He ‘fell in love’ with Bellefonte, now he opened his own independent record shop
A new independent record shop opened Saturday near Bellefonte, giving music lovers something to cheer as they thumb through everything from vinyl records to a few eight-track tapes.
Fez Records, 2042 Axemann Road, is the latest business to open in the Titan Energy Park complex. The music junkie behind the business is owner Michael Fester, who said Thursday he was anxious and “incredibly excited” for the grand opening.
“I have a healthy amount of adult ADHD mixed in with OCD. I could tweak on this place for years and still not feel it’s right. But at a certain point, I just had to open it up,” Fester said. “... I want people to be happy. I want people to like it. I want people to want to come back. I want people to hang out. I want people to buy stuff and enjoy it and tell their friends that are into this sort of thing.”
Turntables, cassettes, CDs, 45s, and new and used vinyls from more than a dozen genres are for sale, in addition to merchandise. Fester, 50, is also looking to put the shoe on the other foot by buying vinyls to build his inventory.
Vinyl record sales continued to soar in 2021, growing 61% to $1 billion for the first time since 1986, according to the Record Industry Association of America. CDs and vinyls each experienced revenue growth last year, the first time that happened since 1996.
The first-time business owner estimated spending more than 500 hours renovating the about 1,100-square-foot space. Most of that time came on evenings and weekends. His day job is working as the assistant principal at Park Forest Middle School.
What was once an office space in a metal factory is now Fester’s oasis, complete with Pearl Jam concert posters and a listening station where would-be customers can test any used vinyl.
“It was the perfect space,” Fester said. “It just needed a lot of work.”
State College is by far the least populated place Fester has called home. He grew up in a suburb of Chicago, moved with his parents to Las Vegas and wound up working in Arizona’s second-largest city.
His move to Centre County — which required two cross-country trips in 10 days and was filled with visits to other record stores and breweries — came during summer 2021.
His wife is a Bellefonte native and Fester said he reached his “ultimate goal in education.” He resigned as a middle school principal before having a job lined up in Pennsylvania.
“I fell in love with the downtown Bellefonte area. I just like the small town vibe, the red brick,” Fester said. “Even back then when we were visiting years ago, I was like, ‘Man, I would just love to open up a little shop down here.’ ”
Fester’s passion for music was passed down the family tree. He still vividly remembers the first concert he attended — Huey Lewis and the News with his mother as he entered his teenage years.
The memories remain thick, as did the smell of a drug that his mother tried to pass off as “wacky tobacky.”
“Some people say with smells you remember when you smelled this or a certain smell reminds you of something. Well songs do that for me,” Fester said. “Different songs bring about so much emotion in me and they remind me of different phases in my life, different times in my life — good and bad. It’s very cheesy, but it is very much like the soundtrack of my life is constantly running.”
The business is scheduled to be open 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Saturday, as well as 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday. Records can also be purchased online.
“It’s just like moments in time are etched out,” Fester said. “And they will continue to be etched out in my life based on music.”
