Wilmington’s newest record shop, SqueezeBox Records, at 1901 W. 11th St., has it all—punk rock, gospel, country, rock and roll, soul, jazz, blues and sub genres. At the helm are vinyl aficionados and husband-and-wife team Rich Fisher and Kim Gold.
The shop opened this past October, and already a new component is in the works: a stage for live music. Fisher and Gold expect to launch this later this month or in early February. Once complete, SqueezeBox will house album release parties, live shows, and more throughout the year.
Meanwhile, SqueezeBox, home to Fisher’s collection of approximately 20,000 records, is open Tuesday-Saturday, 11 a.m.-8 p.m. and Sundays 11 a.m.-3 p.m. SqueezeBox currently also sources some vinyl from Third Man Records out of Detroit and Nashville.
For Fisher, collecting started at age 13. The first albums he ever got his hands on were Aerosmith’s Get Your Wings and Thin Lizzy’s Jailbreak.
“I was born and raised in the Detroit area and music was our lives,” says Fisher. “The feel of growing up in Detroit is different than anywhere else I’ve seen or been—times were tough, and music was our escape.”
His brother Larry was the lead singer in the band Sick and Tired, which had a solid fan base. Fisher has fond memories of weeknights sitting in on band practice at his family’s house and live music on the weekends. Since then, his passion has been vinyl, he says, and “buying every vinyl album, 45, or electronic that I could afford.”
Fisher always knew he wanted to open a record shop but was waiting for the right timing, he says. In the interim he worked music-related jobs, including local radio stations WDEL and WSTW, producing the Rick Jensen Show. Eventually, he took his cue from the resurgence of public interest in vinyl occurring over the past few years and opened a shop.
And naturally, his love for records overflows.
“Vinyl is a complete and full experience as opposed to pressing a button, putting in a CD and hitting play,” says Fisher. “The special thing about vinyl is that you have to interact with it and when you do, there is a feeling that comes through those speakers, the sound, the nuances of the music, the artwork on the jacket, the liner notes on the inner sleeve—it all culminates in an interacting event and experience like no other medium.”