On August 14, 1991, a 21-year-old Eric Levin opened Criminal Records in a 400-square-foot space next to Variety Playhouse in Little Five Points, using mostly his own record collection.
He also illegally lived there ― for three years. (The landlord turned a kind blind eye.)
Three decades later, Levin doesn’t need to live in his store anymore. He’s in his third, much larger location up the street on Euclid Avenue and celebrating Saturday with giveaways, discount LPs and a free concert by two members of Atlanta rock band Manchester Orchestra.
Levin not only established a popular record store but invented and popularized Record Store Day in 2007, now celebrated by independent record stores worldwide. He is thrilled to still be doing what he loves, even as he’s lost his hair and faces middle age in the mirror.
“Originally I wanted to downplay it and be modest,” Levin said. “But I’ll let some pride slip in.”
Levin rode the rise of CDs in the 1990s and its subsequent decline in the 2000s when downloading became king. After Criminal nearly folded in 2011 from a mixture of bad business decisions and a poor economic climate, he has been able to leverage the vinyl comeback.
Criminal Records, he said, is now having its best year ever.
After being closed to retail customers for nearly four months last year and focusing on mail order, “business has been gangbusters,” Levin said. “People have been buying things they could take home and enjoy.”
It helps, he added, that his wife of 20 years Madonna Hill now handles the finances, not him.
During a recent Saturday afternoon, the store was abuzz with customers of all ages, most sifting through the used and new vinyl bins.
Credit: RODNEY HO/rho@ajc.com
Credit: RODNEY HO/rho@ajc.com
Adrienne Thomas, 39, was visiting from Baltimore but used to live in Atlanta and hang out at the store in the early 2000s. She spent nearly $100 on various LPs including the classic Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” and a Young Marble Giants LP for her boyfriend.
“This place is not super niche,” she said. “It’s not pretentious. They’ve got a lot of reissues and old stuff for us weird people.”
Will and Judy McClinton of Atlanta hovered over the used R&B section. Will, 62, had a Grover Washington Jr. LP already in hand and was pondering an Aretha Franklin’s greatest hits compilation. They had gotten rid of their LP collections, like many did, back in the 1990s. So they are rebuilding.
“This is my first trip here,” he said. “So far, I’m impressed. They have a really good used selection.:”
Judy, 56, is also helping her 32-year-old son start his collection, holding a DJ Jazzy Jeff LP. “We’re looking for Luther Vandross,” Judy added. “We can’t find him anywhere.” (Julian Delgado, store manager, said there are no new Vandross LPs available and his used vinyl is hard to keep in the store.)
She regrets giving away her 300 LPs 28 years ago. “Albums are special,” she said. “They’re tactile. It’s nice to just drop them on a turntable and spin them.”
Credit: RODNEY HO/rho@ajc.com
Credit: RODNEY HO/rho@ajc.com
Unlike the haughty record store employees featured in the 2000 John Cusack film “High Fidelity,” Levin focuses on hiring folks with much better bedside manner, types who won’t judge if a person comes in hunting for a Barry Manilow or Justin Bieber LP.
“I consider this a safe space for customers,” said Delgado, store manager for six years. “We employ super nice folks. That makes a huge difference.”
Levin said there is no resumé necessary to be hired. Over the decades, that has not changed. It’s simply the passion for music.
Levin was one of those “shop rats” himself starting at age 13 in a record store at Daytona Beach, Florida. He started his own record shop in his father’s optical shop at age 19 before moving to Atlanta to plant the seed for Criminal Records in Little Five Points.
And Little Five Points’ bohemian vibe enthralled him.
“It was so perfectly aligned with what life should be and what my store should achieve,” he said. He was charmed that the local Fellini’s Pizza was playing Sonic Youth. “I had never heard Sonic Youth outside my own stereo.”
Six weeks after he opened, Nirvana’s “Nevermind” came out and the grunge era officially began. “That saved my life,” he said. “I made my fortune off that album. It was just a great time.”
Nearby Georgia State University station 88.5/WRAS-FM captured the zeitgeist as well: “I had to have every single thing they played.” 99X, the commercial alt-rock station, debuted in 1992 and provided more jet fuel for the music he was selling.
But his warmest memory in the early years was holding a concert across the street from his store with one of his favorite indie rock bands, the Meat Puppets. “That was a triumphant day for me,” he said. “It was full of people on a beautiful Saturday. The band said, ‘Can we play longer?’ I really felt like I could make it here in Atlanta.”
By 1994, he was able to open in a much larger space with 3,000 square feet next to Junkman’s Daughter on Moreland Avenue and focus on CDs as well as comic books. “I was able to follow my whims,” he said. “When DVDs arrived, I was one of first two places to get them. We had rock art and pinball machines. I tried anything that fit. Toys are still part of our mix.”
While Rage Against the Machine was producing an album in 1996 with Brendan O’Brien, lead singer Zack de la Rocha would spend countless hours of down time at Criminal Records playing pinball. Levin would compete with him. “He was killer but I’m awesome at pinball too,” he said. Over the years, everyone from Quentin Tarantino to Billy Corgan to Donald Glover explored Criminal Records.
Not to say running a record store was easy. Big chains like Best Buy and Tower Records dominated the scene. So Levin in 1999 formed the Alliance of Independent Media Stores, handpicking 30 of the most beloved indie record stores nationwide. “We teamed up for camaraderie, politics within the industry and to sell advertising,” he said. “It worked out really well.”
Inspired by Free Comic Book Day, Levin in 2006 came up with the concept of Record Store Day at about the time Tower Records closed its stores as downloading became prevalent and CD sales tanked. This led to headlines saying that all record stores were dead, a false perception which Levin hoped Record Store Day would counteract.
Credit: CONTRIBUTED
Credit: CONTRIBUTED
Levin loved holding all-day parties at Criminal Records on Record Store Day, convincing local acts like R&B singer Janelle Monae, punk band the Coathangers and rockers Manchester Orchestra to perform. The concept eventually caught on nationwide and soon, labels and bands began issuing special releases just for the indie record stores.
In 2008, Levin had outgrown his Moreland space and took a gamble, moving to a location triple the size on Euclid Avenue just as the economy was collapsing and the entire music business was in serious flux.
He almost didn’t make it, announcing to the world he would shut down in 2011 after accumulating too much debt and unpaid taxes. But fans of the store helped bail him out with benefit concerts, a Facebook page and “Save Criminal Records” merchandise.
“It never occurred to me that the closing of Criminal would resonate so much,” he said in 2012. “It was selfish of me. I was just going to make records, but the outpouring of love and support changed things.”
Now he has no plans to go anywhere, with the store’s finances stabilized and business itself looking up.
Andy Hull, 34-year-old lead singer for Manchester Orchestra, is grateful the store is still around. Levin helped sell the band’s first album out of Criminal Records in 2006 when they were teens and didn’t even have a record deal. The band has since done multiple free concerts at the store and can’t wait for Saturday night’s acoustic performance before just 200 fans.
“I owe a ton to Eric,” Hull said. “When he asks me to do anything, I’ll do it.”
Credit: CONTRIBUTED
Credit: CONTRIBUTED
Credit: CONTRIBUTED
Credit: CONTRIBUTED
Credit: RODE
Credit: RODE
WHERE TO GO
Criminal Records’ 30th anniversary party
11 a.m.-7 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 14. 1154-A Euclid Ave. NE, Atlanta. criminalatl.com.
About the Author
