Blue Note Record Shop Celebrates 60 years on the Avenue

The first thing you notice when you walk into the Blue Note Record Shop are the hand-lettered signs listing all the top tunes from the last 60 years. From "All Shook Up" to "Wake Up Little Susie," from "Tequila" to "Help Me Rhonda," from "Call Me" to "Little Jeannie," from "The Heat Is On" to "Ice Ice Baby" --The Blue Note Record Shop has been around for all of them. The small record store has been at the same location on Central Avenue since 1948, and celebrates its 60th anniversary this year.


Bram Pock, owner of Avenue landmark took over the business from his father 25 years ago, and runs it with the same eye for detail, and customer service.


"I've been coming here since I was 15," said customer John Lins. "It's the same store." Pointing to Pock behind the counter, Lins said, "That guy's got a memory that's unbelievable." Lins said he used to come into the store when he was on leave from the Navy in the late 1950s. He would come in to buy all the hits he missed while he was stationed. Today, he's here to buy a new JP Morgan album. "Did it come in yet?" he asks Pock.


Pock is surrounded by shelves and shelves of records. The shelves stretch to the back of the store, small cardboard signs separate the different sections. The bedrock of the business is still vinyl, and Pock can order any album his customers want, including hard-to-find hits, but Pock has also kept up with advances in technology, and he will burn any record you buy to CD for the sake of convenience.


Much has changed on the Avenue in the 60 years since the store opened, Pock said. He wants more foot traffic on the Avenue, and is hopeful that the arts and entertainment district in the works at Quail and Central will help with that. He is also happy about the number of restaurants that have opened in the area, but wishes there were more soup-and-sandwich establishments. "We need more diversity in businesses," he said.


Regardless of what happens on the Avenue, Blue Note is still going strong. "They've got good service, and they've got what you want," Lins said. That's the key to success, right?