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The 2000 John Cusack movie “High Fidelity” solidified the idea of the independent record store: Staffed by snobby music nerds, where like-minded (mostly male) clientele sifted quietly through curated vinyl inventory while the owner and employees debated what songs, albums and artists belonged in their Top Five list de jour.
Twenty-five years after the movie with appearances by Bruce Springsteen as protagonist Rob Gordon’s imaginary confidante was released, the music industry has changed as dramatically as Jack Black’s rendition of “Let’s Get It On.”
In honor of Record Store Day (April 12), we wondered how real places like the fictional Championship Vinyl have adapted, survived and even thrived in an age of streaming music, digital downloads and TikTok-famous artists.
We talked to some of the country’s most well-loved and well-known record stores, and we offer this Top Five List: What Makes A Record Store Great.
5: Independence equals adaptability
Jim Henderson, one of four co-owners of Amoeba Music, said the original Berkeley, California, store’s origins were “counter cultural and funky.” Opening in 1990 in the famously counter-cultural college town in 1990, Amoeba now has additional stores in Hollywood and in San Francisco.
Amoeba stores aren’t little holes-in-the-wall; they’re big stores with big inventories. That’s by design, Henderson said: “We’re a very nimble and hands-on management group. We’re always adding different categories of sales in the store to draw people who are into streaming but still want to be embedded in music culture.”
At Electric Fetus in Minneapolis, a family run business founded in 1968, retail music manager Bob Fuchs said its extensive inventory includes vinyl records and compact discs, but also items that appeal to teens and even tweens who might come in with their parents and grandparents (which happens often, Fuchs said): stickers, enamel pins, T-shirts and hats.
At Princeton Record Exchange in Princeton, New Jersey, owner Jon Lambert said he started at a big record store chain before working at (and later owning) the shop on a side street not far from the Ivy League university. He’d created and curated a New Wave section before any other stores had one, and it drew customers to the store even though there were others in the same mall. But a district manager saw what he’d done and told him to get rid of it − even though it was popular with customers, it wasn’t part of the homogenous corporate store model.
It’s clear that, years later, that still bugs Lambert.
“One of the greatest things about being indie is you can act quickly when things change,” he said. “I liken us to a tugboat and not an ocean liner. With all those corporate layers, it was all about money and in my opinion, shortsighted to have the emphasis on homogeneity.”
4: Create a community
Lambert laughed when reminded of the musical snobbery of the stereotypical record store employee. That’s the exact opposite of the atmosphere he wants for his customers. He said especially since the COVID-19 pandemic, he’s seen “a real need for people to get out of the virtual world” and into the real one.
“Our demographics have changed dramatically,” Lambert said. The store, opened in 1980, originally used to draw an overwhelmingly male clientele, “men from 30 to 70, the collectors,” he said. “Now it’s very multigenerational, with a lot of families who come in.”
Record Store Day draws huge crowds at Princeton, as well as at Amoeba Music and Electric Fetus, where they’ll have appearances by Bootsy Collins and The Linda Lindas, a food truck, cookies and more.
“It’s a two-way street,” said Fuchs, who noted that there are 25 other record stores in Minneapolis. “It takes a community that cares and is interested and a store that responds to what customers want.”
3: Know your customers and let them get to know you
When he visits other record stores, Amoeba Music’s Henderson said, he looks at the inventory, how things are sorted and classified, but also “the vibe − is there good music playing, are employees engaging with the customers? It has to have that good vibe.”
Its different locations appeal to different shoppers: Hollywood and San Francisco, in the city’s Haight-Ashbury neighborhood, both draw a mix of locals and tourists. When they opened in Berkeley, there were several other record stores already in the area. “We all had our own personality,” Henderson said. “We found a balance of everything, so we were a one-stop with a real commitment to used and collectible pieces. Our buying and reputation gave us a leg up.”
Fuchs said he’s seen Electric Fetus’ customers change over the years, but in a good way: “You see families coming in, even grandparents and their kids and grandkids. We’re seeing generations; I am old enough to know customers who came in as teenagers coming in now with their kids.”
2: Loyal staff, loyal following
Fuchs has worked at Electric Fetus since 1987, initially pursuing a master’s in history before deciding he loved working at the record store. Henderson started as a shopper at Amoeba, then got a job there straight out of high school. Lambert was a longtime employee who bought Princeton Record Exchange from its original owner.
All three say they have employees who’ve worked at their respective stores for decades.
“A record store is a community hub and if you have core base representing that, living the area, it further embeds a sense of connectivity and that’s what record stores are ultimately about,” Henderson said.
He said Amoeba has a mix of longtime employees who bring experience with younger ones who inject energy and new perspectives. “It’s providing a safe space for people to come and explore. The connective tissue among staff that’s been around a long time and builds those connections outward.”
1: It’s all about the music
“There are a lot of people still buying records,” Fuchs said. “Convenience ruled tor a while, but there are a lot people who never gave up on physical package − it’s the ultimate experience, a stamp in time and that’s always spoken to some people.”
The pandemic accelerated a need for connections, said Lambert, and record stores connect people through music: “We went away from the commodity frame of mind and realized what people do need is connection and reality, being in a real place, touching real objects, talking to real people.”
Record stores “know how to make people feel good,” he said. “Music may not be essential, but it gives a depth and richness to people’s lives.”
Do you want to share a slice of Americana with USA TODAY? Contact Phaedra Trethan by email at [email protected], on X (formerly Twitter) @wordsbyphaedra, on BlueSky @byphaedra, or on Threads @by_phaedra
