Dumb Records to open second location at White Oaks Mall

Dumb Records is opening a second location in White Oaks Mall on Friday, Nov. 1. Brian Galecki, who co-owns the business with Jeff Black, said Dumber Records, as it will be known, will have the same merchandise as the downtown location but allow the business to expand its events.

"Customers can expect more of the same that we have downtown: new and used vinyl records, new and used CDs, turntables and more. You may catch a pinball machine or retro arcade cabinet or two as well," Galecki said.

The live music will still take place downtown, although the expansion will allow for additional events. "With the mall location, we'd like to start offering listening events," Galecki said.  "With popular artists like Olivia Rodrigo, record stores will stream a new album a couple days before it's actually released. We've always felt a little limited in our space downtown to be able to do that."

Another space challenge has been the Record Store Day events that happen twice a year.

"The last one in April, we had 200 people lined up outside our store. They start lining up at 5 p.m. the night before," said Galecki. "It's a lot of fun, but we can only allow a certain number of people inside our space - about 20 at a time."

Galecki said both locations will be participating in the next Record Store Day, which will take place on Black Friday, Nov. 29. He also hopes that the second location will help draw more customers from the west side of town.

"Some people don't want to go to one end of town or the other; I don't like that mindset, but I get that it's closer to where some people live," Galecki said.


The business opened in 2014 at the corner of South Grand Avenue and 11th Street, next to the Black Sheep Café live music venue. It moved downtown at the start of 2019, and Galecki said the pandemic the following year was actually good for business.

"A complete vinyl boom happened during the pandemic," he said. "Collectors' markets in general took off  - everyone was at home, dusting off their old records and collections."

Galecki acknowledged that the past year has been more challenging for many small businesses.

"It's been a tough year downtown, especially with the (Adams Street) fire, but we're not giving up on downtown. If anything, I see the mall venture as helping to propel us forward and continue funding what we're doing downtown," he said. "This makes sense in covering more of our bases."

Hours of operation for the White Oaks Mall location will be 12-7 p.m. Monday through Thursday, 10 a.m.-7 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 12-6 p.m. Sunday. The downtown location is open from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m., seven days a week.