By Jaeki Cho (@JaekiCho)
Jean Haffner has built a record library. In fact, the building for his shop Record Exchange was literally a library before it turned into a sanctuary for audiophiles and crate diggers. After moving to St. Louis from Texas in 1975 to work as a personnel director for Travelerâs Insurance, he decided to quit his lagging day job to pursue what he considered a hobbyâbuying, trading, and selling records. The one-time owner of nine separate record stores in St. Louis embarked on his moneymaking pastime in 1976 with his personal collection of â50s and â60s rock & roll records. Today, Record Exchange is the combined Voltron of all nine shops; therefore, its selection is bigger than big. Not only does it carry LPs and 45s, but it also boasts a vast selection of 78s, 8-tracks, CDs, DVDs, VHS tapes, posters, storage containers, cassette tapes, etc. (Haffner claims, âWe have the biggest inventory in the country.â)
Of course, its massive collection does have a downside: Customers can easily get lost without ever finding what they initially intend to get. So for a record store of this scale, itâs important to enter with a diggerâs mentalityâgo in without much expectation, and then leave with newly discovered gems. And with prices ranging from ¢50 to $1,000, many treasures can be found without burning too much weight off your wallets (or your ass, since the storeâs online auction venture stays open for 24 hours, seven days a week). The 65-year-old record accumulator/former drum player/classic rock & roll enthusiast, shared parts of his past, and answered our Wax Nostalgic 7 Question Survey.
Whatâs the first record you ever bought?
Jean Haffner: Ricky Nelsonâs first album. It was probably 1957. I just liked him at the time, and I saw him quite a few times after that. I bought that record, which was his first record on Imperial. It was just called Ricky.
Whatâs your favorite record of all time?
Jean Haffner: There are too many for me to answer that question, but I would say, âHooked On Musicâ by Mac Davis. And Mac Davis isnât whom Iâm so fond of; itâs his song and his version of it. Iâm from Texas originally, and his song is about him growing up in Texas. I grew up 70 miles away from where Buddy Holly grew up, and if I stayed with [my former band] I played with back then, I wouldâve been on four or five of Buddy Hollyâs albums. They put instrumental tracks down in [Buddy Hollyâs] vocal tracks after he died. I wasnât with them, unfortunately, but that was my almost claim to fame. Mac Davisâ âHooked on Musicâ just relates to that.
Whatâs the most valuable/expensive record that you own?
Jean Haffner: Well, the most expensive one I ever owned was a transcription disc for March of Dimes 1957, which had Elvis on it, and it even says it on the label âdestroy after use.â Most transcription discs were destroyed. They were never sold to the public, since they were only used for news and radio stations. They were 16-inch records. Most people couldnât even play them. I bought mine from another collector. I think I paid $3,000 for it and sold it for $5,000. That was 20 years ago. There are records that worth more than that today, but thatâs probably the most valuable one Iâve had.
If you didnât own a record shop, what would you do?
Jean Haffner: Good question. Iâd be at a farm in Colorado. Iâd like that. I didnât like it growing up because I couldnât relate to it that much, but the older I get, the more I can relate to it. I donât know. I really hadnât thought about it. I like what I do. This beats working. I always wanted to find something to do, which wasnât work, and this is not work to me. This is a hobby like I said, which turned into a business. Itâs fun. I could come to work and spend many hours everyday and enjoy it.
Why should people buy records?
Jean Haffner: Because they enjoy them. They can relate to them, and it takes them back to a certain time and place. Takes them back to certain memories where they could relate to somebody else. Or a lot of times itâs just the music, the sound, sometimes itâs the word, sometimes itâs the rhythm, sometimes itâs just something about the song you like. You can relate to music in many different ways. So itâs a subjective answer I guess.
Vinyl will never die becauseâŚ
Jean Haffner: Because itâs still the best sound, and it always will be. It lasts all formats as long as you take care of it. CDs are laminated products. They will separate eventually. They wonât last as long as vinyl. Plus, like I said, theyâre compressed music. Youâre getting the sampling sound. Youâre not getting the full sound.
Have you ever played a certain record and gotten laid?
Jean Haffner: I donât know. [Laughs.] Iâm not sure. Iâm sure I have, but I donât really look at music that way.
Record Exchange5320 Hampton Ave, Saint Louis, MO
(314) 832-2249
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