At the end of the month, Encore Records is moving from Liberty St. near campus to N. Fourth Ave. near Kerrytown. Counting its predecessor, Liberty Music, there’s been a record store at its spot near Thompson for more fifty years. Co-owner Jim Dwyer says he and Bill McClelland are sad to leave, but “our current lease ends at the end of August.”
They were looking to renew, but say they were unable to get a commitment from landlord Douglas Nollar, because he was in negotiations with an unannounced third party planning to develop the property through a ground lease.
“We just had to make our plan as best we could for the future of this place,” says Dwyer. “We couldn’t wait for those guys to get their stuff sorted out. So when a spot on Fourth Avenue became available, we decided that we’d be silly not to take that opportunity.” Their friend Vicki Honeyman was closing her gift shop, Heavenly Metal, and tipped them to the opportunity.
Dwyer says the Kerrytown location is notably smaller than their current one, leaving less room for music on display, “but we will have a nice clean basement that we can have our deep stash in.” They are doing minimal renovations, so most of the work will be moving the store’s extensive catalog of records.
They’ll be holding a clearance sale on Liberty this month. “If we can sell it, we don’t have to box it up and move it!” says Dwyer.
