Former The Exclusive Co. employees will open Lilliput Records at Farwell St. location

Employees of The Exclusive Company's Milwaukee location will open a new record store in its place as Lilliput Records by the end of July.

Lilliput Records' soft opening is tentatively planned for July 30, two days after The Exclusive Co.'s last day, Thursday, July 28.

Long-time manager Brian Kirk and assistant manager Tanner Musgrove decided that buying this store "was for the best" after learning of the Wisconsin-based record store chain's closure.

"Initially, we were just looking at the inventory. But it quickly morphed into purchasing the building as well, which, in the end, made much more sense," Kirk said.

Though the grand opening for Lilliput Records is still in the works, Musgrove said it will likely be the third weekend of August.

James Giombetti opened the first The Exclusive Co. store in 1956 in West Bend. The company expanded with locations in Milwaukee, Appleton, Green Bay, Greenfield, Oshkosh and Janesville. The Milwaukee store has been continuously operating since 1991.

With a combined experience of over 17 years at The Exclusive Co., Kirk and Musgrove are excited to make this "their own" and hope the changes they bring will give the location a "breath of fresh air."

To the store's interior, they will add a listening station, fresh paint and a lounge area. They said long-time The Exclusive Co. customers can expect much of the same at Lilliput Records: great customer service, special orders on music and DVDs and rows of CDs and records.

Kirk and Musgrove plan to expand their community outreach through collaborations and a larger social media presence.

"We definitely want to be more community based and do a lot more fundraisers and flash sales," said Musgrove.

"We want to start having more local performances again," Kirk added as he stood next to the newly-painted stage at the back of the store.

Musgrove said she and Kirk are in the midst of securing collaborations with local organizations and companies, including Component Brewing, which is making a Lilliput-inspired beer.

While they don't plan to record memorable commercials like The Exclusive Co.'s late owner Giombetti once did, Kirk laughed when he said perhaps they'll be on TikTok one day.

Musgrove added that Lilliput Records will definitely have a prominent social media presence in conjunction with its newly created website, which will be an extension of its physical store.

Lilliput Records' name comes from two sources of inspiration. Lilliput is the name of a Swedish punk band formerly called Kleenex that music-lovers Kirk and Musgrove are both fans of. It's also the name of a mythical island from the book "Gulliver's Travels."

"We liked the idea of ... the record store being a place where you can go and escape and get lost in it in the same way that you could a book or a fantasy novel," Musgrove said.

The new co-owners are thankful for the community's support as they navigate this transition.

"The news of the company closing was a shock to everyone and obviously very sad," Musgrove said. "And so the response is always 'Well, we don't want to see The Exclusive Company go, but we're happy that it'll still live on through Lilliput.'"

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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Lilliput Records will replace The Exclusive Co. on the east side