City of Rochester
News Release
(Wednesday, October 28, 2009) – Mayor Robert J. Duffy and Neighborhood and Business Development Commissioner R. Carlos Carballada joined partners Richard F. Storms and Alayna Hill Alderman at the 33⅓-year anniversary celebration for Record Archive. The store, located at 33⅓ Rockwood St., specializes in new and used CD, DVD and vinyl record inventories, as well as a wide variety of unusual items including incense, vintage clothing and furniture, t-shirts, toys, cards, magazines, gifts and used VHS videos. In addition, the new location features an art gallery space which is affiliated with Rochester’s First Friday art openings and a full performance stage complete with lights, sound and recording capabilities for hosting local, regional and national musical acts.
Record Archive, Inc. was started in 1975 by Richard Storms. The store’s original location was 1394 Mt. Hope Avenue. In 1994, a second location was opened at 1880 East Ave. – which became the sole location after the Mt. Hope store closed in 2005. In 2008, Richard decided to move to 33⅓ Rockwood St., which is substantially larger than the company’s previous East Avenue space. The expansion has accommodated the company’s growing Internet business for both CD’s and vinyl records. The space was originally an industrial facility and needed to be re-purposed to accommodate Record Archive’s walk-in retail and Internet business.
Record Archive is the largest vintage record store in the northeast and is a member of the Coalition of Independent Music Stores (CIMS). CIMS, founded in 1995, is a group of some of the best independent music stores in America. Its current membership is made up of 29 accounts that handle 59 stores in 21 states. Many of the accounts have been recognized by the music industry and their local communities for their outstanding dedication to customer service and developing artist support. Each member is bound by its shared love of music, a reputation for great selection and customer service in the community, yet each CIMS account is as unique as the market it represents. Most importantly, CIMS member stores continually seek to challenge the jaded, color-by-numbers advertising and marketing of other retailers.
The store has 11 employees, of which seven are city residents. More than $100,000 was invested in developing the expanded space at 33⅓ Rockwood. The City of Rochester assisted with a grant from the Building Renovation Program.
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News Media: For more information, call Richard Storms at 244-1210.