Carlye Thornton | Lariat Photographer
By Ashley Altus
Reporter
With music playing as soon as customers walk in, and album art from Deftones to Taylor Swift covering the walls, Spin Connection attracts music lovers of all genres and pop culture enthusiasts. Stacks of vinyl records ranging from classical to comedy line the tables in bins along with books, CDs and even record players for sale.
Spin Connection, a music and vinyl store, is just getting started selling music and has future plans already in the works. The store opened in December and is located at 3703 Franklin Ave.
Although Stan Wojciechowski and his family have just started up their family business, Stan has been collecting vinyl records for more than 50 years and has thousands of LPs, 45s and 78s. LPs are 33.33 revolutions per minute microgroove vinyl records. 78s are phonograph records that vary in diameter at 12, 10 and seven inches.
The store hasn’t been able to put out all of its music because of issues with space, but Stan said he plans to get a couple of showcases and display units to show more of their merchandise. Spin Connection will be more than just a store selling music. It plans to sell collectibles, antiques and other pop culture items such as music memorabilia and movie posters.
“We’re going to have early 1990s pop culture and pop culture from all different eras – things that were great in American in the ‘50s and ‘60s and growing up,” Stan Wojciechowski said.
They said they have interest in incorporating live acoustic music in their store.
“We have to do some remodeling and make sure stuff is up to code, but it’d be acoustic bands,” Chris Wojciechowski said. “When big bands come to town, on the day of their concerts, they could do signings and question and answer sessions, and those things they do.”
Spin Connection also wants to support local bands and artists by giving them a place to sell their merchandise.
“Local bands that have CDs — we would like them to sell here,” Chris Wojciechowski said.
Stan Wojciechowski said he expected customers who grew up in the time when vinyl records were popular would come in the store, but instead he said he has been surprised by the number of high school and college students buying music from the ‘50s and ‘60s.
Brett Christenson, marketing lecturer, said he thinks college students are the demographic market making vinyls more popular.
“Specifically about Waco and the shop opening up here, the first thing that comes to mind is hipster college students that want to go buy records,” Christenson said. “Whether or not there are enough of them to sustain the business, I’m not sure.”
A hipster is a term often associated with alternative music and non-mainstream lifestyles.
“Everyone is our customer base, all walks of life,” Stan Wojciechowski said. “It tends to be the 20s to 30s market. There’s been quite often Baylor kids come in here.”
Stan said many people seemed excited about the store opening.
“There are a lot of outstretched arms introducing themselves to us,” Stan Wojciechowski said. “Besides music playing in here, there’s a lot of conversation. It’s light. It doesn’t get to be heavy topics. That’s what it should be.“
More information about Spin Connection can be found at facebook.com/SpinConnection or on Twitter at @SpinConnection.
