Skeleton Dust Records opening in downtown Dayton

Vinyl and cassettes are back in style and will be sold at a new shop opening in downtown Dayton.

Skeleton Dust Records, owned by local resident Luke Tandy, is on track to open in October at 133 E. Third St.

Tandy said he’s been describing the store as “curated and eclectic,” with a wide range of genres available on records, cassettes and CDs, but also a carefully picked selection of what he considers the best stuff.

RELATED: Speakeasy expands to second location in downtown Dayton

“I’ll be kind of carrying a little bit of everything, but there’s a focus of stuff that falls outside of the mainstream,” he said.

It’s been a tough environment for the music store business with the rise of streaming and iTunes, but Tandy said local stores have been finding their niche while the chain stores have struggled.

“As far as I can tell, independent stores have been thriving,” he said

He said records have been making a come back in the past five or so years and even cassettes are having their day again.

“Now cassettes have really made a comeback. I sell a lot of tape online,” he said.

LOCAL: Miami Valley agencies get federal funds for mental health, substance abuse services

While the record store hasn’t opened yet, Tandy said he’s already been selling records online and plans to keep having an online sales side to the business. For example, he found a rare Turner Bros. record called Act 1 and found a buyer online for the funk album for $900.

He’d be hard pressed to sell that album if relying on an interested buyer to walk into his brick-and-mortar shop, but was able to find someone looking for it online.

“The amount of people willing to pay that much for a record are few and far between,” he said.

The store will have a soft opening in the beginning of October and a grand opening with DJs on site starting at 3 p.m. Oct. 14.

The storefront was previously home to Project Warmth, which sold handmade pet products and had a short term lease through Activated Spaces’ Pop-Up Shop Project.

The idea of opening a record store has been something Tandy said he’s thought about since college.

Tandy said he learned about the music business working at a radio station while at Ball State and later working at Omega, and he also gained experience on operating a business as the previous office manager at Catapult Creative.

LOCAL: What you need to know about Huffy’s local headquarters moving

Tandy lived in Dayton for about 10 years and worked downtown and that led him to the storefront in the city’s center.

“I never really thought about having the business anywhere but downtown or at least in the downtown area,” he said.

Tandy also has a record label, Skeleton Dust Recordings, that produces noise experimental music by himself as well as music by other artists. The label’s music will be stocked at the new store.

The store will also carry new turntables, and plan to stock other stereo equipment in the future.

FIVE FAST BUSINESS READS

Ohio Supreme Court: Apologies that admit fault can’t be used in suit

Huffy moving its headquarters

About the Author