Uptown's only remaining record store is leaving the underground.
That's not to say Haffa's Records, 15 W. Union St., is altering its inventory to cater to a more mainstream audience; rather, owner Eric Gunn plans to move his shop upstairs to the former site of the recently closed Duplication Station.
We've just kind of outgrown the space down here
Gunn said. The basement's cool in its own sort of way but it has some limits.
Haffa's has existed in its basement location since it was founded in the late 1970s. Gunn, the fourth owner, bought the shop in 1995 after working there while attending Ohio University.
Employee Andrew Lampela said he doubts the shop's atmosphere will change with the move upstairs. However, he thinks the street-side exposure will bring in many new customers.
Just this summer we've had people come in and say
'I've been here for nine years
and I didn't know this place existed
' Lampela said.
With School Kids Music and Outer Limits closing their Court Street locations within the past two years, Haffa's is the only record store Uptown and one of few places to buy vinyl, independently released or obscure music.
This is my only place to get records since School Kids is gone
said Linton Lewis, an OU junior from Thornville.
As he carried record bins upstairs yesterday, Lampela said progress was moving along slowly but surely
but the move has no official timetable at this point. He said many friends and customers have offered to help move equipment upstairs.
Renovation of Haffa's new space is in progress; a wall that used to separate the space into two rooms was knocked down this week, and soon the Duplication Station sign inside will come down in favor of the record shop's vast collection of music posters and stickers.
The building at 15 W. Union St. also houses the China Fortune restaurant on the second floor. Gunn is uncertain if and when another business will occupy the basement, and building owner Gregory Chapman was unavailable for comment.
17
Archives
