By Samantha Paine
Main Street holds a few gems that are always worth visiting, however, one of the best may also be one of the most under appreciated—Young Ones Records.
Young Ones has been in the music business for 25 years and has seen several location changes within that time, each to a bigger and better building.
Mark Goodwin, one of the head managers at Young Ones, said, “You make plenty of friends, just people being customers, which is really cool”.
The store also offers most genres for any music lover. From the Beastie Boys to Incubus, Britney Spears to Megadeath and Deadmau5 to Judas Priest, every genre is covered and well represented.
Ben Ginder, honors student at KU and singer/guitarist of his band Phantom, said, “[Young Ones] has a big selection of hard-to-find music and the prices are very cheap compared to other stores”.
Another honors student, Andrew Venzie, agreed and said, “From my two visits…I’ve found a decent handful of CDs of obscure bands that I’m into and have been looking months for”.
Young Ones serves as a great venue to discover new artists as well. The store hosts album releases and promotional events for local bands looking to get their name out to a larger audience. Copies of the albums are then sold and continually advertised in the store, making it easy to discover a new favorite.
They also offer video games, DVDs, Penn Avenue instruments and supplies, cassettes, magazines, posters, apparel, and more.
Some items are more expected—deluxe edition anniversary vinyl sets and authentic band flyers from the 80’s—but others might be new to the eye, such as DEVO figurines and literature from the artists.
“We’ve always been diverse with the products that we have, we don’t just have CDs and vinyl…and we’ve been able to adapt like that throughout the years”, said Goodwin.
For anyone who has never been to a record store, it is definitely worth the experience. It is easy to spend a few hours perusing the aisles and talking to employees.
Whether it’s a hunt for an elusive CD or vinyl or a desire to check out new releases and local bands, Young Ones Records is the place.
