Vintage is meeting modern at this new record store inside a San Diego pub
SAN DIEGO (FOX 5/KUSI) — Ever wanted to grab a beer and spend some time with iconic musicians like Iron Maiden, Pink Floyd and Bob Marley? Well now, San Diegans will be able to at a brand-new record store coming soon to a popular local brewery.
The record store will be inside the North Park location of Modern Times Beer+Coffee. Hundreds of vintage vinyls spanning the decades and genres will be available for music lovers to browse — jazz, 70s rock, 90s hip hop, heavy metal, funk.
When it opens on Saturday, it will join Modern Times’ Point Loma location as the second in-restaurant record store for the brewery through a partnership with Vinyl Record Rarities, a long-standing mobile record purveyor in San Diego County.
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“Since vinyl records are (having) such a resurgence in the popularity of them, I believe that those two businesses coming together under one roof and having a combined shared experience is something that was really drawing people in,” said Stan Schwarz, owner of Vinyl Record Rarities, to FOX5SanDiego.com.
For nearly the last two decades, vinyl record sales have catapulted from near extinction to the dominant format for physical album purchases in the U.S.
Last year marked the biggest year for vinyl album sales in the U.S. since Luminate, an entertainment analytics company, began tracking it in 1991 following 18 years of consecutive growth, according to the company’s 2023 year-end music report.
The vinyl market accounted for nearly three-quarters of the music industry’s revenue from physical copies of albums the year prior bringing in $1.2 billion, another report from the Recording Industry Association of America found. And that’s just from sales of new copies.
“I think there was a growing need for consumers to have an alternative to the digital music platform with streaming and downloading MP3s,” Schwarz said. “I think people still want to hold on to some type of physical media.”
“It’s almost like owning a piece of history,” he continued, “a piece of art.”
Schwarz began his own record enterprise here in San Diego in the early 2000s, when this vinyl revival was right on its precipice.
Up until last year, Vinyl Record Rarities was largely just an online and pop-up operation, offering its inventory of vintage album pressings on eBay or in one-time events. They also have a “mystery box” subscription program for music lovers to discover new artists or albums.
Records have always been an passion for Schwarz — something instilled in him as a child while he was out and about in Los Angeles shopping for records with his father who was a collector.
“Appreciating the music and liking the hunt of trying to find good records and good collections is something I’ve always liked,” he said. “The main thing is just connecting with people and enjoying sharing the love of music.”
That interest is what drove him to begin his own business finding these records from bygone, but beloved eras of music to help others find hidden gems to add to their own collections.
However, it was not until he began partnering with Modern Times’ director of hospitality Jake Nunes that this passion turned into a brick-and-mortar reality.
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“It’s a dream come true,” Schwarz said. “He had an idea for his brewery, wanting to have some additional experiences for people coming in … to not just like watch TV or hang out but actually be able to shop and enjoy music as well.”
It is a model that a handful of other San Diego hotspots, like Part Time Lover, have similarly begun to implement. Following the success of the Point Loma installation, Modern Times turned to its location in North Park, an epicenter in San Diego for music, as another place that is perfect for that type of integrated shopping-causal dining experience.
“Vinyl Record Rarities is kind of that retro throwback vibe that is very present in North Park,” Schwarz said. “I think it’s a good fit and we’re looking forward to it.”
The “grand opening” of Vinyl Record Rarities at Modern Times’ North Park Flavordome is set for Saturday, March 23 at noon. It will then be open daily with the brewery. On top of vintage records, the shop will also have a select inventory of cassette tapes and CDs.
The North Park outpost for Modern Times is located at 3000 Upas St. It is open Sunday through Thursday from noon to 9 p.m. and Friday through Saturday from noon to 11 p.m.
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