Iconic Denver record retailer Wax Trax will open a fourth location along 32nd Avenue in the West Highland neighborhood next month with a promise to tailor its wares to locals.
The 51-year-old store, whose flagship is at 13th Avenue and Washington Street in Capitol Hill, opened a new location at 200 S. Broadway in April 2024, known as Wax Trax Broadway Bazaar, and cited the success of its mobile-retail unit, as well as its semi-permanent pop-up at Aurora’s Stanley Marketplace, as reasons to expand.
“The Stanley has been really great to us, and we were looking to grow there, but no opportunity came to pass,” said majority Wax Trax owner Pete Stidman. “So one day I was kind of frustrated with that and thought, ‘Oh, let me look around,’ because any time our (mobile unit) is over there in the Northside, Sloan’s Lake, Highland or Olde Town Arvada, we sell a lot of records.”
In fact, Stidman said, the new West Highland location at — which hugs the pedestrian-friendly corner of 32nd Avenue and Meade Street — will be the only “walkable” record store west of I-25. He plans to open on Saturday, Oct. 11 in the red-brick storefront that was most recently occupied by home-decor retailer Candelaria. That store closed last year after eight years in business, citing slow sales and foot traffic, from owner Kristina Thayer.
A video of the renovation shared with The Denver Post shows fresh coats of black paint on the walls and a jumble of custom-built wooden racks in the center of the 1,000-square-foot store. Stidman declined to name the terms of the lease for the space, which includes a basement that will not be open to customers, but said he plans to stay there for a while.
“It’s high rent over there, which is all I’ll say. But I do think it’s one of the best places to be west of I-25,” Stidman said.
The store will employ two record sellers at first, and Wax Trax buyers will adapt and order their inventory based on customer preferences as they learn them, he said. Stidman has a sense that nearby residents listen to a lot of country music, for example.
“This is probably risky, but at the same time, what we’re trying to do is reach an economy of scale with how many records we sell,” he said. “I think that helps the store become more sustainable and resilient.”
Since the pandemic, the metro area has seen several new record stores open as vinyl sales continue to climb and the market for buying and selling LPs at the counter — which Wax Trax will offer — remains strong.
Vinyl sales rose to $1.4 billion in 2024, according to the Recording Industry of America, with 44 million records sold.
“Our competition isn’t record stores (like) Twist & Shout,” he said. “It’s online retailers and big box stores, so having a location where we can be walkable in somebody’s neighborhood… that’s where we can steal some sales from frickin’ Walmart.”
