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Vinyl returns to downtown Oswego as new record store opens · Kendall County News - Shaw Local

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  Speaker 1: Vinyl returns to downtown Oswego as new record store opens.
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  Speaker 1: Written by Eric Shelkoff. This article is being read by
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  Speaker 1: an automated voice brought to you by Everlett. For Mike Ramirez,
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  Speaker 1: there's nothing better than dropping a needle in the groove
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  Speaker 1: of a record. That's what makes the magic happen, he said,
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  Speaker 1: That's what it's all about. For me, it's magic. It's
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  Speaker 1: always been magic. Ramirez recently opened Needle and Groove Records.
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  Speaker 1: It's at seventeen Jefferson Street in downtown Oswego, directly across
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  Speaker 1: the street from the Oswego Public Library. The store had
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  Speaker 1: a soft opening on June seventh, which was opening day
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  Speaker 1: of the Oswegoland Park District's Oswego Country Market in downtown Oswego.
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  Speaker 1: He was happy by the number of people who walked
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  Speaker 1: into the store that day. We had a ton of people,
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  Speaker 1: Ramira said, I had no idea what to expect. Among
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  Speaker 1: those visiting the store that day was Tom Sharp, the
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  Speaker 1: drummer for Grammy Award winning group Mannheim Steamroller, who lives
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  Speaker 1: in Oswego. Sharp also is a worship musician and leader
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  Speaker 1: at Oswego Presbyterian Church. It was nice to have him
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  Speaker 1: come in the store, said Ramirez, who is a fan
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  Speaker 1: of the band. Ramirez sees the advantage of the store
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  Speaker 1: being located directly across the street from the Oswego Public Library.
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  Speaker 1: If people are into physical books, they might be into
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  Speaker 1: physical music, Ramirez said. The forty eight year old Ramirez
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  Speaker 1: is very familiar with Oswego. He was a resident for
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  Speaker 1: fifteen years before moving to Yorkville in twenty nineteen. Opening
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  Speaker 1: a record store has been a dream of his since
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  Speaker 1: he was a kid. Growing up in Naperville. He would
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  Speaker 1: shop at the now closed Crow's Nest record store. It
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  Speaker 1: was like my favorite place. Ramiro said. I found music
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  Speaker 1: that changed my life there. I would see the album
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  Speaker 1: covers at Crow's Nest and I would just buy things
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  Speaker 1: because I liked the cover. He has been listening to
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  Speaker 1: records since he was a kid. As a youngster, he
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  Speaker 1: owned a Fisher Price record place. I would watch the
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  Speaker 1: Disney picture discs spin and get hypnotized by them, Ramira said,
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  Speaker 1: it's like a nostalgia thing for me. Records never went
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  Speaker 1: away for me. I stream music too, but there's something
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  Speaker 1: very much lost in music discovery through streaming. It just
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  Speaker 1: doesn't have the same enjoyment. Needle End Groove record sells
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  Speaker 1: both new and used records. Ramirez knows why there is
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  Speaker 1: such demand for vintage vinyl. It was stuff that was
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  Speaker 1: mastered for vinyl, he said. And it's not just mastered
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  Speaker 1: for vinyl, it's recorded for vinyl. It just sounds pure
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  Speaker 1: and real. Needle End Groove Records will sell records that
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  Speaker 1: you are not likely to find at big box stores.
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  Speaker 1: It's not going to be the stuff that you're going
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  Speaker 1: to walk into a big box store and find, Ramira said,
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  Speaker 1: but it will be stuff that you know. The store's
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  Speaker 1: website promotes the record store as specializing in new and
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  Speaker 1: hard to find vinyl only, curating a heavy focus on
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  Speaker 1: imports and rare domestic pressings across all rock genres, from
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  Speaker 1: me and Prague to hard rock, classics and pop. The
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  Speaker 1: Oswego Area Chamber of Commerce will host a ribbon cutting
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  Speaker 1: ceremony at the store from noon to one pm June
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  Speaker 1: twenty six. More information about Needlelandgroove Records is at its
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  Speaker 1: website Needlandgroove dot com