Open space is hard to find at Books & Melodies. The cash register sits on a table made of books, and the counter next to the register has a constant flow of new arrivals. Thousands of books, comics, vinyl records, DVDs and collectibles cover the tables, fill the shelves and line the walls of the store’s five rooms. The walls feature posters and artwork — some that owner Jon Goode paints himself.

At the corner of James Street and Woodbine Avenue in Eastwood, the used book and music store has welcomed locals and visitors since it opened in 1993. The shop has evolved and changed hands over its 25 years, but Books & Melodies has established itself as a central New York hub for the eclectic mix of items it carries.

“Every day we’re getting something in. Between books and records, there’s something for everybody,” said Nicholas Oliver, who works alongside Goode to manage the store.

Saturday is Record Store Day. Although Books & Melodies doesn’t take part in Record Store Day-specific releases, employees notice traffic from people looking to stop by a record shop. Oliver said the shop has many regular customers from the Eastwood neighborhood and from as far away as Utica and Watertown.

Locals bring in items for the shop owners to purchase, then the shop resells them. Certain customers come in with specific requests. Oliver said one customer looks to purchase records of people singing in Italian. He added that this customer calls the shop to make sure its workers are still looking for these records when people come in to sell their old ones. One morning, Oliver pointed out another customer who regularly comes in looking for DVDs, which the shop sells for $3 each.

Connor Fogel | Staff Writer

With new items coming in nearly every day, Oliver said customers don’t necessarily come in with a specific book or record in mind, but rather to see what the shop has in its different sections. But he does tell customers looking for a particular book or record to come back and check in a couple days because it probably will show up.

“Jon likes to say, ‘The shop provides. Whatever we need, the shop provides,’” Oliver said.

Goode began working at the shop in 2009 under its second owner, who renovated the shop by painting the walls, rearranging the sections and organizing the books and records. After two years, the owner told him that he was moving to Colorado and made Goode an offer to buy the shop. It was “heavy” for Goode to hear that all at once, he said, but he took the offer. He worked six days per week until Oliver started working at the shop a few years later.

Goode said his favorite part about Books & Melodies is the energy within the shop’s collections.

“There’s sort of energy in everything,” he said. “If you have a thing you love and play it every day, it has energy. All this stuff has been loved by someone else. There’s a lot going on.”

That energy flows through the store’s rooms upstairs and continues into its basement, where even more used items are organized for customers to dig through — like the $2 records. Oliver remembered how packed the spaces were when the original owner ran the store for its first 15 years. There was a lot of interesting stuff because the owner would buy nearly anything that piqued his interest, placing it in piles around the store.

People will always have the desire for something physical when looking for music and books, Oliver said, which means customers consistently come through the door. Physical CDs and vinyl records outsold digital download sales in 2017 for the first time since 2011, according to a report by the Recording Industry Association of America.

Kevin Camelo | Digital Design Editor

Rodger and Laura Sauer, who have been shopping at Books & Melodies for more than 20 years, said they remember the time when piles of items filled the store. Rodger remembered coming in for records when it opened. That’s what he still looks for, while Laura mainly looks for books.

“They always have good stuff,” Rodger said. “You can always find a good rotation.”

The Sauers moved to the Eastwood neighborhood five years ago and said they come to the store about every other month. Laura homeschooled her kids and would find books at the store for them. These trips helped the family develop their own collection of books for all ages.

Oliver notices people of all ages visit the shop. He said everyone can find something they’re interested in, whether that’s art majors looking for magazines for collages, musicians looking for inspiration or collectors looking for specific printings or pressings.

He added that he’s always surprised when people come to the store for the first time.

“It’s been here for 25 years,” Oliver said. “And if you’re a reader or a music person or just like cool places, if you didn’t know this was here, it’s kind of amazing.”

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Published on April 16, 2018 at 9:48 pm

Contact Connor: cbfogel@syr.edu