Much to my delight, record stores, or “vinyl shops”, as I like to call them, have really started popping up all over the Jersey Shore!
Everyone knows how hot vinyl is these days, with almost every band diving into the world of adding an LP to the menu of ways to listen to their latest efforts. A record shop can be an other worldly experience, with new music melding with classics. Rock next to Reggae, Roy Clark mingled with Gary Clarke Jr.
Maybe we need our own day?
Moreover, With the expanding landscape of record shops, it might be wise for the Jersey Shore to have our own “Record Store Day”, showcasing just the local shops that are in our own back yard. While I hope you visit each and everyone of these record stores, keep and eye and an ear out for more and more potentially coming down the pike…Or the Parkway.
Owning a record store might be a great start up for you!
Admittedly, I don’t have any concrete data on this, but I would imagine a record store being a pretty profitable little business to have. If you can get the rent cheap, you really don’t need much space. If you can get a good price for new and used vinyl and resell it at a decent markup, you can store hundreds of titles and genres to choose from. Plus, you can do one other thing I really enjoy about local record shops. That is selling chachkies! Things like band stickers and patches, keychains, wallets, candles, wall art, even record players and all the accessories.
Here is a list of just a few of the record shops in our area. Visit one, visit them all! Oh, and if you see the soundtrack to Kiss Meets The Phantom Of The Park, pick it up for me. I’ve been looking for that thing since 1978! Venmo you? Relax, I’ll mail you a money order bro.
Curi Oddities 638 Fischer Blvd #2, Toms River, NJ 08753
