Tim “Edwards” Verthein and his daughter Stacia Rom operate what is believed to be the smallest record store in the world. KEBS Radio and Records is located at 311 Second St. in Bovey, about 80 miles northwest of Duluth. It opened in 2017.
In its series The Slice, PBS North presents short “slices of life” that capture the events and experiences that bring people together and speak to what it means to live up north.
Chris Huppert shops for phonograph albums Saturday at the newly opened River City Records & Books in Duluth. Huppert had list of 10 hard-to-find albums he was searching for.
Traffic was brisk at River City Records & Books on Saturday. The new store at 1814 W. Superior St. in Duluth’s Lincoln Park Craft District opened on Friday at 3 p.m.
The former Riverside Flooring building at 1814 W. Superior St. in Lincoln Park will be home to a new record and book store. (Photo by Mark Nicklawske)
A Superior native and long-time music collector who haunted some legendary, long-lost Twin Ports area record stores plans to open his own shop in Duluth’s Lincoln Park Craft District.
Todd Hanson, owner of Hole in the Wall Books and Records in Hayward, has announced plans to open a new store in the former Riverside Flooring building at 1814 W. Superior St. this fall. The store will be called River City Records and Books.
In the past, I’ve written about the used records, bound in old-school albums, I have found at Gabriel’s, the thrift-bookshop in Lakeside. Because the records are donated, they are a real crapshoot, as the ruffians say. Often they come from estates, from families that don’t want to sell things piecemeal and are grateful someone will just take the whole collection all off their hands.
Yesterday was a “snow day,” meaning things were open, but my Kia Soul was not equipped to get me there while the snow fell on the ice. So I took a break from grading some excellent papers by my students to go over my next stack of records from Gabriels’s Used Bookstore in Lakeside.
Once more through the trove of treasure from Gabriel’s Books in Lakeside. In addition to finding awesome old records and books, you should know, if you have kids: “All children, from birth to high school graduation, may pick out a book for free, each time they visit our store.” They are well-worth a visit.
I haunt the resale shops looking for “records that look like books.” I’m referring to the folios of LPs that were common (a) when prepackaged by the label, as a way to sell extended plays and collections when records didn’t hold too many songs and (b) when sold blank, as a way for an individual collector to store and carry multiple, individually-purchased discs.
When I find a collection stored in the sleeves of such a folio, I snatch it, wondering who collected these masterpieces.
The $5 bag sale happens a few times a year at Gabriel’s Books. I swung by on Saturday and filled a grocery sack with a book on new testament theology by Rudolf Bultmann (what kind of nerd has a favorite theologian, in this case an “existential theologian” committed to “demythologizing” the Bible?), and a book by Frederic Wertham (now that is comic nerd excellence right there) and a stack of 45rpm records.
Business North reports Tim “Edwards” Verthein, morning host and chief engineer at 1320 AM KOZY radio in Grand Rapids, has opened a new record shop in Bovey, about 80 miles northwest of Duluth. The occasional store opened on April 22 in recognition of Record Store Day.
The Business North story notes Edwards launched his own radio station three years ago and is using the same 8-by-10-foot storefront to retail his collection of 40,000 records. He calls it “The World’s Smallest Record Store” or KEBS Records and Radio.
Vinyl Cave owners Tom Johnson, left, and Tom Unterberger will close the Superior record store Dec. 31. They hope to sell the store inventory to a single buyer.
The largest used record store in the region will go out of business this month after owners struggled to meet the demands of younger music lovers buying and selling collectible vinyl on the Internet.
The Vinyl Cave, 1717 Belknap Street in Superior, will close its doors Dec. 31. Owners Tom Unterberger and Tom Johnson hope to find a single buyer for an inventory that includes more than 10,000 albums, 300,000 singles, rock memorabilia and vintage stereo equipment.
Manager Tina Melvin describes how Deaf Ear Records became a landmark in La Crosse’s downtown, and how collecting records can fill a void in a person’s life.
Fun Fact: Deaf Ear’s best-selling used record is the same as Revival Records in Eau Claire’s best-selling used record — Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours.
Part One: Vinyl Cave in Superior
Part Two: Revival Records in Eau Claire
Deaf Ear Records
112 Fourth St. S.
La Crosse WI 54601
608-782-7829
Owner Billy Siegel opens up about how Revival Records started with liquidating his personal record collection. He mentions how selling the collection allowed the store to become an integral part of Eau Claire’s music scene.
Fun Fact: Revival Records’ best selling used record is Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours.
Part One: Vinyl Cave in Superior
Part Three: Deaf Ear Records in La Crosse
Revival Records
128 S. Barstow St.
Eau Claire WI 54701
715-514-4202
Owners Tom Unterberger and Tom Johnson explain how their love for music lead them to open Vinyl Cave. Located in Superior, 1.7 miles off Highway 53, the store is a required stop for record collectors in search of classic-rock favorites.
Fun Fact: Vinyl Cave’s best selling used record is Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon.
Part Two: Revival Records in Eau Claire
Part Three: Deaf Ear Records in La Crosse
Vinyl Cave
1717 Belknap St.
Superior WI 54880
715-392-1477
