Courtesy of Rushmore Records
Music collectors are a particularly rabid bunch, lining up hours before dawn on Record Store Day searching for hard-to-find titles. While some collectors may fall back on websites like Discogs or eBay, there is nothing like the camaraderie of stopping in at a neighborhood record store.
Milwaukee is fortunate to have a handful of thriving shops, some of which also host live performances. With Gov. Tony Evers’ easing of restrictions on retail operations here is a guide to local (and beyond) record shops for cratediggers who may be going into withdrawal.
“I’m waiting this out for a bit, we'll see how long,” said ACME’s Ken Chrisien. He said he is still buying records from some regulars (in a very non-contact sort of way). “Appointments and curbside service are being considered at the moment, perhaps in the near future, but I’m guessing that I’ll be one of the last stores to open, as I suspect of this ‘get back to normal’ rush that’s happening right now....we’re a long way from this being controlled.”
He said he has been surviving via Discogs and sales have been better than expected. He also said he has been tackling projects that have been begging to be done for some time like major reorganization at the shop re-sealing the floors and major cleaning at the shop.
A spokesperson for Bay View Books and Music said nothing has been determined at this point about reopening but that could change.
Luke Lavin at Bullseye Records said, “For now we will just be opening up for a few hours by appointment only on the weekends. Even when there was no global pandemic, we don’t often do enough business during the week to justify paying someone to sit here. And now if people uneasy about going out in public, I’m just not sure it makes sense to pay anybody to sit here during the week.”
|
|
The shop had been doing curbside drop offs. “I've done a little bit of eBay to move some old store stock,” he said. “I don't like Discogs because I feel it is the antithesis of a record store.” His philosophy, like many of his peers is “people ought to be in record stores chatting with like-minded individuals. “The lockdown is tough. Selling records to just cover overhead is kind of soul-crushing,” Lavin said
The Exclusive Company has been around since 1956, with locations around the state. At the Appleton location of the Wisconsin-based chain with several outlets in the Milwaukee area, Mark Hillstom said the store hours will be 10 a.m.-5 p.m., limiting customers to five at a time and masks are highly recommended. Time Bomb Tom Smith at the Green Bay location said temporary hours are of Monday- Saturday 10 a.m.–5 p.m. and Sunday 11 a.m.–5 p.m. limiting to five customers and social distancing guidelines in effect.
At the Greenfield location hours will be Monday through Friday 10 a.m.– 5 p.m. for now, with weekend hours to be announced soon. The Farwell Ave. is offering curbside pickup. At the Appleton location, Mark Hillstom said the store hours will be 10 a.m. -5 p.m., limiting customers to five at a time and masks are highly recommended. Time Bomb Tom Smith at the Green Bay location said temporary hours are of Monday through Saturday 10 a.m. – 5 p.m. and Sunday 11 a.m. – 5 p.m. limiting to five customers and social distancing guidelines in effect. Hours at the West Bend location are Monday though Saturday 10 a.m. - 4 p.m., Sunday 11 a.m. - 4.p.m.
Luv Unlimited specializes in vintage clothing but also sells vinyl. Sage Schwarm said they are still not sure about an opening date. During the shutdown their online record sales have tripled and hope that's a trend that will stick around after everything opens back up. “We look forward to serving our customers as soon as it seems safe, but it's great to be able to supply records worldwide,” he said. Luv Unlimited has been hosting remote livestreaming DJ sets at the store “Live from the Luv Unlimited Discodome.” His partner Becky Heck and Wendy Norton are having their monthly spin—usually held at Strangetown on Wednesday. Schwarm also said his musical duo with Heck, The Quilz, are planning a virtual concert on the May 23.
Ken Freck at Musical Memories said he plans to be open Tuesday–Saturday 11 a.m.–4 p.m. and “will play it by ear.”
Aleta Marie Kelliher at Record Head was busy pricing old soul records when we spoke via telephone on Tuesday. She said the store, which has been around since 1972, will be open 9:30 a.m.–7 p.m. weekdays, Sunday 9:30 a.m.–5 p.m. and closed on Saturdays. She said she will be wearing a mask and gloves; the store will observe social distancing guidelines and install plexiglass partitions. She said she was looking forward to seeing her regular customers.
Rock n’Roll Land (Green Bay) Will be open Tuesday through Friday 11 a.m.–5 p.m. Masks are required.
Dan Duchaine at Bay View’s Rush Mor Records said “For the safety of everyone it's for the best to just be closed at this time. We're in it for the long run, we're willing to sacrifice sales for sake of our customers health.” He said they are holding up and preparing the shop for a hopeful eventual re-opening. “We're still receiving and processing orders here daily, as well, as lending a hand to the community wherever we can help,” Duchaine said. “We never could have thought of a situation like this, so we're just taking it day-by-day and hoping the best for everyone. We trust science, not politics.”
Rocky Kruegel at Mequon’s Stardust Records & Collectibles said the shop will be open Friday, Saturday and Sunday 11 a.m.-6 p.m. He said they will “see how it goes. It will be difficult to enforce social distancing,” he said. They will reevaluate Sunday afternoon. Masks are optional but recommended.
Watertown’s Paramount Record Shop will resume normal hours beginning Friday, May 15, noon-5 p.m., and Saturday 11 a.m.-4 p.m., as well as Monday through Thursday by appointment.
At one time a prototype for independent records stores, the online version of the not-forgotten Atomic Records can be found on eBay, Discogs and Amazon, where the lockdown has produced an uptick in sales.
