Everybody’s Records, a Cincinnati institution that sells used and new music releases in Pleasant Ridge, turns 41 years old this weekend. It’s a remarkable feat for a record store to last so long, surviving and thriving through the various shifts in music consumption over the years (particularly in the current digital age).
To celebrate, the shop is having a party this Saturday (June 1). There will be giveaways throughout the day and everything in the store will be 10 percent off. There’s also a full slate of live music planned, beginning at 1 p.m. The local acts soundtracking the festivities are Static Falls, Terror At Midnight, Bucket, Chris Lee, Loopman Dan and Less More Band.
June 1 was the exact date Marilyn Kirby opened the doors of Everybody’s in 1978 as a used records outlet at 6106 Montgomery Road. The store eventually expanded to take over four storefronts on its block and has become an indispensable resource for record-heads in the area, carrying local music (many Cincinnati musicians have also worked the register at Everybody’s over the years), the latest releases, rarities, T-shirts, a still-bountiful collection of used and new vinyl and much more.
Many out-of-towners drop into the store, as well, including well-known musicians. In a 2008 CityBeat cover story on the occasion of the shop’s 30th anniversary, longtime employee Woody Dorsey said Fred Schneider of the B-52s, Smashing Pumpkins’ Billy Corgan and Moby have all shopped at Everybody’s.
Eleven years ago, Kirby told CityBeat one of the keys to the shop’s enduring success was its engaged staff. In our time of widespread corporate evisceration of independent, “mom and pop” businesses (looking at you, Amazon) and self-scan checkouts, Everybody’s stands as a reminder that a personal touch is still valued in our culture.
“You go into a lot of (big box) stores and no one knows what they’re talking about,” Kirby said. “But you come into our store, and these guys know.”
And now, 11 years later, some of those big box stores have shrunk their music sections or stopped carrying hard-copy music altogether.
And — yet and still — Everybody’s is still standing.
This article appears in May 29 – Jun 5, 2019.