Waterloo Records remastered: Iconic vinyl shop celebrates grand re-opening

Austin-Waterloo’s records have been rewritten and gave a huge party to release.

The famous registration store, which sat for decades at the corner of West Sixth Street and North Lamar Street, finally reduced the needle on its new location on Saturday; The soundtrack is a mixture of enthusiastic shoppers, intermittent ads about prizes and gifts, and of course music.

The Wasllo Reopening Party represents for months of cooperation and planning between the former majority owner, John T. Konz and Malikin participants and new participants Karen Keeler and Trei Watson.

This step did something in favor of Waterllo, who was not tried by many Austin institutions when facing change – he saved the work from the closure.

The site of the sixth store and Al -Raar was diverted on the horizon for a while. This property was sold again in 2019 to seek the real estate group, so Waterlo was facing an imminent closure or imminent transport. Konz, who is now in the mid -seventies, told KXAN in January that bringing new business partners to move and transfer the store means that Waterlo could live.

“The needle that always needed to be involved with our works was to stay loyal to our roots, beliefs and managers,” Konz said. “Always follow the music, but continue to change, transform and innovate.”

About a month before the transition was completed, he said he was ready to pass the flame.

He said, “It was a five -and -a -half -year process,” referring to the sale of the building for the year 2019. “I was really lucky to find Trey Watson and Caren Kelleher to become the new majority partners in the Waterloo records.

Konz said at the time that he was ready to enter “semi -retirement” after the completion of the move, but he was still planning to participate in Waterloo.

“During the 52 -year -old, I was here in Austin, I saw many institutions that I did not want to go away, and Werlo will not be one of those,” Konz said. “You know, I am still involved in the company.”

Keylir, CEO of Gold Rush Vinyl, said that being part of the next chapter of Waterloo is “once at a lifetime chance.” She said she was a friend with Kunz and Watson, CEO of Armadillo Records, for years.

Keeler explained that the way the trio lined up to work together through Waterloo was Kismet.

“I have been shopping in Waterlo since my first flight to Austin in 2005 – in fact, it was one of the first places where I came when I got out of the plane,” said Keeler. And I think, like every person in society, when I heard that this land was sold in 2019, I am concerned immediately, “Does this mean that this is the end of Waterllo? ”

“When we talked to Tree and John about it, we did not want to see a world where Waterloo was present.”

She added, “So, finding this space after a search for approximately five years of John, then lining up with Trey, and my interest in buying work was really a kind of perfect formula.”

The former Waterloo website in 600 n. Lamar officially closed on Sunday. Keyler said that withdrawing this step in just five days was incredible, and gave credit and gratitude to the store employees.

The new site, at 1105 N. Lamar Blvd, is still a world -class Waterloo selection of vinyl records, compact tablets, cassette tapes, DVD tablets and more, but the spot added many features that make it a unique record store as well.

The space combines consumers and the production of aspects of vinyl records, as well as live music, and a space for creators as well.

“We are very excited about the end experience,” said Keeler.

“You will find a wonderful collection of music, digital video tablets, and Blu rays that the team has arranged for years, which put Waterloo on the map. You can see a little more about how to create music, and more Creator Hub also – we have a new studio for studio mixture for the mixture of the materials for mezor Voice.

There is also a cafe and a golden room, which is exactly what. There are gold -plated Vinyl records, and the Gold Rush gold record machine, now you live there, so that customers can see gold paint in actual time, and even pay to get a coated record themselves.

“We really wanted this new store to be a place that everyone can reach, and they can try music as well as buy it,” she said. “As you know, like the room where we stand here (the gold record room), which is something you have never seen in a record store before.”