Records & Tapes Galore Hits the Gold Standard

Bill & Judy Wegner are a couple who can easily be classified as Legends of Local Business.  As the owners of Records & Tapes Galore, which is now celebrating its 50^th Anniversary since first opening its doors back in January of 1974, they started by providing musical recordings of popular artists in formats ranging from vinyl, to cassette tape, to compact disc and managed to outlive such big box franchises as Tower Records, Harmony House and Media Play at a time when everybody was predicting how digital streaming would mark the end of the independent record retailer.

Eventually, as their business grew, they also became pioneers at forging into the unheard marketing niche of selling used records, tapes, CD’s and assorted musical collectables such as posters, turntables, speakers, and amplifiers to the buying public - another winning combination that has allowed them to continue to keep their doors open to music lovers throughout the Great Lakes Bay Region five days a week for 50-years and counting.

Recently, I had the pleasure of sitting down with Bill & Judy for an interview tracing the origins of their business, challenges they’ve faced upon their journey, and reasons why they’ve outlasted all the competition and continue to thrive - fifty years down the road - stronger than ever.

Their journey began back when Bill was working for the Wickes Corporation and got laid off, eventually returning to work on an ‘On-Call’ basis. “I said to my wife that I didn’t  like the idea of somebody telling me when and where I can work,” he explains. “We had the idea of starting a little record shop, so went down to this headshop in Old Town called Ziggaurat  to see if we could rent some space.  That didn’t work out, so I looked around a little more and one day I saw this little place that used to be a Trick Shop for rent at $80.00 a month, which was sky-high back then.”

“It’s been since torn down, but at that time we also found a good distributor with a small warehouse down in Lansing who carried an impressive record inventory,” continues Bill. “I made the mistake of picking out inventory comprised strictly of the music I thought was good, which was a big mistake because you don’t stock for your personal taste, but for the public’s taste.”

“We opened on Dec. 10^th, 1974, and the first day we opened I sold our first record for six dollars and we were elated, but the next day I sold zero. Then as we moved towards Christmas people started stumbling in; but the big defining moment happened a few months later in July, 1975, when the album KISS ALIVE! was released. This was a double-album set and none of the other stores in our area were carrying it.”

“I called our distributor to find out what was going on, and apparently 100,000 album covers were sitting on a box car and nobody at the pressing plant knew where they were. They had a whole bunch of records waiting for the jackets to come; but other parts of the country were producing them and I found a distributor who had them in stock and was selling out everything he got.  I started carrying this album and because nobody else had that album, it was a breakthrough moment.  KISS ALIVE! is what put us on solid footing as a business.”

A few years later Bill & Judy moved Records & Tapes Galore to this store occupied by a meat and seafood market. “They had this big freezer containing all the meat and by the window was this big tank filled with lobsters, but somebody set the place on fire and it looked absolutely terrible, although the lobsters were still alive and didn’t get cooked.  After they got the insurance money they fixed the place up, so once it was ready for occupancy we moved the business.”

“Right around this time we started selling used records,” continues Bill. “This fellow came in and needed a loan and brought a bunch of records into the shop, so I gave him cash for all his albums.  Nobody else was selling used records at that time, and while many shops specialize in that today, I guess you could say we were one of the first in that field.”

Indeed, their expansion into selling used turntables, styluses, and used stereo equipment happened and evolved in similar fashion. “Somebody brought a used turntable in they didn’t want, so we decided to evolve into that just like we grew with everything in the store,” reflects Bill.

“Back when we started in 1974 vinyl records and 8-track tapes were real popular, but as we moved forward into the 1980s,  8-tracks faded like Beta video tapes did and people started buying cassette tapes, which also got real popular and pushed out the 8-tracks. We sold about the same amount of albums as we did cassettes until the compact disc came around back in 1982-83. Eventually, they stopped making vinyl records because few people were buying them, but today companies are re-issuing more vinyl records than ever because of their sound quality and resurgence among younger record buyers.”

The million-dollar question, of course, is what are the factors that contributed to Records & Tapes Galore’s longevity once the Internet, NAPSTER, and the numerous digital streaming services such as Spotify started exploding early in the new Millennium, causing all the major Big-Box record, CD, and cassette retailers such as TOWER Records, Harmony House, and Media Play to close up shop.

“I guess we’re just lucky,” smiles Bill, “and can’t really tell you why. Maybe it’s because we were so diversified in terms of the formats we offered, plus we offer a level of personal service that the major recording retailers did not,” he reflects. “I’ll take time to find copies of a hard-to-find artist or recording, and handle a lot of special orders, but the big shops simply didn’t bother - although, most of it I think is just a combination of luck and good timing,”

In terms of how streaming services are impacting other recording formats these days and posing the biggest challenges, Judy interestingly points to the auto industry. “Auto manufacturers have taken CD players out of the cars they’re manufacturing, which forces people into subscription streaming services,” she states. “That was a huge part of CD purchases and once that happened we noticed significantly fewer sales of CDs than we did previously.”

Bill says he will still buy used CDs and companies are stilling making them, but the format drawing the attention of audiophiles is the ‘Super Audio CD’. “I like those a lot, but they’re a very small part of the business,” notes Bill. “You need a special CD player to use them but the sound is something else! There’s a similar fidelity to records and more density to the sound, but it eliminates all the cracks and pops that can happen with vinyl records.”

“What I find funny is that young people will come in and get these new vinyl albums that are very expensive, ranging from price anywhere from $35 to $40.00, and then play them on these crappy little suitcase players that have no real fidelity with sound like its coming out of an earphone,” remarks Judy.  “But I also think there’s a draw to records because of the tactile sense of handling something.  People like holding records and watching them rotate on the turntable. It’s very interesting”

Over the past fifty years can Bill & Judy recall any memorable moments running this amazing musical emporium that stand out in their mind?  “I wish I could say that Elvis was here,” laughs Bill, “but no, not really. We have maybe had a few famous musicians come to town and browse around who weren’t dressed to stand out and advertise themselves, but no heavy personalities that I can think of.”

“We’re fortunate to have a core base of customers that also manages to change and evolve from year to year,” reflects Bill. “There’s a lot of collectors around and they come in all ages. Some are building their 45-RPM record collection, and some of the musical tastes of young people are very difficult to calibrate. Sometimes they will come in and look around for hours and then head for the door, so we’ll ask if there is anything we can help them with, and they’ll say, ‘Nope’ and simply leave.  I think it’s because in most retail stores now customer service is practically gone, so they aren’t accustomed to being offered or receiving help from a salesperson.”

While the cost for most original used albums in good condition can vary anywhere from $7.00- $10.00 all the way up to $40-$100, Bill says most CDs sell for only $4.99 up to $7.99 if it’s a double-CD.  “Inflation has affected everything,” notes Bill, “so there’s hardly any mark-up now on a brand new album - probably a buck or two - so used merchandise brings the biggest profit margins.”

“I remember when the record companies would make these huge display cases when a brand new Bob Seger album came out, or when Guns & Roses Volume 1 & 2 came in through the caseload and anything not sold you could ship back, but things come and go.”

“Who would have thought Taylor Swift or Greta Van Fleet would blow up as big as they have?,” concludes Bill. “The biggest thing we’ve found out over fifty years is that you can never tell what’s going to happen. An artist popular one year may be forgotten about the next, so artist longevity is tough to predict.”

“Before when a big Beatles album was set to be released you would know to order a bunch of them, but what’s funny is that over the last 50 years  the big sellers today are the heavy rock stuff like Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath, which still sells the best; along with some of the newer artists like The Black Keys.”

Whether you’re a familiar customer or just learning about this wonderfully stocked emporium for music spanning the ages, do yourself and your pocketbook a favor and be sure to check them out.

Records & Tapes Galore is located at 1303 Court Street in Saginaw and is open from 10 AM - 5 PM Tuesday through Friday and 10 am - 4 PM on Saturdays. You can reach them by phoning (989) 793-1777.