Joe’s Record Paradise Launches Crowdfunding Campaign To Save Itself

By Ally Schweitzer

An institution for music lovers, Joe's Record Paradise says it's struggling to pay expenses while it reopens in a new location.
An institution for music lovers, Joe's Record Paradise says it's struggling to pay expenses while it reopens in a new location. David Hilowitz

After relocating from one Silver Spring location to another, Maryland record shop Joe’s Record Paradise says it’s hurting for cash. Thursday the 42-year-old business launched a GoFundMe campaign with a goal of $30,000, money it hopes will help cover income lost during an arduous reopening process.

The move to 8700 Georgia Ave. turned out to be more complicated than expected, says the store’s owner, Johnson Lee. He’d planned to reopen the shop last month, but he says he didn’t realize he needed to obtain a building permit from Montgomery County to open a retail operation in the building’s basement.

The space was previously occupied by Hearts & Homes for Youth, a nonprofit now headquartered in Burtonsville. In Montgomery County, a commercial change of use requires a new building permit.

“When you have a change of use at the place, you have to really do a lot more, and think about fulfilling requirements that you just may not know about,” Lee says, “and that is a risk.”

While Lee scrambles to meet county requirements, Joe’s Record Paradise remains closed. Most challenging, he says, is missing out on annual vinyl event Record Store Day this weekend.

“Not having that nice chunk from Record Store Day I was going to use to pay off things” is difficult, Lee says. He adds that he’s been selling off his personal record collection to make ends meet.

Lee says he’s especially concerned about retaining staff during the transition. “I just want to be able to get my employees taken care of,” the store owner says.

The GoFundMe campaign has raised more than $5,000 as of Friday morning.

Photo by Flickr user David Hilowitz used under a Creative Commons license.

  • jameskelly99

    Joe’s Record Paradise seems like a place that mattered to a lot of people. I don’t live in the area so I don’t feel inclined to donate. I have shared on my Facebook and also if there is any crowdspeaking campaign let me know. I am always happy to support crowdspeaking campaigns for fundraisers on my social channels.

    :)))

  • Torukpa Agbegha

    I just saw this, so sad! And it’s one of the best music stores I’ve been to. I wish I had known about this sooner. Posting it on Facebook.

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