Macon record store battling time, technology turns 50

Malone grew up in the Tindall Heights neighborhood during the Civil Rights era, and although she was a little young to participate in some of the demonstrations, she remembers her father, the Rev. Allen Habersham, went to march with the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.

“My favorite memory (of Tindall Heights) is during Christmastime. We all would get together on our skates and go to the top of the hill and skate all the way down to the bottom of the hill. That was my favorite memory,” she said.

She grew up listening to James Brown and Otis Redding, and she surrounded herself with musical people.

“When I was young, my brothers and my sister ... they would play music all the time, and they played jazz. So, I developed a love for music as a child,” she said.

Little did she know she would one day own a record shop in Macon, now going on its 50th year.

Her brother, Alex Habersham, opened Habersham Records on May 15, 1971, but after running the store for several years decided that he wanted to focus on other ventures, Malone said.

She was working in North Carolina as a department store manager, but her parents convinced her to come back home to Macon to buy and run the record store.

“It’s a friendly, loving atmosphere, and we have music that ranges from the ‘50s up until 2021. We have albums. We have CDs. We have cassettes. We have videos. We have VHS videos and DVD videos, and we have incense and oils,” she said.

A woman of business

Owning and running a business as a woman has presented unique challenges, Malone said.

“Oh, it’s had its ups and downs. I am a female,” she said with a laugh. “I’ve had people to say they’re not accustomed to women owning record stores. So, I had to just still do what I needed to do and really combat that feeling that women don’t own record stores. They just work in them.”

Malone said it was difficult to find a bank who would give her a business loan when the 2008 recession hit, but Robins Federal Credit Union helped her, she said.

She worked 12-hour days, six days a week to keep the store open, she said.

“You just have to work harder. ... It’s been a challenge. You just have to stay focused,” she said. “I cannot lie and tell you that it’s been easy, but I was able to just hang in there and maintain.”

Malone said she encourages other women wanting to own a business to always be prepared, professional and persistent.

“You always have to be professional. Always put your best foot forward. Always treat your customer with courtesy and with love. People don’t talk about love as much, but you got to love people to deal with them because that’s what God wants us to do,” she said. “Sometimes we get discouraged and want to give up, but you can’t do that. You got to keep going.”

‘I fell in love with the people in the neighborhood’

The music industry has evolved during the past 50 years. When the store opened, Habersham was selling albums. Then it started selling cassette tapes and eventually CDs. But, Malone said, albums are making a comeback.

“In the old days, they used to say, ‘What goes around, comes around,’ so the old ain’t nothing but the new and new ain’t nothing but the old. So, that really is true,” she said.

Although the record store has changed locations throughout its 50-year history, the store has always been in the Unionville neighborhood.

“I fell in love with the people in the neighborhood, and the people that come in from other parts of Macon, the surrounding areas,” she said. “I just fell in love with the clientele, the customers.”

She started Helping Hands, a community organization focused on improving the lives of children and their families, in 2010 with Pastor Leroy Reeves of Center Hill Missionary Baptist Church.

Because she attended Mercer University and graduated from the school in 1975, she said she felt it was her responsibility to give back to her community.

“The community keeps you open,” she said. “We need to give back to the community, fill their needs and help them with their needs.”

Serving the community brings joy to her heart, Malone said, and she wants people to feel like they are at home in her store.

“I think the people are very neighborly, and it’s like family over here. Everybody’s like family. Everybody basically knows each other,” she said. “The neighborhood is a friendly neighborhood. People are good.”