Goshen record store reschedules concerts, offers shopping by appointment

 

GOSHEN, Ind.— Music enthusiast and record store owner Julie Hershberger misses conversations with her customers most.

“I have very loyal regular customers and I haven’t seen a lot of them in a while and a lot of them are older individuals. I’m worried about them and I just want to go back to talking about music and learning things from each other,” Hershberger said.

Hershberger, who owns and runs Ignition Music Garage in downtown Goshen, closed down the record store for about a month and a half when the COVID-19 pandemic hit. 

The record store, which doubles as a music venue, also lost its long line-up of shows as touring artists and musicians put their plans on hold. 

“We’re doing our best to get all of the shows that were previously booked rescheduled and we’ve had two cancellations thus far,” Hershberger said, adding that about 14 shows need rescheduling. 

National Record Store day was supposed to take place on April 18 but has been postponed to June 20. 

Hershberger said the event is the store’s biggest day for sales, beating even their rush during the holiday season. 

To keep the music playing in homes across Michiana during the pandemic while remaining mostly closed to in-person customers, Hershberger got creative.

On May 11, as Governor Eric Holcomb’s five stage plan for restarting the economy found its footing by allowing retail stores to open up with capacity restrictions, Hershberger decided to take a more cautious approach.

“I don’t think we need a mass reopening of downtown. We’re still not out of the woods yet,” Hershberger said. 

Ignition is taking private appointments, giving music fans a chance to browse the massive vinyl and CD collections alone. 

The record store is also taking appointments for curbside order pickup.

Vinyls, CDs, cassettes and more are also available for sale on Ignition’s website.

Hershberger and her team have partnered up with ThinkIndie’s #SaveYourRecordStore t-shirt fundraiser. All of the proceeds with be divided between independent record stores who participate, including Ignition.

“Any amount of money that we can keep local helps support our communities,” Hershberger said.

Projects are underway inside of the record store to ensure that it returns better than ever once restrictions ease, including new shelves, a new bargain bin, and rescheduled shows as early as September.