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 Click for music events Waxing Optimistic Hyde Park’s Dr. Wax is staying alive
Finally, some good news on the record store front.
When Sam Greenberg, owner of Hyde Park’s venerable Dr. Wax, was approached by the Harper Court Foundation with a unexpected demand for $15,000 in back rent payments, it seemed that the only option was to go the way of Hi Fi Records, the Virgin Megastore and, most recently, the Record Emporium, and close up shop. Fortunately, however, an upswing in sales and an outpouring of community support has helped Greenberg and Dr. Wax stave off impending doom, and things are looking up as he prepares to pack up to a new location where he can continue offering the extensive variety of hip-hop, neo-soul and other LPs that have made him such a valuable component of the Hyde Park neighborhood and to music fans across the city at large.
In 1983, Greenberg opened the first Dr. Wax store in Lincoln Park. The shop soon spread to Evanston and Hyde Park, which have remained the two functioning Dr. Wax branches following the first store’s demise about a decade ago. Greenberg sold off the Evanston chapter a few years earlier, however, leaving only the Hyde Park location to his name—and only last month, this last remnant of his enterprise teetered dangerously close to the brink of extinction. The problem arose at the turn of 2006, when declining sales prevented Greenberg from meeting his monthly rent of $3,000. He asked the Harper Court Foundation, his landlord, if he could start paying a reduced rent; a request to which they never responded. So Greenberg started paying $2,000 a month instead.
This went on for about a year, and all was well and good; he even started upping his rent payments after sales started picking back up earlier this year. But in June, the Harper Court Foundation dropped a bombshell: they wanted $15,000, up front, no questions asked and no answers given. "They wouldn’t talk to me," Greenberg explains. And since there was no way he could hope to come up with that kind of money, he decided the only option left was to shutter up the shop.
But the story didn’t end there. "When we told the community we were going to close, there was an uproar," the owner confides. And indeed, two online petitions were circulated, and even the University of Chicago stepped in to see what could be done. Customers began scoping out sites for the store to move into, and Greenberg decided that maybe it wasn’t time to pull the plug just yet. Now, he looks to be settled into a new space by the end of October; where, he’s not quite sure yet, but he plans to stay within a mile of the current location so customers don’t lose track. It’ll be "a smaller space," he notes, "gonna probably sell a little less vinyl and a little less rock CDs," an unsurprising move considering the store’s biggest sellers are the neo-soul, acid jazz and free-jazz records.
"We’ll still have the new Rilo Kiley, the New Pornographers, but maybe not the back catalogs," he explains. Not that he has to worry about losing any vital collegiate customer base. Despite its proximity, "you don’t see too many University of Chicago students here anymore," he admits. But the store has plenty of fans elsewhere—as evident by the petitions—and they’re not just limited to the South Side, either. "You can’t get a lot of this stuff on the North Side," he points out, a sense of pride and accomplishment subtly working its way across his face.
As for the vinyl cutback, the move might seem surprising in light of recent discussions of a "vinyl revival," such as featured in a recent Tribune article in which record-shop owners discussed the medium as the "bread and butter" of their businesses. Greenberg, however, doesn’t buy it. The sales breakdown at Dr. Wax—which boasts equally sizable CD and vinyl catalogs—is seventy-five percent for the former and only twenty-five percent for the latter, and "if you go into Dusty Groove," he declares, "they sell a lot of vinyl, but if you ask what the breakdown is, it’s still gonna be seventy-five and twenty-five." He goes on to delve a bit further into the issue: "It’s the rock stuff," he explains, "they’re reissuing the Doors catalog [on vinyl]. We sell seventies and eighties soul." So don’t expect the CD section at Dr. Wax to disappear anytime soon. "The vinyl customer and the CD customer are pretty much different," Greenberg points out. "[Only] a very small DJ percentage buy vinyl only."
So come October, keep an eye out for Dr. Wax’s new location. He’s got a benefit featuring neo-soul artist Zo! and a few other acts lined up tentatively for October 19, which will help defray moving costs, and after that he’ll be settled in and ready to start a new chapter in the Dr. Wax legacy. In the meantime, you can still check out the store in its current Harper Court location, where he hopes to continue operating until just before the big move. It’ll be sad to see the old store go, but considering how so many of these situations often turn out, it’s fortunate that Greenberg’s able to continue operating a store at all. Score one for the good guys.
Dr. Wax, 5225 South Harper, (773)493-8696.
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