CLEVELAND — After more than 50 years, the beat goes on for one northeast Ohio record store.

Record Revolution in Cleveland Heights is now one of the longest operating independent record stores in the country. 

Their doors opened in 1967 and while the size of the store and the artists inside have changed, sharing the love for vintage vinyl has always been a constant. 

“I’m very proud to be able to continue the legacy of the store, that we’re still here,” said Rob Love, the owner. “That thousands of record stores over the years, especially in the late 90s and early 2000s, shut their doors and we were lucky enough to be able to weather that storm.”

Record Revolution sells album reissues, new releases and trade-ins of all genres. The store has thousands of musical albums on its shelves.

“I just loved watching the record go around and just listening to the music,” said Love, of his lifelong love of music.

“Ever since I heard music I thought, ‘that’s for me,’” he said. 

He spun his first 45-rpm records as a toddler. 

“Sometimes if you get the right equipment and the right record, you feel like you’re sitting in the room with the band,” Love said.

It’s an intimacy that he said can only be felt through one musical medium.

“We’ve always sold vinyl,” he said. “We also sold CDs and cassette tapes, you know, in the years when that was happening, but never gave up the vinyl.”

For more than 30 years, he’s shared the pure analog sound with others through Record Revolution.

“I can’t think of a time in history since records were made that they weren’t being pressed,” he said. “There was always something that was pressed on vinyl.”

The shop’s been a fixture on Coventry in Cleveland Heights for 54 years. 

“It’s the media of the aficionado,” he said. 

The store is a legend of its own right, with the walls covered with musicians’ autographs. And while musical tastes might change through the years, the sound of record sales has been a constant.

“I think that they’ve proven to be forever,” Love said.