WEST ALLIS, Wis. — It has been about a decade since vinyl made a comeback in the record industry. Though sales are still far from reaching where they were in the glory days, they have continued to grow rapidly year after year.
Aletamarie Kelliher has been a buyer for Record Head for 30 of the 50 years the West Allis independent used record store has been in business.
Kelliher said she never dreamed the store would be making the most money it ever has on vinyl.
“I’ve never seen albums sell like this in all the years I’ve been doing this,” said Killiher.
She said what’s old is new again.
The generation most likely to buy an LP record in 2022 was Gen-Z, or someone born between 1997 and 2012, according to the Recording Industry Association of America.
“For the younger [generation], they never grew up with it, so it’s just a totally new art form and for people like me, that grew up with lots of vinyl, it’s just a way of collecting,” said Kelliher.
Scott Heifetz is the owner of Record Head. He said he’s shocked he is selling more records now than he was in the 1970s.
“The record technology is over a hundred years old, so to me it’s somewhat odd that this technology came back, and it is what it is today,” said Heifetz.
Heifetz said he’s grateful his store has survived for a half century to see this unexpected business boom.
“I’m glad we’re still in business after all these years. We are one of the only ones, so not too many people have survived throughout the years, so I’m just grateful that we’re still in business,” said Heifetz.
People bought $1.2 billion worth of records in 2022, a nearly 20% jump from the year before, according to RIAA.
This is a trend Kelliher said she expects will keep trending upward.
“I think it’s just beautiful that records are just so much part of our life and they bring so much joy to so many people, and I love seeing the faces of customers when I get their album in,” said Kelliher.