- April 24, 2024
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Thomas Edison invented the phonograph in 1877. The commercial compact disc was co-developed by Sony and Philips in 1982.
Today’s youth grew up with mp3 players and streaming services that play their music with the simple tap of a finger on a screen. Yet many are opting for the medium created more than a century before they were born — a trend that wasn’t the sole focus of any local businesses until recently.
Peter Anthony Ramirez was 16 when he designed the logo for RocketStar Records. The business he’d always imagined became a reality when he opened shop at 404 Washington Blvd. April 1.
“The community has really accepted us,” Ramirez says. “They won’t let this music die.”
It all started when Ramirez began repairing record players at Vatican City Records, U.S. 301’s old record store. He was always good with electronics, he says, so he quickly learned how the machines worked and started developing an interest in the music platform.
But he didn’t completely take to vinyl until getting to know the once-owner of Timeless Records — a Sarasota record store that closed in 1994 — Bob Torres.
Collin Kellogg, RocketStar’s only other employee, connected the two music fans, and it wasn’t long before Ramirez was standing in Torres’ house, completely in awe of his new friend’s 30,000-record collection. Ramirez says most of what he learned about the record business came from long afternoons spent in Torres’ home pouring over that collection, so he didn’t think twice about dedicating his store to his mentor after Torres died Aug. 31, 2017.
It took him three months, but Ramirez eventually convinced Torres’ daughter to sell him the record collection. Soon after, he was ready to open his own store.
While Opsrey has Daddy O’s Record Rack and Bradenton has Jerk Dog Records, RocketStar is currently Sarasota’s only standalone brick-and-mortar record store (the Sarasota Music Archive sells records in Selby Public Library, but doesn't have its own storefront). Ramirez says it’s his collection of rare records — for some of which there are as few as three U.S. copies in existence — that cause customers from all over the Suncoast to make the drive.
Ramirez buys a good chunk of the store’s records via the online vinyl marketplace Discogs, but many people also contact him directly about albums they’re looking to sell. Sometimes prospective sellers come to his house and other times he travels to them, but people are often more interested in selling CDs (which he also carries a small collection of, along with cassette tapes).
The store offers a selection of both used and new records in a variety of genres, so fans of everyone from Miles Davis to Kiss to Taylor Swift can find something to their liking.
Ramirez also bought the storefront next door, which currently houses a dusty piano and a growing collection of vintage movie and music memorabilia that will serve as decor for a small live music venue. He plans to host open mic night events in the fall on his self-built stage with the help of local musician Lesa Silvermore of Lesa Silvermore and The Growlers.
Ramirez says he’s gotten the majority of his business from young girls between the ages of 14 and 16, and Kellogg has a theory as to why.
“I think that kids are tired of simplicity,” he says, adding that having everything digitally within the push of a button could get boring. “They want something physical that they can hold in their hand.”
Ramirez agrees, adding that singers don’t sing in one wavelength, but digital recordings make it sound that way. He likes that records, on the other hand, show every tweak and little movement in the performer’s voice.
One customer told Ramirez his 8-year-old son recently placed a record into their family record player by imitating his father. Stories like this inspire Ramirez to maintain the mission that first drew him to the business venture.
“I did this for the kids,” Ramirez says. “So they would know what it feels like to take a record out of its sleeve and hear the real recording — not a digital version.”
