'It fills a void': River City marks the return of the record shop in Duluth

DULUTH – In the years since Duluth's last record store was shuttered, Todd Hanson has seen more collectors making the 75-mile trek to Hole in the Wall Books and Records in Hayward, Wis.

In response, the Superior native — who wanted to return to this area anyway — decided to bring his shop to the aficionados: River City Records and Books opened last weekend.

"I just always knew this would be a good market," he said.

Hanson loaded more than six U-Haul rental trucks of merchandise from his two Wisconsin stores (he has another in Rice Lake) to fill the 4,000-square foot space at 1814 W. Superior St. More is on the way, according to a sign posted on a single empty table inside. Hanson's aim is for a diversified stock divided between new and used records (punk, funk, reggae, jazz, metal and more) and other physical media, including DVDs, CDs, tapes, comic books, fiction and nonfiction, and biographies of musicians.

This city has been without a traditional record shop since the Electric Fetus closed its downtown Duluth store in 2021. Located at 12 E. Superior St., the longtime go-to for music, fashion, incense and in-store performances shut down alongside other retail spaces during the pandemic — and stayed closed because of changes in shopping trends, a water main break and construction on Superior Street that interrupted traffic for years, it said at the time.

Barnes & Noble and local big-box stores sell records, in addition to Globe News in Superior. When the Electric Fetus closed, Evan Tepler's Round Here Records has offered its collection — a mix of records that includes local musicians — as a pop-up shop at various venues and breweries. He's already connected with Hanson, he said. Even when he visited River City recently, browsing audiophiles were asking about his next popup. (It's Nov. 25 at Blacklist Brewing.)

Some neighborhood shops have added a few local records to their stock.

River City's aesthetic leans retro and eclectic — in its décor and its merchandise.

"It's maximalism to the max," said Dury Nelson, the shop's manager, whose artistic eye is behind the wall collages made from album images of Morrissey and Johnny Marr, KISS, and Radiohead, posters of "ET" and "Mary Poppins Returns," and window tapestries featuring the likes of Kurt Cobain, Bob Marley and Sublime.

Hanson, of Superior, grew up in this area's music scene in the 1970s and '80s. His band the Reason played original alt rock on one night and classic rock covers the next. He left the immediate area and has been living in Wisconsin — with an eye toward setting up here again.

Midweek and in the middle of the afternoon, within days of opening its doors, more than a dozen people browsed the new shop, snagging stacks of CDs or a few comic books — or trailing Hanson out the back door to see the building's loading dock, one of the onsite spots where the owner said he might later host live music. Sonic Youth spun on a record player.

Blocks away in the same neighborhood, the Caddy Shack hosts several live local and regional acts every Friday. Owner Stephanie LaFleur, president of the Lincoln Park Business Group, described the addition of River City as exciting, vibrant and "4,000 square feet of fun."

"It's something different," she said. "It fills a void that we've had in Duluth."