Turn It Up

Turn It Up has a multi-location New England rhythm, with customers moving between formats and fresh collections spread across stores. Carson's answers focus on Brattleboro's arts crowd, listening stations, house calls, and the way new discoveries keep moving through the bins.

Interview with Turn It Up

You carry everything from vinyl and CDs to tapes, DVDs, and books. Do customers tend to come in for one format and leave interested in another?

Yes, this happens quite a lot. We have a lot of multimedia purchases. While it seems like folks have less time to dig in this busy day and age, one of the things that is more apparent is the customers finding a deal in one category and then splurging in another category. Maybe a customer finds a bunch of cheaper VHS movies and a handful of used CDs, they'll then decide to buy that $40 new LP.

Brattleboro has a surprisingly active arts and music scene for a town its size. What kind of crowd does that bring into the shop?

We have a pretty diverse range of customers. A lot of younger people are shopping in our store, but we still have our core local regulars who have been with us since the beginning. Artists, students, people working in town on lunch breaks, parents shopping before school-pickup. And then the other good part of the day is being the 1st exit off the Interstate on the VT border, so VT tourism is a good plus. Often the same families heading up the highway will stop back in on Sunday's on their way back home.

You help customers track down records and place special orders. Is there one hard-to-find album you were especially happy to locate for someone?

I find we get a lot of requests for out of print movies. It seems like vinyl and cds is often "all about the hunt", which I totally get. Finding a nice Kate Bush LP for a customer who just asked is always awesome. For movies, it's nice to find someone a good clean copy of Blood Simple or Evil Dead. For music, we have a customer who comes in once a year always looking for live recordings by the band Live. We held a concert for him for an entire year until we saw him again. When he got it, he was overjoyed.

Customers often mention the listening station and the quality of the turntable. Do people still like to hear a record before deciding to buy it?

Yes, it's a great thing to have and we find it settles a lot of concerns over a blemish on a used record. It's taken a little bit of a turn with more new LPs in our inventory, which we unfortunately can not open. But on the other hand, we see more people sampling things on their phones, so I guess it's the best of both worlds. I think having a listening station at a record store is a staple and very inviting.

When someone walks in with a collection to sell, what usually makes you think, “Yes, we definitely want this”?

One of the hardest elements buying collections I find is often the negotiating and the passing process of items back to a seller. We've had a lot of experience over the years with this and have different phases trying different methods. These days, we almost pass on nothing. Unless elements are attached to the product, depending the size and context, we're willing to take on just about anything that walks through the door. That said, it's always great to see a crate of clean punk rock LPs walk through the door!

Regulars say there is always something new to discover in the shop. Where do most of those fresh finds come from?

All over the place. We do house calls throughout New England and have trade-ins in our shops every day of the week. One thing we began ramping up more in recent years, is spreading collections evenly through our 3 locations on a weekly basis. I do a lot of behind-the-scenes sorting and have bins and shelves devoted to selecting what title goes to what store. If it does track well in one store, give it a few weeks and then send it to another location.

What tends to sell especially well in Brattleboro?

Has anything become unexpectedly popular?

There's a strong growth with late 90s and early 2000s CDs right now. Deftones, Fiona Apple, Alice in Chains and Jeff Buckley are artists we sell every day. But we also sell a lot of titles by The Ethiopiques and have a very steady flow of jazz customers who can't get enough of our Blue Note and Prestige selections.

When the shop is empty and you can put on anything you like, what record do you reach for?

We all have different go-tos for sure. On a winter's day with projects caught up, it's always good to throw on Herbie Hancock's Maiden Voyage because how relaxing it is. On a warm Summer day, maybe some Discharge or Killing Joke. But it's awesome to play all 3 of those artists when people are in the store too!

Last updated: 2026-08-09

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