There’s ‘Vinyl Gold’ On Retro Row

Catalina Garcia
CUSTOMERS stand and flip through crates filled with various records categorized by genre at Third Eye Records located in Retro Row in Long Beach, California.

Gary Farley is a man that has a desire to keep vinyl and physical music alive. Farley founded and owns one out of a handful of record stores in Long Beach, California. Farley founded Third Eye Records in 2002 with the intent to “open people’s minds” as their slogan says.

Farley started his vinyl journey at a young age as a collector. “I’ve always kind of liked history, where things come from, and the tacked-down nature of books and records has always been a huge part of my life and I get a lot of enjoyment from them,” he says.

His idea to open a record came from the epiphany that there are other people like him that have “a collector’s mindset that understands and connect through this form of music.” For Farley, he wants people to be able to come into his store and have that connection that stays with them for years. For some, it may not last that long or not connect at all, but he believes just having the ability to explore the experience is important.

The store’s demographic brings in customers as young as 12 years of age. With the growing interest, there is a higher demand than usual for vinyl records causing a struggle for independent record store owners like Farley. “It’s a challenge, I’m not going to lie. There have been supply-chain issues that have affected a lot of different items, records included…Suppliers are having a hard time keeping inventory levels to a place where stores like us can constantly have names and groups the customers want.”

With this challenge, Farley must go out and look for vintage records from individuals that are trying to sell off their collections. Depending on their condition he will buy them and sell them in his store. “We are recycling them in a way. We prevent them from going to a landfill somewhere,” he says. The challenge Farley faces doesn’t stop customers from coming into Third Eye Records, in fact, they view it differently.

Regular customers of Third Eye Records like Jack Curtis Debowsky, 56, come into the store to buy his records. “Gary has amazing records. I have no idea where he finds this stuff but it’s just vinyl gold here… it’s the kind of place where people can come and hang out and look at the incredible records,” Debowsky says.

With being part of the group of older customers, he finds it exciting seeing younger people coming in to buy vinyl records. “I grew up buying records and spending all of my pocket money on records which is something I think people don’t have to do anymore because streaming is so inexpensive but in my age group, we can spend all of our pocket money and allowance money on records.” For Debowsky, having someone like Farley own a record shop and share a passion for physical music is nice, but it’s the atmosphere and environment of Third Eye Records that attracts people and keeps them coming back.

Bre Orjeda, 24, is one of those customers where atmosphere and environment are important to her when it comes to record shops. “I like the overall look of the shop. The store is set up where it is easy to find your records. But the people that work here make the atmosphere so much better because they are so friendly and helpful,” she says.

Gary and his employees; Allen, Nick and Ian are stationed in Retro Row willing and ready to assist in opening minds in finding your vinyl or music memorabilia treasure at Third Eye Records. 

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