Today we’d like to introduce you to Rev Charles Preston Smith.
Hi Rev Charles, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
I’m a 40+ year west Michigan performer. Various Festivals and Street fairs with my audio/visual production called ‘PotatoeBabies’. A lover of history brought me to shop. meet, and eventually buy Gerry Dodds Record Shop. Started as Cole’s Music in 1929 selling 78’s out of a bin at Harold Cole’s Appliance store, selling to Gerry Dodds in 1950. It was renamed Dodds in 1951. Gerry moved the shop a few times in Grand Rapids and Kalamazoo Michigan until eventually selling the shop to Rev Charles in 2012. After research and discovering the shop has been around so long that it is the OldestRecordShop.com in Michigan, I knew there was a responsibility to preserve the legacy of Cole’s/Dodds.
I incorporate much of my stage production experience into events and promotion for the record shop. I am very nostalgic and my passion for Dodds includes sharing the memories and stories that the history of all media evokes. From the feel and smells, to the sound of dropping a needle onto a record.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
There are endless ways to approach a retail store. Especially with entertainment of music, film, and its history. That along with the constant evolution of the retail horizon, I have changed gears many times! What I thought was a great business model just 10-15 years ago is total opposite today. Social Media vs flyers. Posting memes vs sending an email. Or in my case the aged practice of a US Mailing list we used to collect 🙂
I have to learn to go along with what the trend is, even if only for a short while until I change lanes again. Driving traffic to social media as well as physically to the record shop is never-ending. Finding time for those tasks are some of my biggest struggles. I also had to learn early on that just because I never heard of a title or artist doesn’t mean it’s not trending somewhere. Often what I think is neat and nostalgic is worth 50c and something I’ve not seen or heard of is valuable enough to sell online and ship across the country! In the midst of all this, west Michigan has gone from three or four dedicated record shops to twenty various shops that also sell records, CDs, and tapes!
As you know, we’re big fans of Dodds Record Shop: Rev Charles’ Museum of Music and Memorabilia. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about the brand?
Rev Charles’ Dodds Record Shop is open only every Saturday 12-5p. I hold events 2-3 times a year that include RecordStoreDayPARADE.com and PotatoeBabies Streetfair in Eastown. My ‘museum’ is filled with artifacts from childhood to present. The visual is as important as the sounds. Each piece up on a shelf has a story and I will always share it! With over 100,000 pieces of product between shop , storage, and home, I am constantly rotating Vinyl Records, CD’s, Cassettes, Books, magazines and more. My shop is far from ‘inventoried’ which is why early on in taking over the shop I coined ‘DIG FOR IT!’. My limited attention span doesn’t allow me to alphabetize as much as creating bins or areas with unique titles such as: 80’s bin, 70’s bin, Classic Rock, Movies, Compilations, Live albums, Greatest Hits, etc…
Visitors should stop in prepared to spend some time sifting through stacks high and low. My wish is that everyone leaves with a treasure and is already planning their next visit to continue the dig. I often tell folks to bring drinks and snacks and hang out for a while.
Is there any advice you’d like to share with our readers who might just be starting out?
This is most likely not an option very often but the less time you can spend on the financial side and the more time be dedicated to the passion of records the better. I was fortunate to not need the record shop and museum as sole income and was able to enjoy the coolness factor of OWNING A RECORED STORE!
Pricing:
- $7.99 Most Vinyl Albums
- $6.99 Most Cassette Tapes
- $4.99 Most CDs
- Higher priced items are often put online to keep prices down in the record shop
- $$ spent is in support of the Oldest Record Shop in Michigan
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.doddsrecordshop.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/doddsrecordshop
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/doddsrecordshop
