Trax on Wax

We should be really glad that there is a Music Store in Catonsville and I encourage everyone to support it. I stopped in today and enjoyed a fresh cup of coffee, while listening to some great tunes, and browsing through many old favorites.
Gary has new and used vinyl (most used vinyl is an unbelievable $2.99!) He will buy your unwanted albums and burn your favorite ablums to cd.

For new record store venture, all sales are vinyl
By Kevin Rectorkrector@patuxent.com

5/06/09 (Reprinted from the Catonsville Times)

Vinyl is back in Catonsville.

A new vinyl record shop is set to open Monday, May 11 in the same downtown Catonsville location vacated by the closing of a Record & Tape Traders store in March.

Store owner Gary Gebler, a former Record & Tape Traders executive, said Trax on Wax will sell old vinyl records, new special-release vinyl records and compact discs by local musicians.
The store also will have the capability of transferring newly purchased records or old albums onto CDs.

The store will offer coffee and snacks, wireless Internet access as well as outdoor seating and indoor areas for customers to lounge and play records.

Gebler said he's not going to set hours at the store immediately.

He said he wants to take some time to gauge in-store traffic and whether college students from nearby University of Maryland, Baltimore County, and the Community College of Baltimore County-Catonsville campus will provide a later crowd.

He said he is aware of the trouble Record & Tape Traders had with street visibility and plans to have outdoor seating and outdoor speakers playing music to help get the shop noticed.

There will also be "tons of signage," he said, declaring the shop's name, its merchandise and its "cool phone number," 410-869-TRAX.

A stage for live music and performances will be a permanent fixture at the 709 Frederick Road location.

Magazines, posters, incense and other items also will be sold, as they were at like Record & Tape Traders.

Gebler said his store will not sell tobacco pipes as its predecessor did, nor will it sell any music other than vinyl records and local CDs.

In that way, the shop will serve a particular musical niche, Gebler said, one he has witnessed survive many changes in the music industry over the years.

Gebler served as vice president of Record & Tape Traders from 1995 to 2006, when it was sold to Georgia-based Value Music Concepts.

Catonsville, dubbed "Music City, Maryland" in May of 2002, was always his favorite location, he said, and he loved the store's vinyl collection.

Gebler said that after leaving Record & Tape Traders, he worked for Trans World Entertainment Corp., which owns F.Y.E. and Sam Goody music stores that are found in malls around the country.

In both jobs, he constantly heard people lament the disappearance of vinyl, he said.
In March, when he heard Record & Tape Traders had called it quits in Catonsville after being in town since 1982, he decided to act on a business idea he had for years.

Gebler, who lives in Reisterstown, had been considering a store with the feel of an old-school record shop but all the amenities of a modern, wired coffee joint.

"When you walk in, the aroma of incense is going to hit you," he said.

Gebler's son, Jake Gebler, 23, has redesigned the store's two outdoor window displays, even adding a splash of leopard print fabric to make them "sexy," he said with a laugh.

His wife, Susan Richardson, has been helping sort the old records, which Gebler said he has been collecting for the past six weeks from "estate sales, garage sales, and postings on (Craigslist.com)" up and down the east coast.

Gebler's buddy, Bob Berberich, who used to work for him at the Record & Tape Traders in Frederick, is doing all the new woodwork in the shop.

In addition to constructing the new record bins along the walls, he is also building the new stage, where there will "always be a full set of band equipment," Gebler said.

Peirce MacGill, a revitalization specialist with the county's Department of Economic Development, has also provided some assistance.

Gebler said he occasionally gets nervous about starting his own business.
"I feel like I'm crazy sometimes, like, 'What am I doing? Do I know what's going on in the world?'" he said. But he also is confident in his concept.

"I think it's going to do well. I really do. Otherwise I wouldn't be doing it," he said.
And he's excited about the prospect of hanging out in a record shop all day.
"From a selfish standpoint, I want a place where I can look at albums," he said, laughing.
He said he envisions his shop being "just a place for people to hang out and talk about music."
While the store will open Monday, Gebler said the "big launch party" won't be until the middle of June.