A Vintage Record Cabinet

I can remember going into Keene in the mid-1970s to buy the newest record releases of my favorite bands. W.T. Grants on Winchester St. and The Giant store on West St., both sold vinyl records. Back then they could cost anywhere between $5 to $8. Today that would be the equivalent of about $20 to $35. It was a lot of money back then for a teenager, but records were the primary way to listen to music you loved, so it was all worth it. My sister-in-law Kathy O. remembers picking up the Billboard Hot 100 list at the record stores in Keene. They were free and kept near where the store sold the singles and albums. The small sheet of paper would tell you what song and artist was what number (1 to 100) on the list that week, what they were the previous week and how many weeks they had been on the charts. I'm sure this marketing idea would entice people to buy an album they weren't planning on. Besides that, the album covers were often like a piece of art and could lure you to buy the record just for the cover. By the 1980s, cassette tapes took over and soon compact disks. We always hung on to our records and so did my in-laws. They had a record cabinet they kept all their vinyl in. I had never seen a piece of furniture just for albums and thought that was pretty neat. My records were kept piled in a stack and theirs were neatly organized vertically between divider shelves in the lower half of the cabinet and a draw for singles, all made specifically for record storage. I learned that these cabinets became popular in the mid-20th century as a form of function and furniture and when the record craze was at its height. There has been a resurgence in the demand for vinyl records and with that the need for a way to store and display them. I don't see these cabinets for sale very often and maybe that's because people are buying them up for their vinyl collection. You can sometimes find the cabinets at antique stores, and I've also seen a few for sale on eBay for $150 to $250. Maybe there's one in your parents or grandparents' attic? There's something special about opening your record cabinet and showcasing your favorite albums while the sounds of the smooth vinyl grooves fill your air waves. Ruth Blais Thompson is a lifelong resident of the Monadnock Region, a Realtor for Blais & Assoc. Realtors in Keene and a volunteer CASA. Her pastimes are writing short stories, ancestry research and playing, writing and performing music. She lives in Dublin with her husband and can be reached at rblaisthompson@gmail.com.