Patrons lined up Saturday to sift through the unsorted boxes of the record store’s vast outdoor collection. Dylan Hart | The Crow’s Nest
By Dylan Hart
Daddy Kool Records released its inventory to the sidewalk Saturday for a 98-cent sale.
Daddy Kool Records, 666 Central Ave., is the closest spot to campus to buy music and concert tickets. Since its establishment in 1985, it has been a local hotspot for music, with many a Daddy Kool sticker adorning the laptops of USF St. Petersburg students.
But now, Daddy Kool seeks to push vinyl further into the spotlight — and the sidewalk.
“We try to do a sidewalk sale every month,” Assistant Manager Megan McDonald said. “It’s not always price specific, but this month we decided to do a 98-cent sale because it’s 9/8.”
The store displayed a large collection of music and band paraphernalia, from Barbra Streisand albums to Grateful Dead incense sticks.
Joined by a DJ spinning vinyl records on his turntable, legions of visitors shuffled through the collection boxes in front of the record store, looking for hidden gems among the eclectic mix of music.
“Since it’s a 98-cent sale, there’s things that we would put in a sidewalk sale for more money, so we didn’t go for that. We try to put a majority of stuff out, though,” McDonald said. “The sidewalk sale is a way of getting rid of inventory so it doesn’t just sit in the store.”
Daddy Kool Records emphasizes that it is just as much into trading as it is selling, and it uses sidewalk sales to capitalize on the full value of their trades.
“When we buy used vinyl, we have really strong requisites. It has to be playable with no scratches. But when we buy a whole collection, sometimes there will be records that aren’t fit for the in-store guarantee, so we’ll just throw them out there,” McDonald said.
The store joins thousands of others across the country in stocking records, a sound medium once thought dead but brought back to life by avid music fans who argue that vinyl has greater sound fidelity and a closer physical attachment to the music.
Other St. Petersburg music stores that carry vinyl include Bananas, St. Pete Records and Planet Retro.
“I definitely see Daddy Kool as being a part of the vinyl revival,” McDonald said. “People come in who are older and say ‘I couldn’t get someone to take my vinyl 20 years ago!’ But now we pay really well for used vinyl, usually 50 percent of what we put it out for. And then there are lots of younger generations who are buying vinyl.”
Daddy Kool also joins other record stores around the world in Record Store Day, an international event that takes place every April. According to the Record Store Day website, “Special vinyl and CD releases and various promotional products are made exclusively for the day.”
McDonald verified Daddy Kool’s inclusion in the event.
“We’re going to do a Black Friday sale, which is a Record Store Day event, and we buy up exclusives that are specifically made for the day,” she said.
Daddy Kool Records intends to put on another sidewalk sale in October, but a date has yet to be confirmed.
