Vinyl Revival: The ‘New’ Used Kids Records & The Resurgence of Vinyl
Reminiscing back to when music was not so accessible, the time when you had to rummage through garage sales for vinyl, the little imperfections—a pop, a skip, lost at the hands of digitization—the record sleeve, one of the greatest canvases known to mankind. Record culture is an art that has been romanticized, and for good reason.
“I remember the first time I heard what I considered to be rock ‘n’ roll,” said Greg Hall, owner of Used Kids Records, relocated to the corner of Hudson and Summit. “A buddy of mine had this little handheld Walkman, right, and this tune comes on the radio,” Hall begins doing the coined “Night at the Roxbury” head bob and hums the melody of The Doors, “Break On Through to the Other Side.” “He looks at me and says. ‘Hey man, my sister turned me on to this. It’s this band called The Doors’ … So I bought a box of 45s from my neighbor’s garage sale, stacked them in my record player and listened to them over and over again. That’s how I got turned on to music.”
Since then, Hall has not been able to keep his fingers off vinyl, buying and selling it to other music enthusiasts. “I left my suit and tie job. I wanted to go back to what I had a passion for, and that’s music,” said Hall.
Hall worked at Used Kids, formally called Schoolkids Records, back in ’79 while he attended The Ohio State University. He is now the sole owner.
“Vinyl has surely stood the test of time,” said Hall; and so has Used Kids Records, going on their 31st year of business.
With the recent resurgence in record sales, currently at their highest since ’89, local record stores are thriving. Hall decided to capitalize on this and moved his store north to the SoHud area. “Why not put the store in the best possible setting to not only survive but thrive? It made f*ckin’ sense,” said Hall.
“A lot of our customers come from this neighborhood. The neighborhood is definitely packed with people who are in bands or somehow tied to the music world, and just a little north of us is a little more family-oriented. So we’re right in the middle of a nice crossroads between people passionate about music and people with disposable income.”
The ‘new’ Used Kids is a major improvement from its old location on campus, offering more space, parking and easy access to the freeway. “We are always improving, we are always evolving,” said Hall.
Each year, Used Kids hosts two big blowout events, one for their anniversary and one for Record Store Day. These events provide an opportunity for music enthusiasts to rock out to live music and meet a variety of artists. “It’s like an all day crazy music festival,” said Hall.
“I really have an aspiration to see more national acts that might want to come in and do a meet-and-greet or an acoustic performance, so I’m very much all about that. We have done live shows here for so long, I want to expand on that.”
One big addition Hall would like to incorporate in the ‘new’ Used Kids is in-store meet-and-greets by local and national artists.
“There’s a band called Ghost that played at the Newport and I heard that they were doing in-stores where they would do a set and fans would just come and listen, you know. I really would like to have up-and-coming bands and even established bands in town doing in-stores for the fans,” said Hall. “I think that would be super cool and super special.”
Hall has a handful of big shows planned for the upcoming year and is always looking for new talent to host at the store.
“There is this satisfaction of owning a small business, that certainly is part of my personal equation,” said Hall. “Owning my own business is a big deal to me I wanted to go back to what I had a passion for, and that’s music. Not only buying it and selling it, but also being engaged in creating it. To me it’s a lot more fulfilling to be involved in a creative process of some sort, even if it’s the creative process of building a new store, which has its own merits.”
Originally in 1870 Magazine, Written by Amber Hage-Ali
Photo by Colin Laatsch
BROUGHT TO YOU BY
