June 12, 2017
Hello there Ladies and Gentlemen –
On this day 35 years ago, June 12, 1982, to be exact, a new record store opened in Bakersfield at 3741 Columbus Avenue in the Country Club Plaza.
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We built the fixtures for the store nights and weekends during the previous four months when we weren’t working our ‘real jobs.’ Every friend we knew took a hand cutting, nailing, puttying, staining, and sealing.
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David, our LA record distributor friend, who should have known better than to let two youngsters with no credentials other than ‘They loved music,’ open a record store, sat lotus style on the floor for three days before we opened, pricing and alphabetizing our records, and living on Marlboros and Dr. Pepper.
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I went out to the stereo store the night before and bought a receiver and a turntable. Scott brought the speakers from his house.
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Scott’s sister’s boyfriend pulled up minutes before we opened that Saturday morning with a 5 gallon, glass water bottle half full of coin, and a case of Miller beer. Upon realizing we didn’t have a lick of change in our cash register, I gave him a big, relieved, embarrassed ‘thank you.’ The beer went to the back room.
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Butch, Ruth, Lisa, Beth, and Tim worked the store that day. We almost did enough business to cover the cost of personnel. Scott and I, dead tired from the many months of getting almost ready to open, sat on the floor in the back room and drank that Miller beer. I don’t recall us talking at all about how we were going to navigate our new store. We were two kids who loved music, and had been buddies through many an adventure since meeting on the playground in 4th grade.
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And that’s how it started. It wasn’t a company stamping out another location. From the moment Scott had the idea that we were opening a record store, it became much bigger than the two of us. Yes, we loved music. And, fortunately, we had lots of friends that stepped in and got busy. And as soon as we opened, customers began developing into more friends. And, over time, friendships wove our store into our community, so that, 35 years later, that record store is still here.
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THANK YOU! – Pat
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Patrick Evans – owner
WORLD RECORDS
2901 ‘F’ Street (for now)
and 2815 ‘F’ Street (This Friday for the next show – Spyro Gyra.)
Bakersfield, CA 93301
661-325-1982
shopworldrecords.com
Where Music Matters Most since 1982