I think people have just rediscovered the beauty of them. It’s not just that they sound good; it’s just that they’re beautiful to look at. You sit down and hold this piece of art in your hands—I don’t think there is anything like it,” says Dave Palumbo.

Palumbo, a certified secondary social studies teacher, is speaking of his first love: vinyl records. Standing with a slight slouch, the middle-aged punk rocker’s eyes dash about the room as he searches for answers, all the while cracking a slight smile, as if humbled by the whole experience. Palumbo admits he might be the last person you would expect to own a business. But with the help of some close friends and a chunk of music enthusiasts, Palumbo has brought his new baby to life: Spiral Scratch.

Spiral Scratch is Buffalo’s newest independently run record store, specializing in vinyl. Although the music industry has been struggling for the better half of a decade forcing many record shops to close their doors, Spiral Scratch is unique in the fact that it deals primarily in vinyl records. Recent sales indicate that the format may be heading for a mainstream revival, which Spiral Scratch hopes to stay afloat on in order to turn the tide against this depressing trend.

The music industry has been struggling since CD sales plummeted after 2001’s record-breaking year. “People weren’t buying CDs anymore; [it] was the great advent of downloading at that point. That’s all kids wanted to do. They could just rip their music for free,” says Bill Nehill, Palumbo’s burly and bearded buddy who helps out at the shop and books for local venue, Mohawk Place, by night as he searches for an answer as to why so many local record shops have been forced to shut down in recent years. First came the end of Home of the Hits in early 2007, followed by New World Record, several Record Theatre’s, and most recently Sit and Spin, last August.

Eric Ellman, who previously ran Discovery Records in Tonawanda and co-operated Hey Dude!, says, “I’m assuming a lot of it has to do with the digital age, where digital downloads are so prevalent. I mean, almost everybody you know has free ways to obtain music.” Though there may not be one direct cause, any store that bases their primary income on CD sales has the statistics against them. Nielsen Soundscan, an information system started in 1991 that tallies music sales from approximately 14,000 retail outlets, reports that CD sales dipped another 14 percent last year to 428.4 million units, which is nearly half of the sales seen back in 2000 at 785.1 million. During this plummet, digital downloads have boomed, even crossing the billion mark for the first time, spelling even more doom for a store that sells the physical product. “I see that it’s going the way of the cassette tape or the 8-track really. I think CD-Rs will be around… But I think it’s definitely a dying format. I think some people would say it’s dead,” says Palumbo.

It isn’t just local either. Last year, the Almighty Institute of Music Retail, another market research firm, reported that over 3,000 record stores have closed since 2003. This figures in the bankruptcies of corporate chains such as Musicland (parent company of Media Play, Suncoast, and Sam Goody) and Tower Records, both in 2006, but “nearly half” were reported as being independent stores. Since then, Best Buy and Wal-Mart have come to the forefront as the largest music retailers. Last year, Wal-Mart reported that it was reducing its music shelf space due to slow CD sales, which also points to a major decrease in the format’s viability.

With all of the doom and gloom that the statistics show, there may be a light at the end of the tunnel for record stores. Last year, Nielsen reports that vinyl record sales rose an astounding 89 percent, from 990,000 to 1.88 million albums. Although the overall number is less than one percent of all music sales, it is a surprising sales trend. Nielsen is also not all encompassing, as it does not cover all music sales, including used vinyl and all independent stores, where most vinyl sales take place. Vinyl records, a medium for audio that hasn’t been popular since the 80s, was left behind by the mainstream as soon as the digital age blossomed. So why is it suddenly being noticed again?

Pirates Press is a San Francisco based record pressing plant that deals with major labels such as Warner Bros., Columbia, and Capitol, alongside many indie labels and independent bands. The four-year-old company prides itself on putting the artist first and claims to have pressed approximately 1.75 million vinyl records in 2008 alone. “I think that the mainstream aspect of it has a lot to do with people wanting to get back to custom packaging,” says Matt Jones, one of the people who has been with Pirates Press since the beginning. “We do a bunch of stuff in terms of colored vinyl that no one’s ever done before. We’re always trying to help our customers get really cool stuff that looks and feels really nice, whether it’s custom picture discs, or trying to die cut stuff in a super cool way or doing boxed sets. We’re trying to get people back into that sort of stuff.”

“I used to buy a lot of CDs, but the whole MP3 thing killed it a bit,” says Buffalo-native Andy Czuba, a 23-year-old record enthusiast who, in the past few years, has collected over one thousand records. “But my drive to buy things made me gravitate towards vinyl.” It’s this need for a physical product that leaves people feeling unfulfilled with a simple iPod. “Humans love to hold things. We’re very object-based creatures,” he says. Jones adds, “For people that actually like buying records and sitting down and listening to them and leafing through the lyric sheets and stuff, that’s such a tangible thing that you do. It’s like a ceremony almost. I think that’s where vinyl really has an advantage.

Palumbo thinks it’s a combination of many aspects. For one, some bigger artists and labels are seeing the sales increase and are helping to perpetuate the growth in popularity. “Madonna’s putting a record on vinyl. That pretty much tells me that it’s in right now,” he says. In fact, popular group Radiohead’s latest effort, In Rainbows, last year’s best selling vinyl record, sold an impressive total of 25,800 copies.

If CD sales continue their decline and vinyl sales keep climbing, the format could be on its way to coexisting with the domination of the MP3 market. Most records now come prepackaged with a download card, so the consumer can enjoy their vinyl at home, and take their MP3’s on the go. Jones says, “Obviously you can’t put vinyl in a car. John Lennon tried. He had a Bentley that had a record player in the back. It was like this crazy hydraulic suspension thing, but unless you’re ridiculous rich, you can’t put vinyl in your car.”

Ellman offers an additional theory for the increased record sales, “At the same time, I think the downloading thing is maybe what brought it back. Once things get into a hysteria about something, there’s always gonna be a huge backlash. Maybe it’s possible that the whole digital downloading thing has gone so far that it might be responsible for a huge upswing—a backlash of people buying vinyl.”

Though a true explanation for the sales boom may never be known, there are a few reasons for purchasing vinyl that were common amongst everyone: the sound quality and the artwork. “There’s a lot of debate over the difference in sound [between vinyl and CDs]… Nothing beats the initial scratch of a needle hitting the record… CDs and MP3’s are compressed, if you listen to it enough, you can tell the difference,” says Czuba.

“I think that people realize with all of the compression that’s going on with CDs and MP3s, that people really crave that sound…Only recently have I really started to get back into it. I just realized how great it sounds…I just sit down in front of my speakers and listen to records all night,” adds Nehill. “The design and the packaging, the traditionalism of it…There’s just something about it that CDs can’t replicate or an MP3 can’t replicate…Especially now, people are putting so much care into their packaging, and making sure the sound is great as opposed to the 80s when records were so thin and light, and thrown together without any sort of care whatsoever.”

Bill Nehill is almost teary eyed as he speaks of the ghosts of former local record stores, but can’t help but crack a smile as his obvious optimism for the opening of Spiral Scratch Records shines through. If there really is something special at hand, Nehill would be an excellent judge, having spent just under a decade working for several record stores, including the aforementioned and a corporate venture with the short lived Blockbuster Music. Nehill’s life revolves around music. “I think it’s a terrible shame that Home of the Hits closed, same with New World [Record], but Spiral Scratch is a very daring and brave move on Dave’s part.”

“A lot of people want it to work. A lot of people want a record store. When Home of the Hits closed and then Sit and Spin went I think it really hit, like, we don’t have a record store anymore. I felt like we should have something like this,” says Palumbo.

Spiral Scratch Records resides at 2531 Delaware Avenue, right where Hartwell intersects the busy street in North Buffalo. The space is small and cramped, but never intruding, as hundreds of records stretch out before your eyes while they adjust from the drastic contrast from the light outside.

“I think small record stores have a reputation to be a little snobby. I definitely don’t want to be like that. I try to be helpful. Hey, I’m happy if somebody comes in here and buys something. I’m not going to be a jerk to them,” says Palumbo. Indeed, Palumbo speaks with absolute humility when talking about his new endeavor. “Now I’m old and I’m friendly to everybody that comes in, and I hope they buy something. And if they don’t, that’s okay too. I’m just glad that people know we’re here and are happy about it. I love seeing somebody get excited that a record’s here, because I know that feeling.” He jests, “There is good to be found in pretty much every genre… Except maybe New Age”

Palumbo is an absolute music lover and begins to rant when asked about his history with records. “My dad was a music nut. He was into Doo-Wop, 50s stuff, Rock ‘N’ Roll, AM 70s, Rock, Jazz… Stuff like that. They [my parents] got me Cheap Trick’s Live at Budokan and a Queen record when I was ten or 11-years-old. Those were my first records… Music is pretty much the most important thing to me, couldn’t live without it.”

Palumbo’s affair with music carried on thereafter. “In high school I sang, well, I was not a musician, I was singing over a band of noise. Now I play in kind of real bands.” Palumbo currently plays guitar in local hardcore band, Plates.

A vinyl faithful throughout even the hardest of times, Palumbo never left the format behind, even in the mid-90s, when CDs had taken over the market in full force. “There was a period in the 90s when it seemed like they were hard to get. You’d go into a record store and you couldn’t really get a certain release on vinyl. So I’ve got a lot of CDs from the 90s I’ve noticed…I don’t hate them, I just prefer records.”

Palumbo’s ultimate goal seems to just be to appeal to the music lover, no matter where their tastes lie. He feels the community helps create the record store. “I was taking a financial risk, but I had a lot of help. Everything you see in this store, is not just my idea, it is a lot of people’s ideas…Even the old guys from Sit and Spin. Martin [Krajewski, co-owner of Sit and Spin], he’s real helpful. He still shops here, he tells me the stuff they sold a lot of, which I’m oblivious to… A lot of people throw in their two cents, so it seems like everybody’s helping.”

Beyond making his store a comfortable place, Palumbo also expressed how he will always put the customer first. “I’m able to keep prices down on a lot of things because I order direct from labels and smaller distros. Sometimes they take a little longer to get here, like they won’t be here the next day, but you save a few bucks…I want to make a good impression, and I want things to be affordable. The cheaper I get it, the cheaper you get it for.”

“I try and read people when they come into the store, and maybe I’ll pop something on that I have for sale. Sometimes they’ll ask what it is, and I’ll start selling it like a used car salesman. The hard sell at a record store is really important because you’re selling people stuff they haven’t heard. [But] it’s not like I’m pushing some crap I have too much of on somebody just to get rid of it. I know they’re going to like it. That’s satisfying to me, when someone comes back and says that record was great, thank you. That makes me feel good.”

So what does Palumbo have in mind for the future? “There’s a store in Cleveland called My Mind’s Eye, which I kind of almost modeled this after, which is my favorite record store that I’ve ever been to….That store has just been growing, and now with vinyl they’ve doubled in size. If they could do it, why can’t we do it? I know I have good minds helping me.” More specifically, he states, “I’d like to grow a little bit, have it sustain itself, and maybe sustain me. All of the money goes right back into the store, because I want it to grow. So I don’t really pay myself, except for the bare necessities.

The joy is that you’re doing something you love, and you’re your own boss. Every bit of work you do is for your business, not for someone else’s. That’s a good feeling…So if I can somehow pull that off and afford health insurance, everything will be fine.”

Spiral Scratch’s fate also depends on this current sales increase to stay consistent and become more than a trend. “The big music industry, if I were them, if I were Sony or whatever, I would hope that records, vinyl, do stay…Because that’s the only hope for them, because if they’re relying on CDs, they’re done,” says Palumbo.

Matt Jones believes that the independent record store could end up playing a larger role in the business once again, stating, “I think I can see the industry sort of going that way where it’s like people are carrying stuff that they really believe in rather than, you know, racks and racks of the new Mariah Carey CD.”

However vinyl sales ride out, Spiral Scratch seems to have a lot of optimism behind it. “I think if the word gets out, it can survive. I think it’s great timing. Dave had his grand opening, and 90 percent of it [items sold] were vinyl, a few CDs here and there, but I think there [are] enough rock dorks out there to support a store like this,” says Nehill.

Ellman adds, “They’re sort of right on the cusp of this kind of vinyl resurgence…And it’s definitely run by the right people. They really know their stuff as far as the industry of music goes…It’s still a brave move to open anything relating to the music industry in any way, but I feel it’s as good a time as it’s ever going to be to open something like that…The death of a record store is like a huge blow to the subculture of a lot of independent music, it’s nice to see it coming back.”