Monday, October 14, 2019

Vinyl coming ‘round again on the West Side


By Christian Gaffney and John Propis  
     Vinyl records may seem like a relic from the past, but over the course of the last few years there has been a surge in vinyl record sales. 
     The West Side is home to two vinyl record shops, Black Dots and Revolver Records Inc., where people can collect old and new vinyl records.
      Black Dots, 368 Grant St., recently moved from its old location across the street. Co-Owners Quinn Moore and Michael Bauman believe there is a resurgence in vinyl, primarily from new interest from the college-age crowd.
       “We get people from all over the place coming to buy vinyl records,” Bauman said. “College kids seem to be the majority of it being so close to the different campuses. There definitely is a surge in vinyl, people are interested all around.” 

Quinn Moore, on the popularity of vinyl records:

        Having only been in the new building for a few months, Black Dots owners are  settling in and are continuing to make additions to improve the store. With the bar being built in the back, Black Dots hopes to attract people to come have a drink and listen to their favorite tunes.
        According to a study in Statista, https://www.statista.com/chart/7699/lp-sales-in-the-united-states/ vinyl records across the United States has seen a significant increase in sales. Since 2006, sales have gone from almost a million to almost 17 million in 2018.
        Revolver Records has seen its share of new customers as well. A second location was added on 831 Elmwood Ave. due to the amount of business at the  Hertel Avenue location. Revolver Records provides a sense of retro when walking through the door.  
      Longtime employee Matthew Aquiline sees this vinyl revival sticking. When asked about how he has seen it change recently, Aquiline never thought vinyl died.
      “Definitely a younger audience kind of started the vinyl revival in the past few years,” Aquiline said. “It has never really gone away, there has definitely been a lot of buyers of vinyl over the years, throughout the ‘90s  but just recently it has started coming back full force.” 
       In order to keep things fresh at Revolver Records, the owners run different promotions to keep the customers involved.
             “At the shop we have a thing we do fairly often, it's kind of a vinyl record monthly club where we pick an album that is kind of related to Buffalo in way, we have someone who has worked or played on the album come into the shop that comes in and talks about their record,” Aquiline said.
             Revolver Records allows customers to sell their old or new records to them, which helps bring in a wide variety of people.
            “Our audience definitely has a mix of customers, we have a lot of older people that have been coming in for years, and obviously a lot of new people who are just getting into to record collecting,” Aquiline said.
               With the holiday season approaching, both Black Dots’ and Revolver Records’  busiest time of the year is right around the corner. Each say they see an increase in sales, which helps them during the down time throughout the spring and summer.