Eastside Records is back in business in Tempe

Eastside Records, an independent store that closed its doors in 2010 after 23 years of providing Valley music geeks a place in downtown Tempe to dig for rare LPs and 45s, is back in business at a new location.

"I really do love doing it," Pawlicki says. "But I'm kind of exhausted just from working day and night to get the place open."

Asked if he thinks this location will be around longer than the temporary location that opened near the Yucca Tap Room last December as the Ghost of Eastside Records and closed again in May, Pawlicki says, "I put a lot more work into this -- a lot more money and effort -- so it could be more permanent. It matters how things go personally for me in the next year, but I do like the location."

Pawlicki says the decision will be made when summer rolls around.

"I've lived here since I've been 13," the 50-year-old Pawlicki says. "And I would just like to live somewhere else. But I do like this spot. A lot. The whole vibe of this area is really nice. So if I stay, I'll stay right here. With it sitting between the campus and the light rail station, there's an amazing amount of young people walking around, which is a pretty cool thing."

As to why the original store closed in 2010, Pawlicki says, "Another guy owned most of the place and I think he just honestly didn't want all the work anymore. All the tax work. All the paper work. These places, no matter what you do with them, it's a labor of love. You don't make a lot of money. You make enough to pay your friends, have a good time and hopefully pay your bills. They're not big money makers. You've gotta love doing it. And I honestly think the other guy doing it had just stopped loving it. At that point, it's just a lot of work."

Pawlicki was still considering trying to open a store in the Los Angeles area when the Ghost of Eastside Records closed in May.

"I went out there about eight times last year, just to try and learn the place again and look at the little neighborhoods," he says. "The basic thing that happened is I thought of this four or five years ago when just tons of the independent stores closed down out there. But in the time I've been looking to do this, about 10 stores have opened up. So basically, every hip little neighborhood already has a store. I thought I was gonna go out there and compete with maybe six to eight stores. And it was more like I would be competing with 20 to 25. That kind of threw me, to be honest. It was a good idea I had but a lot of other people also had the same idea who were probably already living there and were able to act on it faster. Where to put a store is a real tricky thing."

"I can remember six different record stores being in this area back when they were more happening," Pawlicki says. "And just the dynamics of what they're doing with downtown Tempe, they're putting up all these new buildings and there are gonna be a lot of people from 18 to 25 walking around here all the time. Even more so next year than now, this area is just gonna have tons of young people living right across the street from me."

"It's really gone that way," Pawlicki says. "I have nothing against CDs but most young people know they don't have to pay for those. Kids actually come in and buy cassettes more than they buy CDs. Vinyl is absolutely the thing. These places have become a lot more boutique-y and a lot more specialized. Pretty much all the stores you go into, other than the really big stores, vinyl is really the emphasis, absolutely, at this point. Punk and hip-hop kind of kept it alive, but it's really come back. Probably 80 to 90 percent of our sales will be vinyl."