Love Wheel Records

Love Wheel Records in Austin grew out of years around clubs, sound work, coffee-shop dreams, and record-store experience. Mike's answers are long and generous, moving through Austin music culture, house calls, store credit, 45s, 78s, and the strange records that quietly sell.

Interview with Love Wheel Records

What's the story behind Love Wheel in Austin, and what would a regular tell a newcomer you're about?

I was working as a sound guy at Hole in the Wall for several years and occasionally other clubs, and picking up odd jobs like painting and construction on the side to supplement that. At one point in there we were back up in Minneapolis for about a year during which time I worked at a record store in St. Paul called Barely Brothers Records.

My wife Nancy and I had a dream to open a coffee shop back here in Austin, which would also sell records and maybe beer and wine too. We had a partner who was into it and we were looking at spaces for that with him, and then the Covid thing happened.

We still pursued that idea for a while but over the course of the lockdown and lots of conversations, we gradually came to the conclusion that neither one of us was comfortable taking all that on at that time, for various reasons. So we kind of scaled the thing down and decided to open a straight-up record store instead. We found a relatively affordable space for rent in a strip mall in Crestview, named it after our favorite Daniel Johnston song and opened in late April of 2021. People were still wearing masks at that time, but the vaccines had made it so we could do business in the physical space. We've now been here just over five years.

I feel like our regulars would probably say it's small, old-school.. maybe funky or something. We have been told by a lot of people that it reminds them of the “old Austin” so that might be something they would say. Lots of people have commented on our prices being fair, which is very nice to hear. They might also mention our dog Joe, who is at the shop a few days a week and has become kind of a celebrity in the neighborhood.

You buy all genres but lean toward rock, jazz, R&B and country — how did that shape your bins, and what walks in that always makes your day?

Well for the new stuff we order releases that feel relevant and important for us to have, or that people have actually mentioned to us being excited about or pre-ordered - new indie rock, hip-hop and americana titles mostly - and then a bunch of things that are either undisputed classics or stuff that we just think is cool. New releases by notable local artists we always try to get in stock.

For the used records, which make up most of the store, people bring us all different kinds of stuff. I love when we get old exotica and bossa nova records in. That music always turns my frown upside down. Those records tend to be inexpensive and people love them. Zydeco records are fun. Anything by Nina Simone is cool to see come through.

Nancy and I both came out of the punk rock scene in Minneapolis back in the 1980s, so on the rare occasion any of those records come in, or really any underground rock from that era, we're stoked about it. We love spinning the good jazz records that come in. The store actually released an experimental jazz record last year as well, recorded live at an instore we hosted, which was a cool project to be able to do and I'm very proud of it.

Austin's one of the most music-saturated cities in the country — who comes through Love Wheel, and how's the local scene?

Our customers cut a pretty wide swath from teenage kids in the neighborhood to foreign travelers and local collector-types, families, artists and musicians etc. The usual motley assortment of weirdos all record stores attract I guess. We have a lot of regulars, some of whom we’ve gotten to know quite well.

The music scene in Austin these days I'd say is healthy - despite the greatly increased cost of living here, which I know from my own experience has had an effect on people having free time to make art and stuff because you have to work so much. But there’s still a lot of weirdos around who still seem to be forming cool bands and doing very interesting things so it’s all good. Musically it seems like the landscape is more diverse than it used to be, and there are more places to play now. A bunch of clubs are doing these daytime “matinee” shows on the weekends lately, which can be pretty fun plus you can still go to bed early if you want.

What's the most valuable or surprising record that's come through the door?

Valuable records.. well we've had a couple Beatles butcher covers come through, and a white album on the Parlophone label which is quite rare. Some original pressings of early Austin punk stuff like Big Boys, Scratch Acid, The Dicks etc. Some pre-war blues 78s by Blind Willie Johnson, Ma Rainey and others. Right now we're sitting on a very hard-to-find Blaze Foley LP. That one's pretty cool. For me personally one of the most exciting things to come in was a copy of "The Shining" soundtrack, just because in addition to records I'm a giant film nerd and I like soundtrack records.

I have to say the high-end rare-collectibles side of all this is not something that interests me all that much. It's definitely a part of the picture and something we deal in though. And not to say that it's wrong or anything for someone to pursue expensive records that maybe aren’t even going to be played, some people enjoy the hunt for that kind of thing and can afford it, and that’s great. But personally I'm more of a hang-out-and-listen-to-rock-and-roll-records kind of person, and Nancy's the same way. And I always tended to buy the less expensive stuff anyway.

The other thing is we love it when a local band puts out a really good record. There have been many many since we opened and we try to give those a lot of in-store play if we like 'em.

You make house calls around Austin and prefer Venmo for the big ones — what does buying a large collection at someone's home actually look like start to finish?

We make house calls fairly often, usually because the person has more records than they can fit into their car to bring to us. Sometimes also it's because they have mobility issues or other health concerns so it's better if we go to them.

Before going over there I give them our spiel over the phone of how we decide what to offer on records, and then I just go over there at the time that's decided on, go through the records, look stuff up online when I need to, and make an offer on the collection.

Sometimes the person will sit there with me and we talk as I go through them, other times they prefer to just go about their day and I let them know when I'm ready to make an offer. It can take anywhere from 30 minutes to a few hours, depending on the size and nature of the collection.

I just try to be mindful that I'm in somebody’s home, and get through them in a timely fashion while still being thorough. Sometimes the people just seem eager to not have these things sitting around in boxes cluttering up a closet anymore. But sometimes it can be very emotional for people, because music is so personal and it can be a heavy thing to say goodbye to their record collection. These records are often tied to some intense memories, going back to childhood even. So you have to be very respectful of that.

You offer about a third of retail in cash, more for rarities, and more again in store credit — how does that math work, and when do you nudge a seller toward credit?

Yeah our general rule of thumb on a record we are interested in is to offer a third of what we intend to price it at in the store, and up to half if it's something that we would price on the higher end like $30 or more. This is also very much subject to condition - if the record's a common one but in exceptionally nice shape, we'll do more than a third on it. If it's a little beat-up or the jacket is rough, we'll generally go less than a third.

If it's something that will likely go into our $1-3 bins, we pay a little less on that one. If the person selling the records wants to do trade rather than the cash or venmo payment, we take our total cash offer and add 20% to that.

It's not really necessary to nudge people into doing that, we just let them know what the deal is and let them tell us what they would prefer to do. We've been fortunate in that it's been fairly rare that someone decides not to take an offer, though it has happened, but that's just part of the business and it's ok.

Beyond LPs, do 45s and 78s still move for you, and is there a corner of music where the single carries the value?

Used 33rpm LPs are definitely our main thing, but we do have some new vinyl too and a small selection of 45's and 78's. Used CDs and tapes also.

The 45s people seem most interested in are 50's-60s soul, and punk/indie titles, and those genres seem to be the ones that hold their monetary value the most. 78's are such a niche thing, and so fragile also, that we don't really display them in the shop. Those are in crates that I bring out whenever anyone asks if we have them.

We've sold relatively few of those, and generally it's been to blues collectors. We also carry 12" singles, which are picked through fairly regularly by some local DJs who come in.

They're mostly interested in the European trance and house stuff.

What do people most often overvalue about their records — and what quietly sells better than they expect?

Most of our regular customers are pretty savvy and have spent enough hours/years on Discogs and in record stores to know what things are trading for these days. Other folks have done a quick google search of the records they own, or used one of those “what are my records worth” apps which ignore highly important details like condition or country of origin and just spit out numbers that often bear little or no resemblance to what's really going on in the marketplace.

This can understandably lead someone who is less experienced to believe that their scratched-up Beatles or Stones records with split spines and no inner sleeves are worth a fortune, when in reality they might be just too rough for us to put anywhere but in our dollar bin. Those same Beatles and Stones albums in better shape are a different story and we pay accordingly - although even those are not particularly rare, those bands were so massively popular that their records are everywhere and there's a lot of them.

But we We just try to be honest and transparent about the whole thing and for the most part it works out for everybody.

We can’t keep the Jane Fonda workout records in stock - they fly out of here as fast as they come in - also Toto and Billy Joel both appear to be experiencing some sort of resurgence, which I would not necessarily have predicted 25 or 30 years ago.

FAQ

Does Love Wheel Records make house calls?

Yes. Love Wheel makes house calls around Austin, especially when a seller has more records than they can easily bring in.

How does Love Wheel Records usually price buys?

Mike says the general rule is about a third of retail in cash for records the shop wants, with more for rarities and more again in store credit.

Last updated: 2026-08-14

Store owners

Add a VinylPackman badge

Use this small badge on a Press, About, Links, or News page to point visitors back to the feature.

Show badge code

Need to fix store details?

Owner or staff? Send a correction for review.

Correct this listing