The building at 350 W. Front St. in Wheaton has been vacant since it was built about eight years ago. Today, however, a sign in the window promotes Mile Long Records, a store that is set to open in October.
“I love music and I want to turn other people onto music,” said Michael Paeth, who is opening the shop, which he hopes will capitalize on renewed interest in vinyl records. His teen daughters, Allie, 15, and Abby, 17, will be running the store with him.
“Music has pretty much been in our entire lives,” Allie said.
When the two were young, their dad played in local bands and the house was always filled with music.
The idea began in Michael Paeth’s garage, about two blocks away from the Front Street shop.
“It started as a collection, then became an obsession, then became: Why do I need all this stuff?” he said of his records.
So, he decided to have a garage sale.
“I thought: Wouldn’t it be cool if I did a couple displays and made it look like a record store in my garage?” he said.
He expected to sell a couple of records and thought the music equipment he had would sell first. But the vinyl was more popular. So, he scheduled another sale.
“I set up my garage kind of like a record store so people were staying and hanging out,” he said.
That’s his dream for Mile Long Records.
“It’s more than just a record store; I want it to be a social outlet,” he said.
Paula Barrington, executive director of the Downtown Wheaton Association, expects it to be a big draw to downtown Wheaton.
“It definitely will be a destination business because people will come great distances to (visit) his store,” she said.
According to industry reports, vinyl record sales are on the rise. As of mid-June, some 3.7 million vinyl albums had been sold, a 40 percent increase over the same period last year, according to Nielsen data. The Chicago area has been a leader in the revival, with a number of Chicago stores ranked as among the best in the nation by Rolling Stone magazine.
Barrington noted that teenagers and 20-somethings are discovering the medium, while older customers find that vinyl just brings back memories.
Michael Paeth, who is still setting up the Wheaton store, said his shop will not look like an ordinary vinyl store — it will celebrate everything having to do with albums.
“In addition to a record store this will be a gallery of sorts too,” he said.
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Michael Paeth will partner with photographers, especially those who specialize in concert photography, to display their work within the store.
“I’m doing my best to keep it focused on music,” he said. “One of the things I didn’t like about record stores is that it forces people to flip through bins, but you can’t see the records.
“I’m trying to let the cover tell the story; the artwork is the cool thing.”
Mile Long Records is slated to open Oct. 15.