Wax Fantastic Records

Wax Fantastic Records is a Hattiesburg shop where used vinyl, new releases, a small bar, and local DIY shows share the same space. In this interview, the owner explains the standards behind the used bins, the collections that are worth pursuing, and the kinds of records that keep surprising the shop.

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Interview with Wax Fantastic Records

Wax Fantastic — where does the name come from, and what's the shop's character?

The name is a play on words.  It means both that we offer fantastic wax (aka vinyl) but also in the sense of taking on a certain air when speaking ie to “wax poetic” or “wax nostalgic”.  We’re waxing fantastic.  My goal for the shop is for it not to just be a place where someone might come to buy a record, but somewhere where they might come to feel at home among other music fans.  We have plenty of comfy seating in the shop, and we sell beer/seltzer/soft drinks, too.  The rear half of our sales counter is actually built out as a small bar.  We don’t have a lot of “drinks and chill” regulars yet, but it’s something I like to offer.

You're in Hattiesburg, a Southern Miss town. What role does the shop play locally, and who's walking in — students, longtime locals?

Our shop is still very new, and a lot of people are still finding out about us.  To me, that means we have a lot of room to grow.  I would say our clientele is a pretty healthy mix of demographics.  Students from USM definitely frequent our store (and two of them work here), but folks from William Carey come here too, as well as other people of all ages.  There are people I’ve seen in other music retail settings since - no kidding - twenty years ago who frequent the shop.  So that’s pretty cool.  We’ve also become a host venue for the local DIY show scene, that’s always fun.  They’ve done three shows here, the fourth one is coming up in October.

What does the shop stock the most of, and what are you known for?

Hands down, the thing we most consistently receive positive feedback on is our selection.  I think it’s a good mix of classics - what I think of as “perennials” - and more niche titles me and the other folks that work in the shop know and love.  We sell more of the former category, but it’s always cool when someone comes in the shop and sees something they’re surprised to find there, that they’re excited about, too.

What separates a promising collection from a pass in the first minute?

The biggest thing that makes a great stash is the condition of the records.  I don’t care how dope, how classic, how beloved a title is - if the wax is beat to death, I’m not putting it out for sale in my store.  I am extremely discerning about the condition of records I sell, possibly to a fault.  I throw out or give away a lot of records that I think other shops would sell.  But that’s the kind of shop I want to run - our customers are always welcome to examine the condition of the pre-owned stock we sell, but those that really know us know they don’t have to.  If it’s on my sales floor, it’s a record I believe in.  All of our pre-owned stock gets cleaned with a VPI 16.5 machine before it goes out, too, by the way.

What's the biggest gap between what a record's worth and what people think it's worth?

Again, probably condition.  It’s not that a record that is in poor condition is worth less money, it’s that, to me, it’s worthless, because I’m not going to sell it in my store.

What do people undervalue that you know will sell fast?

I don’t know that people really undervalue anything these days.  Maybe old country records?  Those sell better than some people would expect.  I’ll tell you something I undervalued:  Christmas records.  I always saw them as the detritus of any given stash.  We actually put some out for sale this past holiday season (our first holiday season) and we literally sold every single one.  We’ll be putting more holiday records out this year.  Definitely going to wait til at least after Halloween, though.

Mississippi heat and humidity are hard on records. What condition damage do you see most, and what would you tell a seller to do differently?

Even as hot as it is here, it’s rare to see a stash come in that’s all warped.  I’d say water damage or mold is more common.  But even those aren’t as common as records that just weren’t properly stored or handled, you know, physically damaged.

If it were your own records, would you tell someone to take the cash or the credit?

It really just depends on what the customer wants from the sale, just as it depends on what a customer wants when they’re buying from us.  One of the things I ask people, especially when they’re bringing in a smaller stash, is “So, you getting out of collecting? Or just making some room on the shelf?”  Some people need cash right then.  Some people are selling their parents’ or grandparents’ collection, and more than anything they just want to know those records are going to go back out into the world where someone else will enjoy them.  I actually hear that all the time.

What's a record that came in with a real story attached — where did it come from?

That’s a tough one.  Sometimes I think you can sort of chart the course of someone’s life through their collection.  If you find a lot of international releases, you can tell where and when they probably lived abroad.  I’ve definitely had things come into the shop that are only in the US because someone brought them back here.  What comes to mind most recently is a bunch of American music pressed in Taiwan from the 60s, which a quick google search told me were most likely sold to American GIs in Vietnam.  That kind of thing is always fun to find.

Is there a record you sold that you wish you'd kept?

I can’t think of anything I’ve sold that I’ve wished I’d kept.  I think I’m pretty good about letting things go.  I’ve been collecting for so long that my own collection is pretty robust, and even if there’s something I might like to keep, I have so many records coming through that anything I sell is pretty likely to show up again.  The main thing that comes to mind that I couldn’t part with was an OG Dylan mono “Bringing it All Back Home”.  I didn’t have a good copy of that one, somehow, and it being mono especially made it an undeniable keeper.

A note for sellers

I’d like anyone looking to sell records to know that part of my business plan from the start was to drive farther, buy for more, and sell for less than my competition.  And to offer a premium pre-owned product that my customers can trust. That’s the kind of shop I’ve always loved and respected, so that’s the kind of shop I’m going to run, too.

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Last updated: 2026-09-29

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