Our Story

Five Years of Toil and Turntables

Ye Olde Record Store

2015-2020

Before Trevor took over, Press was a combination coffee shop, bookstore and record store. There were floor-to-ceiling books on the top floor and floor-to-ceiling records in the basement. Not records you'd want. Decades piled on each other, neglect and a box of 1000 pens with Jessica written on them. It was a lovely, shambolic place and much of it remains. If in a reconstituted way.

Reconstruction

"Well that's bad"

The Rebuild

Getting to bare walls was an enormous undertaking. It generated so much lumber that we joked we'd open a miniature Home Depot instead. The bookcases were all broken down and the basement cleared out. Sending all the record down there to the dump was heartbreaking but we literally could not give them away. Clearing out those records ended up being the biggest expense!

Maybe It's Just a Water Feature?

Repair

2020

When a number of businesses have been in one location for a century you realize that much of what was added was simply to 'Hide The Sins". The ceiling had damage. The floor had damage. The damage had damage.

...and not a drop to drink

  • There were leaks in the ceiling
  • There was water damage in the ceiling
  • There was water damage in the floor
  • On the bright side I finally got the Purple swimming badge that I failed (twice) when I was 14
Reconstruction

Clear the deck! . . . Build a Deck?

Almost everything from the old Press was repurposed for the new Press. The wood from the dozens of bookcases became the new ceiling and was incorporated into the 'island' checkout and service area. Press is shaped like an aircraft carrier so the term Island seems appropriate.

The walls were given a few coats of white paint and our first mural (by a local artist) went up.

Launching....Right into Two Years of Covid

Tough Years

2020-2022

No one expected a lockdown that would change the planet. In some ways Covid was good for the record business and for the store. The momentum that had been building since 2010 exploded as people spent more time at home. More people bought records and started collecting.

Still, the Covid years were lean. Local delivery can only take you so far.

Growth. A Sad Goodbye. New Horizons

2022-2025

5 Years

The store really came into its own once Covid ended, keeping Trevor so busy he quit his job and still needed staff.

More murals went up, the website improved, we catalogued our 35,000th record and made plans for the next 5 years.

But we lost our beloved Milo in 2022. He is still missed every day.