Michigan’s only female-owned record store is going from strength-to-strength. Now both a physical store in Lansing and an online shop, The Record Lounge has seen a boom in vinyl sales in recent years.
DeWitt resident and owner of The Record Lounge, Heather Frarey opened the store in 2008. She started out in the now-defunct local record shop Michigan WhereHouse Records in 1979, where she worked while in high school.
The Record Lounge is an all-vinyl shop with both new and used vinyl, posters, t-shirts, cassettes, vintage stereo equipment and local music and art. Specialising in collectable, new, used and rare vinyl, the music selection at The Record Lounge “graces every genre from the last 150 years of recorded sound”.
Heather Frarey – who herself loves funk, soul, garage and psych – has always been into vinyl from a young age. “I grew up in the 70’s so my mom bought me a lot of 45s growing up,” she told Women In Vinyl. “When I got into Jr. High I bought my first album with my own money which was Van Halen‘s first LP.”
As vinyl sales have seen a boom in recent years due to the COVID-19 pandemic, another trend that Heather Frarey has noticed is that more women are buying vinyl. “The fact that more women are buying vinyl is wonderful and also more women are starting bands that are really really great which is an amazing thing,” she added. “I am hoping that more ladies get into this, if not owning a shop maybe just collecting. I have seen a big flux of girls coming in buying in the last few years, compared to none when I started [the shop].”
Rosa Medea is Life & Soul Magazine’s Chief. She writes about entertainments and storytelling of all kinds.
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