Meet Rand Cabus of Mojo Vinyl Records in Roswell

Today we’d like to introduce you to Rand Cabus.

Rand, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
I’ve always been into records and stereo equipment, but I never dreamed of opening a record store. As a life-long marketing designer, I use that creative outlet for my other businesses, not just clients or employers. So, about 7 years ago I was looking for a retail business to open and I started reading about the budding vinyl revolution and its interesting promotional vehicle – Record Store Day. The tipping point came when I was shopping with my son in Little Five Points at Criminal Records, and I saw a 180 gram reissue of Jimi Hendrix’s “Are You Experienced.” Now I had owned this record for years, but mine was worn out and tattered. This one was new and perfect, had all the inserts and was remastered by Jimi’s long time engineer, Eddie Kramer. It hit me, “Guys like me, baby boomers who grew up listening to records, would love this” and that stuck with me.

Later, I wondered if other suburbanites would love playing records like I did. And that started me off on my development cycle. What kind of store, who was my customer, what mix of product (records and turntables), where would be the best location – all the marketing questions that go into any business startup. I traveled around the south touring record stores and making notes. Some stores were “hole in the wall” dumps, cardboard boxes and folding tables, but others were magical – Harvest Records in Asheville, Raven Records in Knoxville and Grimey’s in Nashville. I had my goals, now I needed a great location in the ‘burbs.

As they say, good retail is all about location. I knew I didn’t want to be in a strip center next to a grocery store or nail salon. I wanted a strong destination with a home-grown culture and I found it. Driving down a side street in historic Roswell’s Canton Street restaurant district, I saw a “For Rent” sign on a small space. It was only 400 sq. ft. and was in the back on the side, but it was perfect. The rent was cheap, so I signed the lease.

Now I needed to design my space and create the store’s brand. I liked the term “vinyl” as the new slang for record. I know it gets misused and that bugs some people, but it’s stuck. So I played with that and came up with Vinyl Mojo, among several ideas. My brother liked mojo and suggested flipping it around to Mojo Vinyl – that was it. In touring my ideal stores, I knew I wanted a coordinated look and feel. Not hodgepodge or junky. Didn’t want a suburban mom to think it was too “sketch” for her kids to in, wasn’t really worried about the dads. But my research said a colorful, well thought out store was the way to go.

Within two months, in April 2011, I was ready to open. Now I didn’t have a basement full of records to sell, so I called around to some record stores outside of Atlanta and asked if I could buy some of their back stock. I struck a couple deals and purchased 1200 records to open with. The first year was pretty slow and I was the only employee.

Working my laptop on client’s design projects, I waited for customers to come. Slowly the business grew and by Christmas I knew it could work.

The next year I participated in my first Record Store Day and it was a big hit. We had two bands play in the parking lot and that became a tradition. Soon after I hired my teenage son, Tiger, to work weekends and a retired record executive, Winn Sirotta, who told the wildest stories about the industry in the ’70s, during the week. Good growth, good times.

Within two years a larger space came available in the building next door and I signed a new lease. After about 30 days of prep we were ready to move in. I called a moving company and scheduled our move on January 28, 2014 – Snowmageddon. The moving guys called the day before, concerned about the weather and we rescheduled for Friday, hoping it wouldn’t be too crazy. Of course, as they say the rest was history. We moved on Friday and reopened on Saturday. A one-day move! Everybody was snow crazy and it was a huge day, the best one day at that time other than Record Store Day. The new store was a hit and the larger space allows for even more records.

Since then, more competition has moved in around the suburbs, business is tighter, but I still love looking for and selling records.

Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Not too many for this business. While there are always obstacles and challenges in business, it depends on how big they are and how hard it is to surmount them. So far the record business is just fun.

Mojo Vinyl Records – what should we know? What do you guys do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
Mojo Vinyl Records is an independent record store established in 2011 in historic Roswell, Georgia. The store buys and sells, new and used records. We also sell Audio-Technica, Music Hall and Pioneer turntables, art and miscellaneous cool stuff. We’ve celebrated Record Store Day every year since 2012. Our motto is “Listen Naked” – since vinyl is the natural sound. Come by, hang out and listen to some good music. Buy something too.

What moment in your career do you look back most fondly on?
What I’m most proud about is when a kid brings their parent with them to buy records, and this happens more often than not. The kid’s inevitability want their parents opinion which Beatles or Led Zeppelin or whatever record they should buy. Sometimes they go back and forth with deep discussion. When they get to the cash register I always ask the parent if they ever thought their kid would want their opinion about music and they’re always so happy just to be involved. I tell the kid to say thank you, there and then. That makes me proud that music, vinyl records, still bring people together.

Pricing:

• Tuesday is Two Buck Tuesday – $2 off any record over $5
• Wednesday is Buy Two Get One FREE (Buy any 2 records over $12 each and get one $12 or less FREE)

Contact Info:

• Address: 26 Webb Street #2
  Roswell, Georgia 30075
• Website: mojovinylrecords.com
• Phone: 678-534-5042
• Email: mojovinyl@gmail.com
• Instagram: mojovinyl
• Facebook: mojovinyl
• Yelp: Mojo Vinyl Records

Image Credit:
Photo credit – Martina Schmidt

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