MINNEAPOLIS — A legendary music space in Minneapolis is spinning a new record.
Michele Swanson opened Lucky Cat Records at the corner of Lyndale Avenue and 26th Street — a space that was once home to Treehouse Records and Oar Folkjokeopus.
“The history in this space is just amazing,” said Swanson. “It’s kind of where Minnesota music sort of originated, you know, The Replacements were discovered here.”
The history of this corner shop is why Swanson wanted to open a record store, a move she never saw coming. She worked in human resources for Delta Airlines for over two decades.
“I've always loved music, but I've never done it as a profession,” Swanson said.
Her record store is filled with new and used vinyl.
“The used vinyl, I actually source from around the world,” she said. “Some of the vintage local artists like Zuzu’s Petals, and Run Westy Run, Babes in Toyland, you can't find the vintage albums around here.”
Swanson said about 50% of her used vinyls were curated overseas. She thinks it’s hard to find local vinyls because people in the U.S. switched to using CDs.
She said vinyl never went out of style in Europe and is happy to see its resurgence amongst younger generations in the U.S.
“They're just discovering vinyl and, in some cases, they're buying vinyl, and they don't even have a turntable yet. But it's interesting that a lot of the younger people, they're really into the vintage sort of thing,” she said.
Swanson said opening her record store is surreal. Her first job was working at Musicland, a record store, and now her last job will be running a record store.
“It's kind of amazing. I never thought of opening a record store. I've always loved music. I've always loved local music, but never ever thought of opening a record store,” she said.
Swanson said her store will be open on July 6 and 7 between 12 p.m. and 6 p.m. on Saturday, and 12 p.m. and 5 p.m. on Sunday. She said Tommy Stinson of The Replacements will perform at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday. She said it’s free to attend but space will be limited.
After this weekend, you can stop in anytime between 11 a.m. and 5 p.m. Thursday-Sunday.
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