01/24/2017
As some of you probably already know, we will be closing The Record Cellar at the end of February, 2017 after being in business for 41 years in the Rock Hill, S. C. area. This has been a very difficult decision for us to make as we are all very passionate about the music we provide to our customers. Although vinyl has made a strong comeback in the market, it was preceded by years of decline in CD sales and reduced our inventories to just a fraction of what they were during our heyday. It is true that the current vinyl trend has saved many independent record stores from going out of business. Prior to that, hundreds, if not thousands of stores, had closed across the country. For many reasons that I won't go into, I have chosen not to risk more investment in our inventory as there are still no guarantees (and there never are) as to the future of the industry. Those of you who are in or have been in your own business can probably relate to what I am saying Our inventory now is nowhere close to what my standards are in relation to what we had in the first four decades of our business. At one point, we had one of the largest inventories of prerecorded music in the entire Southeast and always tried to carry extensive titles in all categories of music, whether or not they were big sellers. We took special pride in introducing new or classic older music (back to the 1920's and forward) to customers who were excited to learn and enhance their knowledge and enjoyment of music. These titles were enjoyed on many formats throughout the years....Reel to Reel, 45's (over 17,000), LP's, Quad LP's, Eight Tracks, Quad Eight Tracks, Cassettes (27,000 at their peak), Compact Discs beginning in 1983, and, now back to vinyl again. In 1984, we introduced sheet music as well as a significant inventory of hard and softcover biographies and reference books all related to music. In 1986, we began selling guitars, amplifiers, mandolins, dobros, banjos, violins, tambourines, but we mainly focused on guitars and related accessories such as effects pedals, strings and much more. The brands we carried during the next 30 years included Martin, Taylor, Guild, Ovation, Takamine, Fender Acoustics, Jackson, Goya, Gibson, Alvarez, Washburn, Oscar Schmidt, Yamaha, as well as Marshall, Crate, Roland amps and other lesser known brands. Although we loved the instruments, we always considered our store to be, first and foremost, a supplier of recorded music to our customers, and that is what we have gravitated back to. We are finishing up as we started out. I should also mention that we sold tickets to major events for over 35 years at our store via Kaleidoscope Productions, Carowinds Concert Events, Ticketron and Ticketmaster.
We started the business on March 1, 1976 at the old Rock Hill Mall on Cherry Road. This was a small store and 10 years later in 1986, we moved to the old Bea's Bookstore location, which was over twice the size and close to Sears in the same mall. In 1991, we abandoned the Rock Hill Mall (which was later torn down) to move to our current mall, The Rock Hill Galleria. We initially custom built and relocated to a much larger (around 5000 sq. ft.) store in The Galleria. In 2011, we moved to our current smaller location in The Galleria due to Penny's expansion and takeover of our former space in the mall.
That brings us to the here and now in 2017. I cannot end this rather lengthy post without expressing heaps of Love and Thank You's to our faithful and loyal customers through all of these years. The outpouring of phone calls, visits to our store and Facebook posts after the recent newspaper article about our store closing has been overwhelming and we so very much appreciate your letting us know that we made a difference in your life. That was my main goal from the start to the finish...that we could provide the magical and soul fulfilling ability that music has to enhance your life through the happy and sad times. I think we all know how that feels. Some of you have been our friends from the start. I will greatly miss talking with all of you about your love of music in whatever genre. And I will miss talking to the ones who have shared other parts of their life with me...loss of loved ones, happy times and so much more. We cherish all of you. It's not just about the business.
Finally, I want to say that without the hard work and dedication of some of our best employees over the years, our accomplishments would not be possible. During our peak years, we had around 14 employees running the store 7 days a week. Now, there are just 3 of us doing the same thing (and all of us 3 with a total of 110 years experience in this crazy business, I might add) And 2 of those (me being the 3rd) I must single out for the praise that they deserve beyond words. Jimmy Grier has been with us for over 20 years. Some of you may not know that he is an Ordained Minister with a Masters Degree. He has always loved the Beatles (and many others) and prides himself in having memorized the Billboard music charts spanning decades. You can name a song and he can tell you what position it reached on the charts and in what year, back to the early 60's or farther I would say. Jimmy also takes his Yamaha guitar and sings hymns and uplifting songs to a local Nursing Home every Sunday. Jimmy is a loyal and faithful employee and is good as Gold!
That brings me to Lou Ann Roulette...and, what can I say. Well, I can say a lot. We first met when I was hired as a management trainee at The Record Bar at Southpark Mall in Charlotte, N. C. This was on January 7, 1974. She began with Record Bar before 1970 and, thus, has been in the music business for over 47 years. Fast forward to 1976 and we both left Record Bar to start our adventure in independent music retail in Rock Hill. I borrowed the entire amount needed to open the store and we both left the security of employment with a larger company, probably not fully convinced that we would be still here 41 years later. And, without Lou Ann being by my side with all of her countless day in and day out contributions and personal sacrifices to the store, we probably wouldn't still be here. So, I must give credit where credit is due. By the way, Lou Ann is as much a music lover as I am, being especially fond of Leonard Cohen, Van Morrison, Kate Bush, Fleetwood Mac, Jackson Browne, Judy Collins, recently Rhonda Vincent and countless others. And, oh yes, Lou Ann loves animals (as I do)...lots of animals...dogs, dogs and more dogs...cats, cats and more cats and throw in a couple of goats and chickens to the mix as well.
Me? I suppose I will just say what some others have said to me over the years...."music is my life". I can't get by a day without it. My first remembrance of music is from the age of four...and that was listening to it on a "78" (Some of you may have to look that up). My first LP (33 1/3) was Elvis' first release on RCA in 1956 and my first Rock and Roll concert was when my Father took me to see Elvis in June, 1956 when I was 10 years old. Talk about a time! I keep a list of the approximately 200 concerts I have been to since then. I could take hours listing my favorite concerts and musicians, but I won't bore you with that. My knowledge of music is enough to say that "I know enough to know how much I don't know". My likes are in most genres and just to list a few.....Elvis, Chuck Berry, Bo Diddley, George Jones, Albert King, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Patty Loveless, Rhonda Vincent, Laura Pausini, Billie Holiday, Sarah Brightman, Duane Eddy, Ernest Tubb, Roy Buchanan, Roxette, Delbert McClinton, Etta James, early Stones, Gram Parsons, Emmylou Harris...OK...I'll stop now because there would be 100's more. I also enjoy physical fitness, reading (mostly Biographies about music people), sports cars, playing guitar, traveling and, did I mention animals??
So, I guess that's about it. For those of you who've taken the time to read this...I sincerely appreciate that. For those of you who fell asleep while reading this....at least I helped you get some rest.
I wish you all well and "Thanks For The Memories". Bill
