Used Grooves Brings Vinyl Revival to Easton

The front window of Used Grooves, Easton's new record store, is lined with music posters.

One is from the hip hop label Death Row Records, and reads "Still in the Game." Another is for the band Jane's Addiction: Up From the Catacombs.

Those two sentiments—"We never left" and "We're back"—seem fitting for a store trading in a technology that hasn't dominated the music marketplace in over 30 years.

But that doesn't mean vinyl has died, said Brad Scott Smith, who runs the store at 401 Northampton St. 

"Everything comes full circle," Smith said.

Last year, vinyl record sales were at their highest point since 1997, according to the Washington Post.

"These days, every major label and many smaller ones are releasing vinyl, and most major new releases have a vinyl version, leading to a spate of new pressing plants," the New York Times reported last week.

Kids who grew up with CDs might have skipped vinyl, but their own children are rediscovering it. Stores like Urban Outfitters even sell record players with USB ports built in, allowing a vinyl-to-mobile transfer.

A number of Used Grooves customers, Smith said, are music savvy young people.

"They know the music, they've got great record collections," he said.

As if on cue, a family from Erie stopped in the store, having just finished up at the Crayola Experience. Right away, one of the girls went to the rock section.  

Eventually, Smith hopes to break the rock section down into subcategories: punk, metal, psychedelic, etc. There are also sections for hip-hop, funk, soul, country, classical and comedy. 

"We've got everything," Smith said. "We've got world music. We've got Indian folk music. We've got Leonard Nimoy's spoken world album."

And that's not even taking into account things like the rare version of The Rolling Stones's Their Satantic Majesties Request with images of The Beatles hidden on the cover.

(A bit of music trvia: The album itself is a dig at The Beatles' Sgt. Pepper record.)

The store also accepts used records, but only ones in good condition. 

"If it's been sitting in a basement getting moldy, we tend to steer away from those," Smith said.

Used Grooves is owned by Ken Connors and Peter Ruzich, who initially looked at Bethlehem before deciding on Easton. 

They hired Smith, an Indiana native, to run the store, which opened at the beginning of June.

"It was like a dream gig," Smith said. "I get to play music, talk about music, and listen to music whenever I want."