Introducing Cardinal Record Co., Your New One Stop Shop For Buying Vinyl Online

Posted On April 30, 2021

Samantha Colleran, April 2021

Anyone who knows me knows I love vinyl, and I also love supporting small businesses! One night I was scrolling through Tik Tok and I stumbled across a video of Shawn Bond, a 23 year old from Kentucky who is launching his own online record store! We connected and sat down for an interview where we talked about how he got the idea, what starting up an online record business is like, and destigmatizing the idea of buying records online! Read through to the end of the interview for official links to all of Cardinal Record Co.’s social media accounts and their official website, launching tomorrow!

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SC: Hi Shawn!

SB: Hi!

SC: So, I know who you are because we recently connected. I’d like for you to give my readers a little bit of info about who you are, where you’re from, and why we’re talking today!

SB: Sure! My name is Shawn, I’m 23 years old, I’m from Louisville, Kentucky, and we’re talking today because I’m opening up my own online record store on May 1st, which is the day after this will be published, right?

SC: Yes! So, before I ask you any questions related to your store, since you are also a vinyl enthusiast, I wanted to ask you a couple of fun little vinyl questions if that’s okay.

SB: Yes, go ahead!

SC: How long have you been collecting vinyl?

SB: I bought a record player maybe five or six years ago and had received records as gifts over the years. I bought my boyfriend a record player for Christmas and we started collecting them together and it became our thing. I’ve been collecting seriously for about five months, since Christmas. 

SC: That’s so cute, I love that! What was the first record that started your collection? You can tell us either your serious collection or whatever your first gifted record was.

SB: It was gifted, it was Amy Winehouse’s Back To Black which is my favorite album of all time!

SC: Amazing, I have that one too! It’s one of my favorites. Do you have a favorite vinyl?

SB: I go through phases with it. Right now, I just got a copy of, and spent more than I should have on, Beyoncé’s self titled album. 

SC: Awesome! What was the hardest record for you to find that you now have in your collection?

SB: Probably Beyonce’s self titled. I also spent a really long time looking for Janet Jackson’s Control which is another one of my favorites. I ended up buying a copy online which, coincidentally now, I’m stocking in my own store. I have quantity of it but I did spend a really long time looking for it. 

SC: So cool! So today we’re here to talk about you opening up your own online record store, which you’ve mentioned already. What inspired you to start up Cardinal Record Co. and what has the process of starting up been like, especially now with COVID going on?

SB: What inspired me to do it, well one, I enjoy collecting records and I had been on Tik Tok for a while and I noticed a lot of people talking about their experiences with shopping for records online. I mentioned in my announcement, depending on where you live, sometimes your selection of record stores is very limited and to some people that keeps their selection of vinyl to Amazon, Best Buy, Target, the big chains, and there are some online stores that sell exclusively vinyl, but there aren’t a lot. When you deal with a company like Amazon- I have a very specific example with Amazon, because I posted something on Tik Tok about it- they’re notorious for mishandling records. When you ship a record, you have to put a lot of care into it. I received a record from Amazon, it was a copy of Illuminate by Shawn Mendes, and it looked like someone had shot it with a gun. It made me realize that someone shouldn’t have to take a risk when they’re buying a record online. 

On the other end of that, a lot of people will buy a record and then resell it for ten times the value and I don’t think that’s right either. Record collecting is supposed to be a fun hobby and I want to make it accessible to more people. One thing I’m doing with my company is launching everything at or around MSRP (Manufacturer Suggested Retail Price) with a little room for demand since there is a bit of demand for some records, but you won’t catch me charging $1,000 for a record that costs $30. That’s not going to be a thing that happens on my site. 

To answer the other part of your question, about the whole process. The process was completely new to me, I had never started up a business before, I don’t have a business background, I just had a hobby and an idea. It just so happens there was room for it because I got a lot of positive feedback. There’s a lot of legal steps you have to take to start a business, which I didn’t know, but it’s all on Google. What I didn’t know was specifically how to get into the record business, which I learned almost as I went, especially when dealing with potential vendors, there’s not a lot of information on that. Another thing, through my Tik Tok content and my Instagram, I wanted to bring that wall down and be transparent about the process because a lot of people have told me that opening up a store is their dream and they don’t know where to start. I really just wanted to make vinyl collecting more accessible to people. 

SC: That’s incredible, I’m loving all of this so much! How long have you actually had the idea of starting up your own record company, and what made you want to follow through with it? It’s a really hard thing to want to start up your own business!

SB: Yes, it is hard. There is a lot of work that goes into it and nothing happens overnight. I haven’t launched yet, so I don’t know if it’s successful or not. I’ve had a lot of interest in it, but I don’t know how that translates until I actually open. 

I’ve had the idea for… I’ve joked about it for a few months, but it wasn’t anything serious. That Amazon incident was one of those “Okay, someone needs to do something about this” moments, people shouldn’t be required to shop this way. I live in a city with a great record store selection, good people run them, but I’ve had frustrations with inventory with some of them. What really pushed me to start it was obviously the Amazon incident and a couple of price gauges I ran into, but mostly being in COVID times and wanting something to do. I knew it would be a challenge as well as a risk, and I’m not a risk taker, but this felt good to me. Of course this is something I’m passionate about, I love collecting records, and this wasn’t something I thought I could just make a quick buck off of. 

SC: Love it! What’s the process of finding stock and selling it? I find that really interesting. Do you work with manufacturers or do you find vendors? How does all of that work?

SB: It’s a little bit of both. Some of your larger companies, I imagine Amazon, Target, Walmart, with all the exclusive pressings, probably work directly with the record companies. That’s a goal of mine, to be able to work directly with the record companies. For me, finding inventory meant finding distributors, essentially wholesalers, similar to going to Costco or Target and buying in bulk, it was kind of like that. I had to contact them, one at a time, present them with my idea, which is weird because normally distributors only sell to physical record stores, which I am not. They have some requirements, first you have to have a valid business license which I did file for; second. that you have to collect sales tax, you have to have a sales tax license to make sure everything is legitimate; and third, different vendors have different requirements where some may have a minimum order amount, some have a price minimum where you may have to spend a certain amount of money. Some places charge $500 or $1,000, some have a quantity minimum, and there are exceptions to that where they’ll average your spendout. Say I have a request for Ctrl by SZA and it comes in stock, I don’t need to order $1,000 worth of stock of that, I can just request it. Generally there are pretty high minimums to qualify for shipping rates. 

A little bit of an advantage that I have is that I am in Louisville which is a shipping hub of the US, and one of the largest vinyl distributors in the world is right here. Once I found that out, I was able to move pretty quickly on it. Generally, I work with a vendor online, I have sales reps with them. It’s almost like shopping for records online, I go to the website, I see what they have in stock, what they have for backorder, then I place orders there. As for picking what I want, when I first started with the idea I made a list of albums I would buy in a record store. As I pitched the idea to more people I varied my list and made it larger. 

SC: So how many albums and/or artists do you have so far, or are you expecting to have at the time of launch?

SB: As of now, I have about 160 or so different artists with over 200-ish titles. That’s as of last time I checked inventory. I don’t actually consider it inventory until I have it, so I know I have some things coming that aren’t currently inventory. I expect the number to go up a little bit. When I announced it I had more than 100 artists, that was like “Okay, I’ll be able to launch with more than 100 artists”. In the last week or so I’ve had a lot more come in. I don’t have a firm number for you on that, but I do plan to add new titles all the time, probably weekly as I get more inventory and as the online store grows. I want it to be a place where anyone can shop and find almost anything they’re looking for, within reason. 

SC: Some of those records are really hard to find! I saw on your Tik Tok that a lot of people were asking for One Direction, which is so hard to find! 

SB: Yes, it’s hard to find. I think I will have a few copies of a couple One Direction albums. I have had a lot of demand for them, but I will tell you that the number is in the single digits. So, it’s going to be a race. People have asked to reserve them. I don’t do any reservations, it’s going to be a first come first serve type of deal. 

SC: Sounds good! 

SB: I will restock them! I do want to add, that if someone is reading this and they want something specific, there is a feature on the website where if something is out of stock you can sign up to be notified when it’s available. I actually do check that feature, so if I notice that, say Beyoncé’s Lemonade, which is in stock, has 100 people waiting for it, I will know to order more copies of Lemonade. If something goes out of stock and no one’s waiting for it, I won’t restock it right away. 

SC: Right, that makes total sense. What are your general goals and hopes for the store? I know you mentioned one before, but do you have any others?

SB: My first goal is to ease the stigma around shopping for records online. In the vinyl community, which is an amazing community that has presented a number of opportunities to me, there is a stigma around shopping online for vinyl. I talked earlier about making the hobby more accessible and affordable for people, within reason, because artists and labels have requirements for prices. That’s another major goal of mine, to make it more accessible. A big, big goal for the company, I want to be able to work with labels directly and get exclusive pressings for the company. We’re so young, we haven’t launched yet, but that’s something I want to be able to do. If fortune works out that way, a physical store wouldn’t hurt. 

SC: That’s awesome! I love the fact that you’re working to destigmatize online record shopping. Obviously you want to go in person and see the records and feel the records, but for some people it’s just not an option. For me, I live about an hour from New York City, so I can get to a record store, but there’s none super close to me so online shopping is sometimes the only way you can go. 

SB: I want people to know that you’re not shopping with a chain, you still are supporting a small business, a small record store. You should still support your physical record stores if you can because of COVID and everyone’s struggling. We have this resurgence in record collecting and there’s room for everyone, if you have to get it online then get it online, if you have to get it in person you have to get it in person, and both are okay. I do want to bring some of the community aspect that comes into the online platform, which is why when we launch we’ll have a rewards program in place which rewards you for using the same record store over and over again. You don’t have to settle for poor packaging with a bigger company. 

SC: I love how much care you’re putting into all of this. I thankfully have had positive experiences with Amazon, but I’ve seen horror stories. 

SB: I’ve had good experiences up until I didn’t. I think once you get into it, you know what to look for, and now in hindsight I have had warped records and I have had problems before, but the Shawn album was the most blatant one. Mistakes happen, but if more than 100 people are experiencing the same issues and have the same complaints about the same company…

SC: Then there’s an issue. 

SB: Right, exactly. 

SC: You mentioned you have about 150 or so artists, who are some of the biggest artists you have featured, or who’s been highly requested?

SB: The most highly requested artists we have are Taylor Swift and Nicki Minaj, those are probably the two most requested across the board. I myself am a huge Beyoncé fan, we’ve had Beyoncé requests. Melanie Martinez is another one we’ve had a lot of requests for, Harry Styles is in there too, One Direction has also been huge. Lana Del Rey is another one everyone is requesting, and I think she is partially to credit for the resurgence in vinyl over the last few years. All of them will be in stock in varying capacities. As of now, for Taylor Swift I think I have about 50 copies of Folklore, a much smaller number of copies of Speak Now, and preorders for Evermore. 

SC: I also saw some Lizzo on your Instagram page which made me really happy!

SB: I haven’t had a lot of requests for Lizzo, but I like her and when I made my initial list of records I would want she was on the list. 

SC: It looks like on your Instagram there’s a lot of really cool people which makes me so excited to see the full inventory, what’s in stock, and what’s to come! Is there any other information you want readers to know about the launch, stock, anything like that?

SB: Yes, we launch May 1st, which will be tomorrow when this is posted, and that’s so crazy that this idea is finally coming to light. Our official launch time is at 12 noon EST. I do plan on doing a giveaway in some capacity, I haven’t figured out the details yet. The support I’ve received has been phenomenal. I have plans to expand the store! Right now I’m currently only selling vinyl, but I’d love to do turntables, speakers, I want to make Cardinal Record Co. a place where you can find all your vinyl needs. Also, if there’s a record you want, send me a request! I do take the time to read all of them, it’s just me running this company. Every response to a comment, every response to an email, it’s all me. I do take all requests very seriously. 

SC: This is amazing, and it’s so cool that you’re doing this on your own! I would never think to do anything like this. I applaud you and I’m very excited for the launch!

SB: Thank you!

SC: You’re welcome! Just as a final question, where can people find you on social media and what’s the official website for people to buy records, tomorrow! 

SB: The official website link is cardinalrecordco.com. If you get there before noon, it will have a link to sign up to receive 15% off your order. You will only get the 15% off discount if you sign up before noon. After that, there will be a bonus for adding your email, but it will not be 15%. Our Instagram is @cardinalrecordco, our Facebook is also Cardinal Record Co, Twitter is just @cardinalrecord because of the character limits, and that’s where we are right now. 

SC: I can’t wait for the actual launch, I know I already signed up for notifications! Thank you so much for sitting down with me!

SB: Thank you for having me! 

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Thank you once again to Shawn for sitting down with me and speaking about this incredible launch! Be sure to sign up on the official website linked above before noon tomorrow in order to receive 15% off your order on launch day! Also make sure you follow Cardinal Record Co. on all the social platforms listed above! Congratulations to Shawn on the launch!