The music heroes of the story (Image: Almost Everyday Music)
You have even less time than you thought to enjoy Capitol Hill’s Everyday Music but the heart and soul of the CD and record shop might live on in Lower Queen Anne.
In February, CHS reported the sad news that the 10th Ave location of the Portland-based tiny chain of stores would close by June as challenges of COVID-19 coincided with founder Scott Kuzma’s hopes to downsize his business. We now have a date for the last planned day of business: May 16th.
But before one of the last record stores on Capitol Hill shutters, two of the store’s vital music experts are hoping to pick up the mantle and are beginning a $25,000 fundraiser to back the Almost Everyday Music venture to create a new shop in Seattle:
Because we are starting a new business, it will be easy to see your donations reflected around the store. Every dollar will help us acquire what we need to start again, including fresh product, a new point of sale system with gift cards, stickers, shirts, totes bags, and supplies for your collection. It will take our store front to the web and bring new life to old infrastructure. And last but not least, it will support local artists and labels who need our help as we move out from the pandemic.
Hans Fluegel, KEXP DJ and co-manager at Everyday Capitol Hill, and fellow employee Tyler Mitchell say the hope is to continue “Everyday’s legacy in Seattle in a new venture as Almost Everyday Music.”
“We will carry records, compact discs, cassettes, DVDs and VHS along with accessories in an effort to provide a little bit of everything for everyone,” the fundraiser pitch reads. “We will join the vibrant arts community in historic lower Queen Anne, in proximity to Seattle Center, where iconic shops like Easy Street, Silver Platters, and Tower Records once lived.”
UPDATE: Fluegel and Mitchell say reopening on Capitol Hill just wasn’t in the cards after the competitive lease environment and high rents had the original Everyday regularly on the move. The Uptown area, they hope will provide a more stable base.
“We don’t want to have to the threat of being town down,” Fluegel said.
The prospect of opening a new shop, meanwhile, has given the longtime employees and customers something positive to focus on.
“It’s turned a lot of sadness into excitement,” Mitchell said.
Capitol Hill’s DVD, CD, and record retail scene, meanwhile, will be kept alive by Wall of Sound, Zion’s Gate, Spin Cycle, Selector, and the thrift shop bargain bins.
To learn more, check out almosteverydaymusic.com.
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Uhm, no.
I’m a regular at Everyday Music and many other record shops around Seattle.
But come on with trying crowdsource $25K in seed money to start a business. That tells me everything I need to know about the viability of the business and why donating even $1 would be a total waste of money.
Correction! You mean it could live on in Uptown.
I feel like Uptown will be less accommodating of a used record store than Lower Queen Anne was lol
In all seriousness tho I recall Tower, and maybe even Silver Platters, as being more oriented towards visitors from out of town than being a neighborhood resource like Easy Street was & Everyday is. Unsure if it’s the unfair apples to oranges comparisons or the squidgy crowdfunding, but I’m not convinced this is happening.