Heather Frarey has spent her life in record stores. It wasn’t planned to work out that way, it just happened. She landed a job at the legendary Wherehouse Records in East Lansing when she was not yet 16 years old. Through the mid-90s, Heather stayed on the retail front lines as the music industry continued to shift and morph from the CD era through to the age of the internet.
In 2008, The Record Lounge opened its first location in East Lansing in the corner of a basement based vintage clothing shop. From there, the store has grown, changed locations multiple times, nearly failed more than once and become a bedrock of the local music community. In fact, to celebrate Heather, The Record Lounge and the city of Lansing, my band, The Stick Arounds filmed a music video for ‘Ode To Kid Marine’ at the shop and in the surrounding neighborhood.
Third spaces like the Record Lounge are crucial to a vibrant scene and community. It’s rare that I visit Heather at her shop and don't run into one or two other folks that I know from the local creative community. It is a place to meet, connect, hatch ideas, and even network.
As her locations and times have changed, so too have her customers. They are becoming younger, and more ethnically diverse. There are still plenty of hermetic, unkempt middle aged men trolling around the local record shops, but the audience is expanding.
That expansion has been challenging for many new collectors though, as vinyl prices have risen astronomically in the last few years. Heather and I dive into the details of why records have become so expensive and what that actually means for the industry, and for shops like The Record Lounge.
Heather’s story is especially unique in that not only are the buyers of vinyl records mostly men, record shops are overwhelmingly owned and run by dudes. Last I knew, The Record Lounge was the only woman owned and run record store in the state. Even if one or two women owners have been added to the fold in recent years, it’s a male heavy industry and voices like Heather’s are crucial to creating a welcoming and open environment.
Every great city has shops like The Record Lounge and folks like Heather. I often feel that part of my work here is to make sure we appreciate those folks and remember that many of these sacred spaces are in danger of going under, and going away forever.
As Heather nears 60, it’s forced her to reflect on her legacy, how much longer she wants to go at this pace, and what this journey has meant to her and how it’s defined her own life.
Enjoy,
Matty C
