Vertical House Records 3.0 23.11.
2011 has FLOWN by, amirite!? Here we are, the day before Thanksgiving, and I’m looking back on this year like I just woke from a hazy dream. While we actually moved the store once, and expanded it from there a few months later – it’s now time for ANOTHER new space. This time, we’ll be done moving for a while.
As much as we adore the space we are in now on the second floor of Lowe Mill (dubbed the Flying Monkey), we simply outgrew it again. Seeing as there are no more spaces that could accommodate us at Flying Monkey, we started to brainstorm about other locations. There were a couple of locations outside of the Mill that stood out to us.
The “oh wow let’s move here now” place was the Lincoln Center Antiques/Renaissance Theater building on Meridian. I was (still am) absolutely in love with that building. It’s now become a dream to own it one day. I’m eventually picturing an awesome venue/record store/vintage shop/restaurant combo downstairs, and the continued use of a theater upstairs. The building is actually for sale, but at $1.5 million – there’s a lot of saving to do. Anyway, we go to Alpha Estate sales frequently, and eventually started talking to Bob, the owner of Alpha (and the building), about renting space there and we quickly were sold on the idea. We spent over 6 months dreaming and scheming about our new 1500 square foot space with road access and storefront windows that would make for great displays. My parents even came with us one day to help think about the future layout.
There were a few houses here in Five Points that popped up that we went to look at, mainly for shits and giggles. If the size wasn’t an issue, the neighbors would be. We still wanted a space that we could have shows, which being smack dab in the neighborhood with only 3 allotted parking spaces wasn’t going to work. As much as we’d love to have our store in the neighborhood, it will be a cosmic alignment that makes that happen.
After spending months looking around and searching, we gathered a lot of valuable information. We now had a nice list of prices per square foot of places, and a comprehensive pros/cons list of what we really wanted from a new space. I’m not sure when it hit us, but we decided to make an offer on one of the Railroad Rooms at Lowe Mill. We put in a proposal with our friend, Dustin, in hopes of creating a big record store/show space/recording booth/art studio…and it worked! While searching around at other properties, we realized how much we do value the Mill, and we knew we had to try before just picking up and leaving. I’m so glad we did because I think this space is above and beyond perfect. We will have OVER 1500 square feet and be paying less per month that we would at Lincoln Center. While I have to say goodbye to fancy schmancy storefront windows and wonderful tile floors, I get to say HELL YES to more space, wide plank wood floors, brick walls, a HUGE garage door that will open 75% of the time so it’s like we’re outside (also will help with band and record load ins). We are also thrilled to still be a part of the Mill family because what’s happening there NEEDS to happen in every town. It’s a beautiful bond between people, and I’m excited to see and be a part of the continual growth of that community.
Of course there are photos! I was able to snap a few with my phone while they were working on it one day!
This is upon first walking in…
From the back wall, looking at the front door.
There’s a “hook” in the store that curves around back, and this is standing back in that corner…to the left is the front, to the right is the back. That big door that is opened goes to the space next door, but will most likely get sealed up according to the building plans.
I know it doesn’t look like much now, but our gears are turning and we already have a vision for the space. We actually have a rendering of the space so we can measure and plan ahead before we make the move. Whew. 20,000 some odd records, hundreds of CDs, comics, and 45s, and all of the furniture – we definitely have our work cut out for us. This isn’t just a move across the hall this time lol.