Record Shop Lady: In East Lansing with the Record Lounge’s Heather Frarey

By Laura Leebove
Published: February 20th, 2009 | 5:25pm

Not only did Heather Frarey open an independent record store at what is arguably the lowest point in the music industry, and less than a year before a horrendous economic meltdown, but she did the unthinkable: She opened a shop that only sells vinyl. At the Record Lounge, a cozy, 400-square-foot shop in East Lansing, Michigan, across the street from Michigan State University, Frarey sells new and used vinyl, ranging from Goldfrapp and Abe Vigoda to Cyndi Lauper and Led Zeppelin. “Vinyl is outselling CDs right now,” says Frarey, a Lansing-area native. “I don’t know if it’s from an audiophile sense or if it’s just people wanting to get back that retro ideal.”

Frarey says the decision to only sell vinyl was made not only to minimize the competition with other local record stores, but simply because she loves the music format. “We figured … let’s just be different and have vinyl,” she says. “I know vinyl. I’m not real big into CDs.”

After her business partner bailed just after the shop opened in January 2008, Frarey decided to keep it going on her own. Now she has two guys who help her out, but the job is still nonstop. “It’s a lot of hard work,” she says. “You’ve gotta put your heart and soul and everything you’ve got into it. Just because it is such a niche market — especially me because I just do all vinyl.”

The only exception to the vinyl-only rule is the local music section, which Frarey is always trying to expand. Every Monday night the shop is home to performances by local bands. “As far as the local thing, that’s something I want the store to represent: the Michigan music scene.”

Here are a few of Frarey’s favorite albums by Michigan artists.

Iggy & the Stooges
Michigan Palace 10/6/73 (Bomp! Records)

Iggy Pop — one of the best-known Michigan-bred artists — released Michigan Palace 10/6/73, a live album recorded at the short-lived Michigan Palace venue in Detroit. “That’s an album I keep in stock pretty much all the time,” Frarey says.

Rare Earth
Rare Earth in Concert (Rare Earth Records)

A group started in Flint, Michigan, Frarey calls Rare Earth “more of a rock, kind of soul band — they had some funk and soul. They became a label too, the Rare Earth label, and they had a few bands on that.”

MC5
Kick Out the Jams (Elektra)

Though Frarey was too young to have seen MC5 live, she says she’s noticed the influence they’ve had on other bands. “[MC5] kind of paved the way for a lot of popular bands now,” she says. “They were just huge on the rock scene [and] kind of exploded out there. They said what they wanted to say, they didn’t care who or what was going on.”

Cheap Girls
Find Me a Drink Home (Bermuda Mohawk)

Local rockers Cheap Girls land on Frarey’s list because “they’re great guys,” she says. “They’re on the road constantly, so they’re always, always promoting themselves, and that’s something that a lot of bands don’t get out there and do.”

Cheap Girls' MySpace

Your Best Friend
Your Best Friend (Self-released)

Frarey says the Bay City/Midland, Michigan, band Your Best Friend is one of the store’s favorite bands right now. “They’re really rising up there,” she says. “They’ll play anywhere just to get recognized and pave the way hopefully for bigger and better things. They’re more indie pop — kind of like a Death Cab for Cutie–type band.”

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For more information, visit the Record Lounge MySpace.