As more big retailers stop carrying physical media, and more people find limitations to streaming, New Kensington record store owner A.J. Rassau believes there will be more demand for what he offers.
That’s his hope, at least. And after investing a half-million dollars to take in more than 100,000 vinyl records and more than 100,000 compact discs, he’d better be right.
It took four tractor-trailers to bring all that music to New Kensington from Allentown, where Rassau, 38, bought out the inventory of Double Decker Records, which closed in December after being in business for nearly 30 years.
“It took every dollar to my name, plus a lot of loans,” Rassau said.
Without enough retail space at his shop, Preserving, in the former Salvation Army building on 11th Street, Rassau is opening a second storefront nearby on Fifth Avenue.
Keeping all of that inventory in one place would have required closing one of his two concert venues at Preserving, which Rassau didn’t want to do.
“I racked my brain for about a month, ‘Where am I going to put this stuff?’ ” he said.
The new location, Preserving Vinyl, is opening at 10 a.m. Saturday at 1005 Fifth Ave. in a storefront that is part of the McDonough Building at Fifth Avenue and 10th Street. It previously was home to Tonie’s Massage Therapy Retreat and, Rassau was told, was once a music store.
While both locations will carry records, Preserving Vinyl will be dedicated to them, Rassau said. The original shop’s assortment will be geared more toward alternative, heavy metal and punk.
The selection at Preserving Vinyl covers a wide range of music, including rock, country, jazz and blues. There’s also hip-hop, garage, Latin, world and folk.
With Double Decker owner Jamie Holmes already having filtered out the “junk,” Rassau said 85% to 95% of the selection is good stuff.
“I was shocked how good it is,” he said.
A customer of Double Decker, Rassau said he came to buying out Holmes’ inventory after stopping in and chatting with him on his way to Philadelphia. Rassau said he kept thinking about how Holmes had mentioned possibly closing if an offer came along, so he texted Holmes and asked how serious he was.
Rassau said Holmes thought the volume would scare him away. It didn’t, and he said the $500,000 price was a steal.
“He was very generous,” Rassau said. “It made me think I could do it.”
After more than 27 years, Holmes said his business was still profitable, but he wanted to do something different in life. He closed Double Decker on Dec. 2.
While Holmes said he had no problem letting go, Rassau said Double Decker’s following was devastated.
“I hope it is an amazing springboard to get him where he wants to be with the business,” Holmes said.
Days before opening, Preserving Vinyl’s retail floor was filled with records in display stands Rassau also bought from Double Decker. It’s not all that there is — boxes of records and CDs fill the basement.
His goal is to get the records out the door.
“I’m not trying to be a museum,” he said.
With the realignment between the two stores, shoppers will find more CDs at the original location.
While records have enjoyed a rebirth among audiophiles and others, Rassau said people are returning to CDs as well, partly because the sound quality is better than streaming, which is compressed.
“For those who grew up on digital and streaming, a CD has just as much charm as a record does,” he said.
When Rassau started what has become Preserving in 2018 in the basement of his mother’s home in Plum, it was just his own personal collection, said his mother, Cathy Rassau.
He moved from there to the basement of New Kensington District Judge Frank J. Pallone Jr.’s building in April 2019. He closed on buying the former church from the New Kensington Salvation Army in June 2020. After first opening the record store in the basement there in September 2020, he moved it upstairs in early 2021.
Rassau’s business has done well enough that he was able to buy out what he said was a well-respected store.
“It’s been a journey,” he said.
Cathy Rassau said she was excited about her son opening a second location.
“It was the obvious next step,” she said.
“I’m always nervous when a new venture comes, but the more he does the less nervous I am because he always makes it work,” she said. “He thinks things through, and then he goes for it.”
Cathy Rassau said her son has always been into music. He plays drums in several bands and writes songs and lyrics.
“I learn a lot about music through helping him,” she said.
A.J. Rassau hired two full-time employees to staff the new store.
With it being right on Fifth Avenue, he plans to be more involved with the monthly Fridays on Fifth event and be open late on Fridays and Saturdays, so people can make an evening out of being in downtown New Kensington with two breweries, Voodoo and Strange Roots, nearby.
Cathy Rassau is excited for Saturday’s opening.
“I want everybody to see the work everybody’s been doing,” she said.
Brian C. Rittmeyer is a TribLive reporter covering news in New Kensington, Arnold and Plum. A Pittsburgh native and graduate of Penn State University, Brian has been with the Trib since December 2000. He can be reached at brittmeyer@triblive.com.
