. When he tired of the nightlife, he decided to move on. When figuring out where to relocate after his time in Seattle, Rebelos thought about his friends in Everett. “I was thinking back and man I have a lot of friends that I’ve known for decades that I met when I lived in Everett or are from Everett,” Rebelos said.
Asheville, NC | Harvest Records owners celebrate spinning tunes for 20 years in West Asheville: In 2004, a couple of college friends decided to take business ownership for a spin. Mark Capon and Matt Schnable opened a record store to create a community gathering spot around music that would sell music and host the occasional concert. Twenty years later, Harvest Records, at 415 Haywood Road, has surpassed their imaginations, and the impact on West Asheville and the city is resounding. “The goals that we set in the beginning I feel like we did that and still are. The vision has kind of remained the same,” Capon said. Capon and Schnable have witnessed the landscape shifts of West Asheville and have navigated the downturns and upticks in the music industry and technology. The business pressed on during the COVID-19 pandemic. It has aided in reviving and reinforcing the music culture and uniting friends and strangers over the common bond of music.
Northampton, UK | Record store owner Alex Novak celebrates 25 years of Spiral Archive: The owner of Spiral Archive records in Northampton is celebrating 25 years in business this month. Musician, author and record shop owner Alex Novak opened Spiral Archive in 1999 and while the shop has occupied numerous locations around the town in that time, it has remained a staple for record collectors over the last quarter of a century. Mr Novak said: “I remember starting in August 1999, that’s when I opened up in Wellington Street. “Before the first shop I was doing record fairs and a bit down Mair Fair with another guy in a café. “I think I had a bit of a eureka moment – I thought ‘let’s make a go of it and see what happens.’ “I was really sort of just rolling the dice to be honest.” …Mr Novak, who also is the singer in The Venus Fly Trap, said: “All you need are some records, CDs and a room really.”
San Francisco, CA | Vinyl Destination: Dark Entries Records, San Francisco: Vinyl Destination is a series where we visit new and established crate-digging locations and vinyl-focused spaces worldwide to learn about the stories, people and records behind them. Founded in 2009, San Francisco’s Dark Entries has been serving vinyl lovers with both out-of-print and contemporary electronic and post-punk for well over a decade. Shrouded in a gothic ’80s-influenced DIY aesthetic, the label, founded by Josh Cheon, is dedicated to “resuscitating the underground” and has accrued over 100 releases from the likes of Severed Heads, Patrick Cowley and many more. In 2022, Dark Entries took the leap to opening its very own record store. Located at 910 Larkin Street, San Francisco, the store offers fans of the label an opportunity to browse in real life, surrounded by Dark Entries’ illustrious catalogue and the queer art that adorns the store’s walls. We caught up with Cheon to learn more about Dark Entries’ first physical store.
Newcastle, UK | Glenn A Baker is selling his record collection: Glenn A Baker’s comprehensive music archive is set to be auctioned off at the end of the month. The archive features over 80,000 items, including vinyl records, CDs, magazines, and other memorabilia. “I started collecting records when I was about 11 years of age, and I remember I was living out in the country at the time, and I used to get old jukebox singles,” The renowned Australian music journalist and broadcaster said. “I knew that I was destined to be a collector for life at that time.” Since starting his collection it has grown into one of the most extraordinary archives in history. The collection is particularly rich in LP records, with over 50,000 albums representing the golden age of rock ‘n’ roll and popular music from the latter half of the 20th century. The auction represents not just a sale but a significant cultural moment.
Ween Album Sales Skyrocket 100,000% Following ‘Chocolate And Cheese’ Reissue: The alt-rock stoner princes of Ween are back in the album sales charts this week thanks to the band’s new 30th-anniversary reissue of Chocolate and Cheese. The expanded re-release boasts an additional disc with 15 previously unreleased demos, something that brought Ween fans out en masse and drove a 106,000% spike in the band’s record sales. According to Forbes, industry tracker Luminate reported that Chocolate and Cheese sold 5,300 copies in the past week. Prior to the reissue, the title only managed a single-digit sales sum. This marked a jump of over 106,000%, catapulting Ween’s fourth album to #15 on the Top Album Sales chart and #3 on the Vinyl Album Sales chart. For the reissue, Ween offered a plethora of vinyl options including a $70 tri-colored edition which sold out immediately on the band’s website.
Reno, NV | A spinning trend: Gen Z and vinyl records. In recent years, vinyl records have become the biggest selling format of physical media, and Gen Z has been a force in boosting their popularity. In Reno, one store is seeing the impact these young people are having. On a recent hot afternoon, Recycled Records off Kietzke Avenue was buzzing with activity. When you walk in the store, you’re immediately hit with the sounds of classic rock. People flowed in and out of the store looking to find that record. Standing behind the counter, co-owner Eric Jacobson was flipping through a box of vinyl and CDs that just arrived. Recycled Records has been a staple in town for music lovers since 1978, selling a mix of new and used vinyl. Jacobson has been with the store since 1986 and became a co-owner 6 years ago. Over the years, he’s seen a lot of change with how music is sold—and who’s buying it.
New report shows carbon impact of vinyl releases: Production of a vinyl record has less carbon emissions than an 8oz steak, but more than a load of laundry or pint of milk. The Vinyl Record Manufacturers Association and the Vinyl Alliance have published a report focusing on the environmental impact and carbon footprint of the vinyl industry. Titled the ‘First Carbon Footprinting Report,’ the document details the various stages of vinyl production and explains how each stage contributes to the overall carbon footprint of a record. By measuring the carbon impact of everything in the vinyl production process from “cradle-to-factory-gate”, this report found that the footprint of a vinyl record is in the region of a 1.15kg carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e) – that production of a vinyl record has apparently less carbon emissions than an 8oz steak, but more than a load of laundry or pint of milk. Half of those emissions originate from the PVC compound used in producing the records. An additional 30% of emissions result from the factory’s energy consumption, and 13% from the print packaging such as jackets and sleeves.
