The Beat Goes On
Indy CD & Vinyl Celebrates 20 Years of Business in Broad Ripple
Writer / Seth Johnson
Photographer / Robby Berry
For two decades, Indy CD & Vinyl has serviced the needs of local music lovers while also providing them with a warm, welcoming place to commune over their favorite tunes.
Now, having made their way through the COVID-19 pandemic, Co-Owners Andy and Annie Skinner are ready to celebrate the shops long-standing legacy, hosting a party of grand proportions this Record Store Day weekend.
Slated for Saturday, April 23 and Sunday, April 24, Indy CD & Vinyls Record Store Day extravaganza will return in 2022 – a year that also happens to coincide with the shops 20-year anniversary. Like other participating record stores across the country, Indy CD & Vinyl will have a slew of Record Store Day exclusives available for purchase on Saturday, April 23. The following day, the shop will host a party to celebrate their 20th anniversary, complete with a full lineup of bands alongside food and drink offerings from the Sahms family of restaurants.
This year we have the phenomenon of 15 years of Record Store Day, but then 20 years of the record store, Andy says. That and the COVID numbers are getting so much better. Were going to really party.
After starting a record store in Salt Lake City, original Indy CD & Vinyl Founder Rick Zeigler picked up his brick-and-mortar shop and moved it to Indianapolis, opening on Broad Ripple Avenue in May of 2002. After successfully running the shop in Broad Ripple for 11 years while also establishing it as the largest independent record store in central Indiana, Zeigler sold Indy CD & Vinyl to Annie, long-time store manager, and Andy in 2013. The husband-and-wife duo still owns the shop to this day, while also running their own marketing and promotion company, A-Squared Industries.
We have made this store in our image because we ourselves are record shoppers, Andy says.
Since taking over the shop, Andy and Annie have made several interior adjustments. The most notable of these involved shifting the front counter to a more strategic spot.
You can have square footage literally anywhere, Andy says. You put records inside it, and you have yourself a record store. But why do we pay rent at this address? Its the big windows on the sunny side of Broad Ripple Avenue.
The first big thing we did when we decided to renovate was turn the point-of-sale, so if somebody walks in the front door an employee is looking right at them and is able to greet them, Andy adds. At the time the cash registers were right at the door, and if you took all the posters out of the windows, youd be looking at employees butts.
Since taking over the shop, the duo has also done all they can to make sure Indy CD & Vinyl is a safe, welcoming place for all. With this in mind, Annie says customers will never receive the type of music snobbery portrayed in the movie High Fidelity.
I hate that gatekeeping mentality, Annie says. Music is a perspective. It changes a persons life. That is something thats very important to me, as far as an employee, as a customer, as a co-worker and as a record shopper myself.
While working their way through the pandemic, Indy CD & Vinyl also managed to improve their online shop, allowing them to survive amidst the crisis.
We got a good portion of our stuff online, Annie says. In turn we started having an uptick in online sales, so that was promising. We were all able to stay healthy and employed. We had really great support. We had a great community that came together and helped us.
As a matter of fact, Andy points out that the previous two years wound up being the two highest-grossing years in the history of Indy CD & Vinyl.
A lot of hard work went into that, Andy says. Its amazing what you can accomplish when your survival is at risk.
In reflecting on their shops role in central Indiana, Andy and Annie both say they aim to make the city a better place each day, while also giving music lovers the opportunity to support their favorite artists.
Were not Mother Teresa – we are a for-profit business for sure, Andy says. But at the same time, why did we get into this business in the first place? Its because we love music. We want to be able to see people make a living making their art.
Indy CD & Vinyl is located at 806 Broad Ripple Avenue in Indianapolis. Visit their website at indycdandvinyl.com or call them at 317-259-1012.
