Rock On
Metal will never die: Encore Records reopens its doors, this time on the EastSide
North Austin really wasn’t a great spot for a shop like Encore Records, anyway. No offense to northern residents, but when thinking about that part of town, metal isn’t the first thing that springs to mind. Tech offices, maybe, or commercial-y shopping centers like Arbor Walk, but certainly not the kind of bone-crushing, blood-curdling metal that much of our city listens to.
So it is only fitting that one of Austin’s most recognized music storefronts, Encore Records, moves to a part of town where it will be more appreciated, a part of town where it will fit in better: the East Side.
An event many of our readers are likely familiar with, the esteemed record store was forced to close its doors forever last year. Maintaining a retail space dedicated to selling music and renting videos is no easy game in this digital age we’re living in, and even though it was a disappointment to see Encore shut down, it felt painfully inevitable.
Thankfully, in Austin at least, there are still people who buy music in a physical medium from actual people. Shops our city loves, like Waterloo Records, Cheapo Discs and Breakaway Records are keeping the dream alive, providing vinyl collectors and CD collectors alike a home to browse and listen to new releases as well as the $1 junk vinyl bins.
Because shoppers are evidently still buying albums from stores, Encore will proudly reopen its doors on 809 E. 6th St., and not just that, they were able to secure one hell of a phone number (512.476.6666).
Embracing the reputation as Austin’s premiere store for buying metal, Encore will reopen with that genre as a focus. To non-fans narrowing the store’s scope may seem like a misstep, but the genre is undoubtedly one of the most expansive in all of music. Though most of the genre can be described as metal, thrashing, mad, or any combination of the three, it is certainly not limited to those three descriptors.
So it is with great pride and hopefulness that we once again see Encore Records open for business. The neon sign shines bright and triumphant, announcing the shop loudly to the neighborhood’s residents... and anyone else passing by shouting, “We are brothers of Metal, fighting more the metal that’s real. Brothers of metal will always be there, standing together with hands in the air.”
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Encore Records is open now and is located at 809 E. 6th St.
