Third Coast Vinyl

Third Coast Vinyl is tied closely to Muskegon's music history and Midtown revival. The shop leans into metal, hardcore, punk, used records, younger collectors, and the community role of a neighborhood record store.

Interview with Third Coast Vinyl

You came to the shop after 28 years as a working musician — Jim Jones and the Kool-Ade Kids and beyond. How does that history shape how you run Third Coast?

That’s a good question. I’m not sure that it does in any way that I can articulate. Maybe I’m just too close to see it. Because of that history, I have built my life around my love for music and creative endeavors.

You've said Muskegon has a long metal and punk history you knew would do well. How does that legacy show up in the bins?

We pride ourselves on our metal and hardcore inventory and work hard to curate that well; if you stock it, they will come.

I see it happening in other areas too. Rake has been doing consistently cool metal and hardcore shows the last couple of years, and now we have the Stage on the Corner which has been doing a lot of cool things, and the Credit Union seems to have filled the underground void that was left when the Ice Pick closed (without some of the other problematic issues connected with the Ice Pick, IYKYK).

So I feel like it has been good timing with all of these things happening the last few years.

You opened in 2016 as the Third Street corridor was reviving. How's it felt to be part of Muskegon's Midtown comeback?

We love Third Street and Midtown. It makes us so proud to be a part of the things that have happened and are happening presently in the neighborhood. And it’s great to see our long running neighbors such as Hamburger Mikey, Griffin’s Rest, Curry Kitchen all doing so well all these years, and now you can add Melt to the list of cool Midtown businesses.

You've mentioned younger customers coming in for The Cure and Siouxsie, plus your own love of obscure funk. Who's actually in your aisles these days?

Our average age has probably decreased by quite a bit over the last several years. When we started, the majority of my customers were probably over forty years old, now I’d say that half my customers are under thirty. Personally, I love it. I love seeing their passion for discovering the joys of both vinyl, specifically, and physical media in general. Also, in a general sense, older collectors don’t listen to much new music or new artists and tend to be interested in only used vinyl and not necessarily reissues, and filling in gaps in their collections.

Conversely, younger collectors are interested in new music and new artists, as well as reissues by older artists.

New releases come out every week, and that’s who is going to come in and buy the new Olivia Rodrigo, or the new Noah Kahan, or the new Sabrina Carpenter, or the new Turnstile.

So, as I started seeing the people coming in the door get younger, I leaned into it. Also, I don’t want to be stagnant, with my business or my listening habits, so it has been great to be introduced and influenced by so many new artists and collectors.

You carry refurbished stereo gear alongside the records. How much of your crowd is dialing in their setup versus just digging?

Actually, we stopped selling used vintage gear after a few years. It just became too difficult. The prices started skyrocketing on used gear, and everything we took in needed to be inspected and cleaned up, and sometimes repaired, and that just became too much to deal with. We finally just decided we would carry a small selection of turntables and speakers that we like and felt good about supporting and focused on that.

We sell a steady amount of turntables, but our niche with that has turned out to be people getting their first set up or are finally upgrading from that all in one or suitcase model they bought when they first started buying records.

When someone wants to sell records, what's the best way to start — and what makes a collection an easy yes?

The most important thing is the work you did with your collection before you thought about selling it; it’s how you took care of it while building the collection.

For us as a store, when buying used/older records, both the covers and the records themselves must be in good condition. It’s not enough that the record is nice, the jacket needs to be in good shape too. We love getting rare, obscure, or highly collectable titles, but those tend to sit around until just the right person comes in, but you understand that when you buy it.

There are things on the premium shelf behind the counter that have been there for a while, but that’s okay. I love when a nice metal or hardcore, or jazz collection comes in because it isn’t very common. Fans of those genres tend to not give up their collections, and they tend to be more rare or desirable because they tend to be produced in smaller quantities, making them more in demand.

What I really like is when people bring in the common, popular, classic stuff that isn’t rare or particularly expensive but is still popular and relevant. For example, we love seeing a collection filled with the likes of Led Zeppelin, Rolling Stones, Steely Dan, Journey, Fleetwood Mac, or Funkadelic, Rick James, Prince, Ohio Players, War, Marvin Gaye, or Michael Jackson. Those all tend to be pretty common and relatively inexpensive, affordable titles that are still popular and relevant and we can flip easily.

"Your Community Record Store" is the tagline. What does being that anchor mean to you day to day?

Community is very important, all types of communities. I tend to think of it on three levels - there is our immediate neighborhood community, the people we share this space with, there is our local business community, and there is our music and vinyl community.

On a day to day level, we strive to be a positive force in our Midtown neighborhood and community by being involved in things that help benefit members of our community, whether it is being a voice for them, fundraising for causes, or bringing attention and awareness to issues. We help to promote community causes, needs, and programs.

We try to utilize events in the store to help in a variety of causes important to the community. For example, we choose different groups or charities to help out on Record Store Day and Black Friday and raise awareness and donations for those groups.

The last few years we have partnered up with Birdmagic Pottery to raise money for a variety of causes. She makes up beautiful ceramic ornaments and we sell them and we send all the proceeds to a cause we pick each season.

But this Midtown community is so giving. The Soap Dude runs the Community Table down here every Sunday. Hamburger Mikey does a ton for Kids’ Food Basket, as well as many other causes. Our neighbors, the YMCA, are awesome and have their community pantry here that serves an almost overwhelming number of people in need every week. We also try to support our local business by supporting small businesses that we love or feel are doing good things. We try to do this by being a customer at other local businesses, by sharing their events or information on our social media, and by word of mouth. On big events like Record Store Day, we try to giveaway gift cards to other local businesses and use their wares and services whenever we can. We just try to share the love.

Being a small business owner can be scary and like you are on an island, so being able to help, use, share, and promote other businesses is really important.

Lastly, there is the music community and the vinyl community. We have sponsored shows and events, are a bulletin board for shows and events, promote shows and events on our social media, and offer our help, support, and a place to sell and promote music projects and band’s wares whenever possible. We try to foster and encourage the importance of both live music and music in the form of vinyl records.

What's a night or a moment at the shop that captured why you opened it?

Honestly, as simple as it is, the coolest thing is probably whenever I hear a young person who is new to vinyl records talking about all the aspects of it that they love, be it the artwork and covers, the connection and interaction with the vinyl itself - taking it out, putting it on dropping the needle, the tendency to listen to a whole album rather than skip and scroll - even color vinyl, it is a physical, tactile experience combined with an auditory experience.

I know that. That is what I love about it, but I grew up with it, grew to love it, and then they basically took records away from us, so I know what I loved and what I missed about records, and what I still love about them. That’s experience. When I hear a young person describing all their love for all of the same elements of vinyl records that I had, but without all of the shared history and experience, it is a deeper connection, something that we share as experience across generations.

FAQ

What does Third Coast Vinyl look for when buying records?

Condition matters on both the vinyl and jacket. The shop likes metal, hardcore, jazz, collectible titles, and common classics that still sell quickly.

Does Third Coast Vinyl still sell used stereo gear?

No. The shop stopped selling used vintage gear and now focuses on a smaller selection of turntables and speakers it can support.

Last updated: 2026-08-23

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