By Theo Velasquez-Arreaga
Walking under the black warehouse ceiling of independent record store The Sound Garden, a range of flags welcome you. Flags from countries such as Mexico and Brazil, from social movements like Black Lives Matter and from identity groups such as LGBTQIA+. Merch is scattered throughout the store—from prayer candles with the faces of pop culture figures to posters of musicians such as Bob Marley and Billie Eilish to Maryland-themed socks and T-shirts.
The Sound Garden attracts customers with a range of interests. Under this roof, you can expect to find people from all walks of life: teenagers, senior couples and parents with their kids all came into the store on a day in early April.
Standing across from me behind a glass counter full of brightly colored 4/20 knick-knacks is store manager Philip Ley. He said there are few spots in the city that attract such a diverse mix of clients.
“From that aspect I’d say that we’re a little bit of a focal point for our local community,” he said.
Diversity goes beyond the customers. With a diverse catalog of music, like Rosalía’s “MOTOMAMI,” “Stranger in the Alps” by Phoebe Bridgers and OutKast’s “Stankonia,” it’s evident what attracts different generations and groups of people into the store. It’s as if the whole store is curated for all the interests customers have.
Store employee Chrissy Mertel shared that one recent artist customers have noticed is Grammy nominated Noah Kahan. He has visited the store twice, according to Ley.
Even as music can be accessed through cheaper, more accessible ways through digital streaming apps, the love for record collecting lives on. The Sound Garden is helping to keep that tradition alive. Community is a central aspect to the store, and no other way exemplifies this other than on Record Store Day. It’s a day that’s celebrated annually in April throughout “independently-owned brick-and-mortar record stores around the world,” to allow storeowners, employees, customers and artists “to come together to celebrate record stores and the unique role they play in their communities,” according to RSD’s website.
The Sound Garden has been a staple in the Fells Point neighborhood of Baltimore. Bryan Burkert, the store owner, first opened the doors in a tiny space directly across from the store’s current location in 1993. The following year, the store relocated to the warehouse it sits at, with Ley later joining in 1997. Since then, he has witnessed how the store has grown, undergone changes and gained recognition. The store was voted the second-best record store in the nation by Rolling Stone in 2014, according to their website.
The store’s array of records, CDs, DVDs, books and merch only complement the array of posters and flags—and the centerpiece of it all, photos of every famous artist or celebrity who’s come to the store. Names such as Halsey, Idris Elba, Gunna, Ludacris and Cage the Elephant.
Lee said he finds most joy in taking record collections from collectors who no longer want them and acting as an intermediary by placing these records in the hands of new owners who he knows will value and cherish them.
Former customers have even become employees. That’s the case for Mertel, who’s been shopping at the store ever since it first opened and has been working there for almost four years. She said that owning the physical version of a body of work is integral to enjoying and consuming media, as “things come and go on the streaming [platforms].”
Streaming platforms certainly helped customers who couldn’t visit stores in-person during the COVID-19 lockdown. As it did with businesses throughout the country, the pandemic caused the store to close for three months. But it allowed them to revamp their entire point of sales system and website to what they are today, according to Ley.
That same year, Record Store Day’s intended date of 4/18 was pushed to three drop dates, spanning to dates like 8/29, 9/26 and 10/24. The following years event followed the same model, largely due to COVID and delays in pressing issues.
“The vinyl community is pretty strong whether we exist or not,” Ley said. “There are a lot of record stores all over the country and all over the world that are doing well.”
Records and other analog media products are making a resurgence. Ley said that streaming apps can even help people find new music, “so for that reason we are very much relevant.”
Even the sense of community among other record stores in the city is strong. Despite viewing other vendors in the city as regular marketplace competition, Ley says the store is always happy to recommend other record stores in town to customers.
“I guess technically they are competition, but it’s not really how we view them. And I don’t think they view us that way either.”
It demonstrates the strength of the music community. Preserving, sharing and collecting physical forms of media can bring people together.