For 50 years, since 1974, Boo Boo Records in downtown San Luis Obispo has been opening its doors to music lovers.
Owner Mike White has been coming to work since 1978 when as a college student at Cal Poly, he walked in for the first time and was hooked.
“I love what I do. I love coming to work. It's a dynamic industry,” he told KSBY.
It's an industry that has seen a revival despite being in a streaming age. According to White, he saw the shift in popularity in the mid to late 2000s.
“With the renaissance of vinyl, we are finding that it's skewing even younger than ten years ago,” White said.
But the resurgence of vinyl is also nostalgic. Karen Wilkins, who has been working at Boo Boo Records since 1976, fell in love with records in the 6th grade, walking down the street to buy the Meet the Beatles album.
“I was just enamored and I had to have the album. That's where it all started,” Wilkins said.
48 years later, in the store that’s stood the test of time, she still gets that same thrill and joy from records.
“It just takes me back to a time of perfect,” she said.
Boo Boo Records has seen changes over its 50 years. It's changed owners, starting with the founders Ed Taylor and Glenn Forbes, fast forwarding to when White became the sole owner in 2010. It's also changed with the different forms of listening to music, the consolidation to one store and even changes to what they sell with the addition of merchandise and CDs to supplement their vinyl sales.
Through it all, they’ve not just survived but thrived in an area that is expensive and difficult at times for small businesses.
“There was a time when it was touch and go and we're super strong and everything's good,” White said.
It's a feat that White could never have predicted as a wide-eyed employee in 1978.
“If you asked me when I was a kid in 1978 or '79 if I was going to keep doing this or if this would be around, I wouldn't even have been able to wrap my head around it,” he said.
In honor of its 50 years, Boo Boo Records is having a 50th anniversary concert series. The next concert is on July 2 with a performance by The Charities.
