'People really love this place': Record Exchange to lease new storefront after fire

Sep. 3—From the moment Sam Lock exited the highway on the night of Aug. 24, he could smell the smoke.

He'd rushed to downtown Frederick from his home in Gaithersburg as soon as he'd heard the news: The apartments above his record store were on fire.

Firefighters had busted through The Record Exchange's front door by the time Lock, its owner, arrived. He stood across the street and watched as water poured over the threshold and onto the sidewalk.

Eventually, records started washing out with it.

"That's when I knew it was all over," Lock recalled.

For a few days, it really seemed that way. Water damage left 80% of Lock's inventory destroyed and his storefront ruined.

His mortgage payment was looming. He told his wife, a teacher, he should probably just get a job at The Home Depot and give it all up.

But in the days since the fire, things have changed.

As of Friday, a GoFundMe page for the store had raised $31,000. Lock has been overwhelmed with vinyl donations and words of encouragement from longtime customers.

And earlier this week, he signed a yearlong lease at The Record Exchange's new home — a vacant storefront just two blocks north.

"I actually slept last night," Lock said Friday, the hint of a smile spreading across his face. "I've got a plan. I've got a goal. I know what my future is going to be like."

The new Record Exchange will be at 410 N. Market St., Lock said. It's a slightly smaller place, at 1,400 square feet versus the old shop's 1,800.

Lock plans to get rid of some inventory — mostly DVDs, which he said no one buys anyway — and add a small stage for local musicians to perform.

He's wanted to remodel his store for years, but he "made the mistake" of bolting the record bins permanently into position when he first took over the space, he said.

So in some ways, he said, the move is an opportunity.

Firefighters did what they could to protect the store, Lock said. At first, they covered his bins and shelves with tarps.

That worked for a while. But when the ceiling collapsed, Lock said, it was hopeless.

"Do you watch 'Stranger Things?'" Lock said to a reporter and a photographer Friday as he stepped over the threshold, leaving the warm September breeze behind for the stagnant, musty darkness of his shop. "This is like entering the Upside Down."

The fire also damaged upper-floor apartments and Tiara Day, a boutique at the corner of North Market and West Second streets. Tiara Day owner Maria Peck also has been picking up the pieces from the damage to her shop.

What remains of The Record Exchange's ceiling is covered in colorful tufts of mold. The floor is blanketed in a layer of ash and dust.

Lock looked down at the ground, where the cardboard cover for the 1972 Jimmy Cliff album, "The Harder They Come," lay in tatters.

"This is one of my favorite records," Lock said, nudging the scraps with his foot. "I don't know how it ended up here."

Originally from Coventry, England, Lock came to the U.S. in 1993 and started working for The Record Exchange that same year.

Back then, it was a Cleveland-based chain of 12 stores, he said.

Lock moved to Maryland a few years later and opened five stores in the Washington, D.C., area. He bought out the chain in 2006.

The Frederick and Silver Spring locations are the only ones left.

Owning the shop has been a "dream come true" for Lock, a lifelong lover of music. He left school at 15 and started publishing an amateur magazine about the industry so he could interview artists — and get into concerts for free.

Lock has come to love Frederick, he said. He and his wife hope to retire here.

"When I squint and it's raining, it reminds me of England," he said of the city. "Because it's old, and everyone walks."

Zach Willems, Lock's only employee, wore a mask and a headlamp as he moved in and out of the store Friday, picking through what remained.

Willems grew up in Boonsboro, and started shopping at The Record Exchange when he was about 19.

Since taking a job at the store about a year ago, he's connected with plenty of customers who remind him of his younger self — on the hunt for rare records and eager to talk music.

"It's a meeting place," Willems said. "It brings people together who have all these weird, niche interests."

Outside the store on Friday, pedestrians perused tables full of the merchandise Lock and Willems had salvaged.

A signed proclaimed it the "Slightly Soggy Sidewalk Sale."

"Make an offer," the sign read. "I'll take it!"

Local artist Joshua Sigler was selling his paintings, too. He's sold his work at The Record Exchange for years, he said, and lost about $1,200 worth of art to the fire.

The community support for the shop has made the past week easier, Sigler said.

"People really love this place," he said.

Some of the damaged records were 50 years old and can't be easily replaced, Lock said. And the cleanup ahead will likely be grueling.

But he said he was grateful to the community for giving the store a second chance.

"When all the donations started coming in, I was like, 'I've got to do it,'" Lock said. "People are giving me money to start again.

"So that's what I've got to do."

Follow Jillian Atelsek on Twitter: @jillian_atelsek