While many local businesses have been struggling in the current pandemic, the team chose to focus on a business who is doing well in this environment. It isn’t every day that you hear about how a record store has defied the odds of the change in music consumption methods and has managed to stay afloat during a pandemic. This idea came to us as we wanted to focus on profiling local businesses to see how they were doing almost a year ago from the beginning of the pandemic.
“Mason and I looked for themes less focused on in these dreary times. Booboo’s as a landmark storefront and well-known music vendor is outspoken in the SLO community. Gathering info on innovation in less-fortunate times for small businesses gave insight on how local economies may change in the long run.” – Danny Loveless
This is where Professor Bisheff came in and enlightened us with the news that Boo Boo Records was actually doing really well. Taking up her suggestion, Danny reached out to Mike White, the owner, and started setting up an interview time. While we all wish that we could go back to in-person interviews as journalists, this was an interview that had to occur over phone but not due to safety cautions. White was so busy managing the store and his online sales through Discogs that he simply didn’t have time for an in-person interview. This was fine with us as we could get all the info we needed from a phone call, but we ran into the problem of getting great audio quality as we used audacity to record our phone call. After completing the interview, we decided that we need to get some footage of the shop. White told us that we shouldn’t come on the weekend because we would have trouble getting in with the COVID-19 capacity limit, so we ended up going into the store on a mellow Monday to get our B-roll.
“This was my first time in Boo Boo Records throughout my four years at Cal Poly. To put it simple, I loved it. I am not the biggest vinyl guy, but I really wanted to have a shopping spree and create my own collection.” – Mason Lindh
After shooting our B-roll of Boo Boo Records, I couldn’t resist from buying an orange and green Talking Heads’ shirt. Not only did I want to shop at the store, I wanted to listen to live music in the nostalgic environment.
“The vision is to go back to somewhat of a normal routine, which is kind of where we are now besides not being able to hold in-store events or live shows. The only tweak to the business would be to continue stoking our online sales. We just want to get people back in the store and get live music going.” – Mike White
White told us how he began using Boo Boo Records’ Instagram to promote his items during COVID-19. This helped him not only stay afloat but brought his sales back to where they were pre-pandemic. While writing this story, we gained important insight on being a successful business through difficult times. A business must be intertwined to the community – giving and receiving support. This story opened my eyes to a hidden gem right in downtown SLO and provided me with a t-shirt that I will be stoked on for the rest of my life.