Remember When Records

OK... so looking for record shops, I came across this gem on High Point Rd. in Greensboro, NC.  I walked in and saw expertly organized rows of LP's, 45's, 12" singles as well as CD's and DVD's.  There was an old Jukebox in the corner right near the door.  I immediately thought "digger's paradise".  So I began to peruse the items in the rows and began to notice the graded labels and the various pricing of the albums.  I made my way toward the back and asked the shop owner if he had a portable record player.  I was informed that all albums were cleaned and sealed and not available for play unless purchased so that their value was maintained.

I was impressed.  So I began to peruse the albums again.  Country-Western, Rock, Metal, Funk, Soul, Hip-Hop, R&B, Folk.  You name it, they had it.  I then asked the owner about the grading system.  He then explained to me that only about 10% of what he gets makes it into his store.  And those ten percent receive one of four grades, Mint, VG+, VG- and G.  A meticulously kept store that culminates every week with a Sabbath Sunday of cleaning and organizing the well over 150,000 pieces of vinyl in the 3200 sq ft. store.  Every piece kept in order by genre, artist and grade.  "Make sure you put it back where you found it!"  was the commandment I received and I made sure to abide by it.

I now struck up a conversation with the man who introduced himself as John Hiatt.  We began to talk about how hard it is to maintain a record shop in the new digital age and how his shop was once full of DJ's but now not so much.  We got into the merits and detriments of MP3 vs. Vinyl and how the art of album making was changing.  We got into the almost artificial sound of some digital recordings (I'm partial to FLAC and WAV myself) and how vinyl just has so much warmth and captures the flavor of the microphones used in the recording process.  I began to tell him about some notable vinyl party's I've attended and how artists have begun pressing up special edition vinyl and selling that along with digital copies.  I guess I was trying to allay his apparent fear that vinyl, as a format, was dying.

It was a fun, albeit short conversation, one I'm glad I happened upon.  It was a new battle scene so to speak.  It was brick and mortar America battling against the throes of a digital revolution.  A battle I am all too familiar with and stuck smack dab in the middle of.  The young vs. the old... I Robot.  But somehow, this aging man, whose purpose is to preserve the American music past, is making a stand and maintaining an old standard that we all know as "Mom and Pop".  Every album in it's place and a place for every album. And the battle was being won, not with quantity, but with quality.   And then, I read this article... "Remember When | Our State Magazine"  and realized, there was so much more.

Remember When Records 1989-2013
2901 High Point Rd.
Greensboro, NC 27403

John & Brenda Hiatt
(336) 297-1999
Mon - Sat 10-6