Record and Tape Traders Towson, the last remaining iteration of what was once a chain of music and movie purveyors scattered around the state, will close its doors after 40 years of business this winter. The institution in Baltimore’s music community will remain open through Christmas to liquidate its current stock.

“We would like to thank our customers for their loyalty over the years and we look forward to seeing you over the next few weeks,” reads an announcement posted to the store’s Facebook page last week. “Please come visit us and help us say farewell. We were so proud to be your music and movie location for as long as we could. That’s the way she goes…”

The post has been shared nearly 1,500 times, and hundreds of commenters have expressed their sadness and memories in the wake of the announcement.

As a farewell of our own, we gathered stories from R&TT patrons both past and present, who look back at their first musical experiences, record store shenanigans, and just what we’re losing as the Dulaney Plaza Shopping Center staple closes its doors.

Jeff Gorman, Baltimore

Member of local band Illiterate Light, patron

Gorman, who grew up less than one mile from the store, remembers buying his first album there when he was in elementary school.

“My dad and I stopped by after soccer practice, and I bought Third Eye Blind’s self-titled album because “Semi-Charmed Life” and “Jumper” had been blasting on WHFS,” he says. “We’d go in, ask the clerk for some recommendations, and they’d walk us around the store and tell us about each band while sharing stories about seeing them live. Then we’d take those albums to the listening booth, throw on a pair of headphones, and preview a few songs.”

Though he says he isn’t “anti-streaming,” Gorman is quick to point out the differences between buying and consuming music then and now.

“Every single album I bought from R&TT, I know the whole thing front to back,” he says. “Because if you’re gonna drop $15 on something, you’re gonna get every cent out of it. Music consumption is different now. You don’t like a song on Spotify, you just go to the next one. Back in the day, if you didn’t like a song on the record you just bought, you either learned to like it or returned it for something better.”

One of the things that Gorman will cherish most about R&TT is its reputation as a “hub of culture for many different genres of music.”

“In one aisle you’re transported to Woodstock and the hippie revolution, then you turn around to the aisle behind you, and suddenly it’s L.A. in the mid-’80s and you’re thrown into the thick of punk,” he says. “Then you walk into the next aisle and it’s 1995 and Biggie and Tupac are taking hip-hop and blasting it into a whole new dimension. Race, time, politics, everything could mysteriously come together and even be transcended in the aisles of Record and Tape Traders.”

Scotti Anne Kondracki-Gunn, Glen Burnie

Patron

Back in the late ’80s is when Gunn discovered R&TT on Ritchie Highway in Glen Burnie. She and her best friend, Dawn, would go in to peruse the music, grab the free mags, and, scope out cute guys. She still has the very first CDs she purchased there, including Type O Negative’s Bloody Kisses, Stone Temple Pilots, and The Ravyns.

“Of course, I also snatched up several Metallica tapes—ahh, tapes,” she says. “If R&TT didn’t have something I wanted, they would put down my name and what I was looking for. Soon enough I’d get a phone call, or the next time I stopped in, there would be the record or CD I wanted. It was businesses like this that gave me that much more appreciation for music and the world around it.”

Gunn moved away from Maryland in her mid-20s and found out that R&TT in Glen Burnie had closed soon after.

“I was just heartbroken,” she says. “But when I moved back five years ago, I found the one in Towson. All my great memories came rushing back, and I was so very elated. It’s funny how, in this community, some things never really seem to change, and yet, everything eventually does.”

Now, in the wake of the Towson location shuttering its doors, Gunn is hoping to take her 17-year-old son to the store before Christmas so that he can have the same music experiences that she did.

“R&TT was this place where local legends could be found amidst great world legends,” she says. “And they were just about equal there.”

Chad Gautier, Glen Burnie

Former employee, patron

Despite occasional issues with theft and dealing with some unconventional customers, Gautier says he had plenty of good times working at the R&TT store in Glen Burnie.

“We used to laugh so much,” he says. “When you went to work it was like going to a party. There was music and all your best friends were there. It was like a family.”

His love for music was passed down to him from his mother, and now, he is proud to say that his 15-year-old daughter thinks that the Towson store is the “coolest place on Earth.”

“I have always felt that music is loved by so many people,” he says. “It lets us say things we can’t put into words. But when it’s heard, everyone knows what we are feeling. R&TT really is going to be a place that, when it is gone, people will then realize what they are missing.”

John Fahres, Philadelphia

Musician, Patron

In 1999, two years after having left the Baltimore-based roots-rock band The Poorhouse Rockers to pursue music as a solo musician, Fahres put out his first album, True Stories, Total Fabrications.

“It was an exciting time, and the internet was new and shiny but not necessarily the best promo and distribution tool available,” he explains. “As such, you had to get your music out there the old-fashioned way, meaning selling it at shows and getting local record shops to carry it.”

Fahres had been visiting R&TT since he was a student at Towson in the early ’90s. It was an easy walk or bike ride from campus, and he frequently made his way there to flip through bins of his favorite acts, such as Del Amitri and Elvis Costello.

“There were numerous times I would be in the store digging through the CD bins in search of elusive UK import CDs,” he remembers. “And I would get turned on to something new thanks to whatever record the employees were spinning.”

Fast-forward to 1999, when Fahres finished his first album and the manager of R&TT bought copies to stock in the Local Music section.

“It was one of those moments where you feel like you’ve stepped up to the next level in regards to your musical career,” he says. “At the end of the day, they are and will remain a part of my personal musical history.”

John Roth, Baltimore

Patron

Roth remembers first going to R&TT as a young kid with his dad to buy Elvis tapes for his mom: “I didn’t have the opportunity to go back until I was a teenager—my parents weren’t really the types to frequent record stores—but I have the image of the original store in my head to this day,” he shares. “I didn’t know what I’d walked into, but I knew at that age it was something special.”

He’ll always appreciate the spot-on suggestions given to him by the store’s staff, which he says “always got it right.”

“Music people can smell BS a mile away, but R&TT was just so genuine,” he adds. “They catered to every sort of music lover, from the people picking up a single they liked on the radio to the freaky collectors who’ve gone over the edge. If it was good, they had it. If it wasn’t so good, they had enough of it to keep customers happy, but I believe they hid it halfway out of sight out of decency and honor.”

Now, Roth, 45, says that, as much as he promised himself he would never go all digital, he hasn’t purchased a physical album in years.

“When I heard that R&TT is closing once and for all, I felt a sense of irrational responsibility in some ways,” he shares. “The closing line of the posting on Facebook says it all, though. It’s sad. It sucks. As much as it saddens me to realize that an era is over, that’s the way she goes. Time moves on, and consumer preferences did, too.”

The former home of Killer Trash and Glitter Rat is no longer full of clothes, shoes, and accessories, but those interested in the rare and vintage may still want to browse the wares at 602 South Broadway. The black and yellow storefront’s latest tenant is Hare’s Breath Records, now open Wednesday through Sunday, and owners Matt and Kat Peach have swapped out the clothes racks for bins filled with hundreds of albums, some new and some gathered on the couple’s trips up and down the East Coast.

While you can definitely find classic rock essentials among Hare’s Breath’s holdings, this is the kind of place you go to find something completely new. Offerings lean toward the odd and the interesting, with Matt and Kat’s personal tastes for reggae, prog, folk, and industrial well represented.

As for the obvious question for a new record store in Fells Point, the Peaches know they’ve got some great neighbors in the vinyl business just blocks away, and they don’t mind.

“We keep hearing that. But if it was another restaurant [in Fells] or a different store, it wouldn’t make any difference,” Matt says. “What makes us different I think is our stock and the feel of the shop. And we run our own record label as well.”

That record label, also called Hare’s Breath, features Matt and Kat’s own music in addition to that of artists from Baltimore, New York, and Matt’s native UK, and it focuses on “hauntology, psychedelic, folk, horror, ambient, electronic, noise, storytelling, and experimental” projects. (Ask the couple about The Stone Tapes for a truly wild tale of local lore and experimental sounds.)

“We’re both really into not just the music, but knowledge about the music,” Kat says. “We love odd, weird things, and we obsessively collect the stories behind the things.”

Bring up a certain style or an artist and the couple is likely to start pulling records from behind the counter or a box on the floor and putting them on. With a smile and a “Now, this is really weird,” the sounds of spooky children’s songs or guided transcendental meditation fill the store. Jazz, Jane Fonda, radio plays, and horror soundtracks all have their place here, and Matt and Kat have an anecdote or fun fact for everything.

“A lot of record shops you go in, buy the record, and go home,” Matt says. “People might not find out the stories. But we’re just really passionate about what we’re selling.”

Kat says her goal is to know at least one thing about every artist in the shop, no small feat when the bins are full of rare finds and hardly any repeats. They are also happy to place orders for customers who can’t find what they’re looking for in the couple’s eclectic collection, but our advice is to open your mind and browse awhile.

And that’s part of the joy of it all. “I think the biggest challenge we have is not keeping stuff for ourselves,” says Kat. “It’s a battle,” chimes in Matt. “But I do keep a stash under here that I’m taking home.”

Sure, streaming is convenient. But you can’t flip through bins full of MP3s, and algorithms can’t beat a trusted recommendation from your friendly neighborhood clerk.

As our profile of the Arbutus Record Show suggests, there’s still an undeniable allure to vinyl. Maybe it’s the cover art, or simply the tangible object in our digital world, but vinyl record sales continued their 12-year climb in 2017, with sales topping the previous year by more than $1 million.

Whether you’re just jumping on the bandwagon or you’ve been collecting for decades, you’re sure to find something for your turntable at one of these local spots.

Baby’s On Fire
This young café-cum-record shop takes its name from a Brian Eno track, which is a pretty good indication of what you’ll find there. Match your coffee to your listening-station pick for a fun, multi-sensory experience: French pop pairs well with cafe au laits, while Fugazi begs for a double shot of Hair Bender espresso. 1010 Morton St., 443-885-9892. 

Celebrated Summer Records
Looking to embrace your inner punk or hardcore headbanger? While the music inside this Hampden shop is of the messier variety, it’s also one of the best-organized record stores you’ll encounter. Check out the local section for releases from Baltimore bands like War On Women. 3616 Falls Rd., 443-866-9988. 

El Suprimo
Packed with used finds, this Fells Point hole-in-the-wall is a haven for Baltimore music-heads who love the joy of the hunt. Whether you’re into Morrissey or Memphis blues, chat with Jack about your tastes. He might just dig out something special from the back. 1709 Aliceanna St., 443-226-9628.  

Normal’s
This Waverly record and book store has recently updated its exterior, and inside you’ll find one of the best jazz selections in town, as well as notable additions to any collection (interested in a private press of early U2 demos?). Pick co-owner Rupert’s brain for insight on the store’s ever-expanding inventory. 425 E. 31st St., 410-243-6888.

Protean Books & Records
Books, music, games, movies, and more fill this eccentric treasure trove near M&T Bank Stadium. Used records run the gamut, with Jay-Z, JFK, and Miss Piggy all having been spotted in the bins. Brave browsers can also enjoy a quick scare at the oddities museum, Dr. Gloom’s Crypt of Curiosities, located in the back. 836 Leadenhall St., 410-227-3006.

The Sound Garden
After more than a quarter century (and being named one of Rolling Stone’s top record stores in the country), this beloved Fells Point music shop still stocks an abundance of new and used vinyl of every genre and price. Keep your eyes peeled for records from local artists and your ears open for the shop’s occasional concerts. 1616 Thames St., 410-563-9011

Trax on Wax
This local gem is a classic record store experience, with a friendly staff and packed bins of new, used, and rare music. Hit the reissue section for fresh copies of old favorites, such as Bowie’s whole range of Berlin recordings. It’s also a great place for newbies to check out equipment. Ask Gary or Jeff for help—those guys know everything. 709 Frederick Rd., Catonsville, 410-869-8729.

Ka-Chunk!! Records
If you’re in the Annapolis area, this solid shop hosts a sizable selection of new, reissued, and used LPs, plus live in-store performances and something good always spinning while you browse. One recent playlist included The Replacements, Leonard Cohen, and Ty Segall. 78 Maryland Ave., Annapolis, 410-571-5047.

True Vine
Established by friends with a love for “raw and non-traditional” music, this Hampden haunt is the place to go for music beyond our borders. Also dubbed one of Rolling Stone’s top record shops, its truly eclectic selection includes globe-spanning sounds from the “organ king of Cairo,” Belgian avant-rockers, and the Baltimore Club scene, just to name a few. 3544 Hickory Ave., 410-235-4500. [Editor’s Note 6/11/21: True Vine remains temporarily closed.]

Bryan Burkert chuckles when asked how The Sound Garden weathered the digital-music revolution that drove most music retailers out of business. “Adapting to online music wasn’t anything new to us,” he says, “because there’s never been a time when we weren’t in crisis. It’s always seemed like we’re about to go under.” Burkert, who rarely gives interviews, is discussing Sound Garden’s 20-year history between bites of a black-bean burger and sips of iced tea at the Waterfront Hotel, down the street from the Fells Point store. Dressed casually on a weekday in a T-shirt and jeans, the 46-year-old Burkert could be mistaken for a slacker commandeering a barstool for a liquid lunch. He almost sounds the part, with a slight lilt in his voice that occasionally downshifts into a conspiratorial tone hinting at camaraderie and adventures to come.

But Burkert’s eyes suggest he’s all business. They change from vague drift to focused intensity when the conversation turns to one of two topics: music or record stores, especially his record stores. (He operates a second Sound Garden location in Syracuse, NY.) It doesn’t take long to figure out that Burkert isn’t particularly suited for other types of employment. “After all this time, what else am I going to do?” he asks. “It’s not like my resume is packed with all these positive experiences. Besides, not many people are recruiting owners of record stores for their companies.”

Maybe they should.

Burkert has built Sound Garden into a Baltimore institution. It’s outlasted regional chains like Kemp Mill and Waxie Maxie’s, gone up against big-box stores like Best Buy, and thrived in an Internet age that toppled bricks-and-mortar behemoths like Tower Records and Sam Goody.

In the process, it’s racked up dozens of “Best of” awards from local media, been cited as one of the finest record stores in the country by Rolling Stone and Billboard magazines, hosted hundreds of in-store concerts, attracted an incredibly devoted and diverse clientele, and become a destination for tourists and visiting celebrities. (The store’s walls are plastered with photos of employees posing with a “who’s who” of visiting dignitaries—from the Red Hot Chili Peppers and Kanye West to actor Elijah Wood and supermodel Tyra Banks.)

They come for the deep and broad selection of CDs (from The Dark Side of the Moon to Moondog), DVDs, Blu-ray, video games, books, posters, and whatever else Burkert stocks to stay relevant. “We’re always looking for the next thing,” he says. “We like to give new ideas a shot and see what happens. Right now, we’re selling a lot of socks, which we just brought in.”
Those socks—festooned with all kinds of stripes, animal figures, skulls, and even mustaches—complement the T-shirts, hats, sunglasses, backpacks, and other accessories on sale. And, at the counter, you can grab a Yoo-hoo, Snickers bar, box of incense, and even a pack of condoms.

But the most significant development over the past few years has been the resurgence of vinyl. As CD sales plummeted, sales of records, both new and used, steadily increased. And the skyrocketing popularity of Record Store Day—the international celebration of vinyl culture now in its sixth year—helped stoke the revival amongst the younger generation. It’s a back-to-the-future twist that’s transforming the shop, long known as “the CD joint at the Point,” into more of an old-school record store.

That’s fine with Burkert, because that’s where his roots are.

Burkert grew up in Buffalo, a working-class city not unlike Baltimore. He went to private school and circulated in an alternative music and arts scene that, at various times, included members of the Goo Goo Dolls, Ani DiFranco, 10,000 Maniacs guitarist Robert Buck, and actor Vincent Gallo. He listened to the likes of R.E.M. and The Replacements on WBNY, Buffalo State’s radio station, and was particularly fond of an alt-rock show DJ’ed by Tom Calderone, who’s now president of VH1.

Burkert and his friends biked to their local record store, Home of the Hits. Although the name implied otherwise, the shop didn’t focus on “hits” so much as it catered to the tastes of punk rockers, metal kids, college radio types, and classic-rock fans. Burkert would buy import vinyl and the latest 12 inches by The Smiths, The Cure, and Echo and the Bunnymen, and chat up the staff about music they liked. “It was my vision of what an indie record shop should be,” says Burkert. “It was basically a much smaller version of what The Sound Garden has become.” (Home of the Hits closed in 2006, after nearly 25 years in business.)

While Burkert was pursuing a mass communications degree from St. Bonaventure University, his parents moved to Baltimore. During visits, he noticed the city had no equivalent of Home of the Hits, and Fells Point seemed especially barren. On Broadway, Reptilian Records specialized in punk, but that was about it. So he decided to fill the void.

At first, Burkert went to every record store he could find and wrote down everything he liked and didn’t like about each one. After locating a suitable, but small, space at 1617 Thames, across the street from the current location, he borrowed money from his sister’s boyfriend to open the shop. At the time, his only possession was a beat-up Chevy Citation. “I told [her boyfriend], ‘If this doesn’t work out, there’s no way I can pay you back,’” recalls Burkert.

The Sound Garden opened in 1993 and, from the start, did a brisk business. It didn’t take long for competitors to take note, and two years later, Burkert heard rumblings about other record stores opening in Fells Point and realized the building across the street was an ideal spot. “I knew if another record store moved in there, they would take me out,” says Burkert.

“We were doing well, but I still had no money, nothing. So I went for it.”

Burkert rented the larger building and broke his lease. “We literally carried all the racks and stock over in the middle of the night,” he says, in that conspiratorial tone. “I just knew we had to get that space, which included a parking lot, before anyone else did. It was a matter of survival.”

At first, he didn’t have enough product to fill 7,500 square feet, which seemed cavernous at the time, so he installed a pool table in the back and “just threw stuff in there to seem like it was full.”

Burkert stocked tons of indie music, including many titles that couldn’t be found at other shops. He also got heavily into used CDs, which offset a challenge from big-box stores that were selling new CDs below cost as a means of getting customers through their doors. The store grew steadily, and it wasn’t long before the pool table had to go.

In 2002, Burkert bought the building. “Thank God I did, because if I hadn’t, there’s no way I could afford to stay there,” he says. “There would be no Sound Garden. It would probably be a Walgreens.”

Anyone familiar with the shop would cringe at the thought, because it is, in many ways, the antithesis of a corporate franchise. It’s more of a cultural hub with wildly diverse customers. “We continue to build a large base of folks who live in the city, and that’s only grown since the Circulator started coming to our neck of the woods,” says Jimmy MacMillan, who’s worked at Sound Garden for the past nine years and was a loyal customer for 10 years before that.

On a recent afternoon, the checkout line included a death-metal fan buying records on the local A389 label, a Cosby-looking jazzhead with a half-dozen Blue Note CDs in hand, a pair of film buffs purchasing used Criterion DVDs, and a thugged-out guy picking up hip-hop mixtapes. A city policeman came to the counter asking for an Anita Baker CD.

“Sound Garden is one of the few places in Baltimore City where you see everybody from Baltimore City,” says Burkert, who credits his staff for making informed choices when it comes to stocking each section and making it attractive to a core constituency. “The store isn’t a reflection of my tastes so much as it’s a reflection of my staff’s tastes.”

As MacMillan notes: “Because the store doesn’t subscribe to any one particular group, style, or genre, our staff is always very well-rounded and resourceful. Not all of us know a ton about 1970s Italian horror soundtracks, but we know who to ask. Same goes for just about every style of music and film.”

And the staff knows the local arts scene incredibly well, because many of them are involved in it. MacMillan, for instance, runs the acclaimed record label, Friends; Marc Miller plays in the band Microkingdom and, before that, Oxes; Beth Varden is a graphic designer who’s also in the band The Violet Hour; and Laurence Bass is a freelance writer working on his first novel. Rob Girardi, producer of the first two Beach House records, worked at Sound Garden. So did Thrill Jockey recording artist Jason Urick, who relocated to Portland, OR, a few years back.

It’s all part of that old-school, record-store ethos. “It’s great that the people who work here are involved in other things, because it makes them even more knowledgeable and interesting,” says Burkert. “I’ve always believed that people go to record stores to talk to record-store employees, people like Jimmy. You can’t get that sort of thing from looking at a screen, because you don’t have that personal dynamic and sense of discovery.

“We practically lost an entire generation to digital music and iTunes, because we weren’t part of their lives. But the resurgence in vinyl has given our store new life and made it more relevant to younger people, who now have something to collect and people who can talk about it with them and make smart recommendations. They become part of the culture at Sound Garden.”

He leans forward, in that conspiratorial tone of his: “And they find that there’s a lot more than music in record stores.”