By William Smith
Community Editor
Surviving the ebbs and flows of the music industry through five decades of ever-changing mediums takes talent.
More than that, it takes adaptability.
Weird Harold’s in Burlington is celebrating its 50th anniversary this November, and founder Danny Bessine still vividly remembers how he got started.
It wasn’t LPs, which the shop has become famous for. Bessine was selling 8-track tapes.
“I had been in Las Vegas the year before that, and I noticed at the height of 8-track tapes, there were places that sold them for $2.99 and $3.99. When I came back here (Burlington), they were still 10 bucks,” he said.
Bessine smelled money. He knew he could sell 8-track tapes at those prices as well.
The secret was in the copyright.
“This was before current copyright laws. At that time, an independent manufacturer could copy the music, as long as they paid a royalty,” he said. “That law changed shortly after I started my business.”
But Bessine’s foot was in the door of the music industry, and he never took it out.
The Burlington native had worked at Murray Iron Works for six years and was eager to start a new path.
“I started with a little bitty shop, probably 12 by 20,” he said, noting that it was located in the building behind Pride and Groom on Central and Jefferson Streets.
Bessine called it Weird Harold’s from the moment he opened it.
He wanted something that would stand out and was fond of the Weird Harold character from “Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids.”
“We were just in that building for a couple of years,” he said.
“Shortly after that, we moved downtown, and my wife (Deb Bessine) started her art supply store the next block down.”
Not long after that, after a short stint on Marshall Street, Bessine purchased the building at 411 Jefferson Street and helped his wife move her store, The Medium, into the same building during the mid-1980s.
Weird Harold’s and The Medium have co-existed ever since, and this year marks the 45th anniversary of The Medium.
Weird Harold’s record collection has grown extensively over time.
There are more than 50,000 LPs in the store — most of them located in a large room on the top floor.
“Eight-tracks went by the wayside,” Bessine said.
Vinyl records were the dominant means of recording and listening to music for decades until the rise of compact discs in the 1980s nearly crushed the medium. But as CD sales have eroded in recent years in favor of digital downloads and streaming services, vinyl has emerged as a niche market.
“We sell more vinyl than CDs,” Bessine said. “We’ve always sold them, but now we’re seeing this big surge.”
As CD sales trended downward, Bessine added skateboards and other items to the shop. He figured the retro-rise of records would cool eventually, and a new fad would take over.
Instead, records have only gotten more popular. Listening habits have changed — many youths come into the store simply looking for a favorite song they heard on Spotify. But when they find that song on an LP and actually listen to the entire album, something magical happens. A deeper appreciation for music takes hold.
“An album flows like a book. It tells a story,” said Bessine, who prefers classic rock and roll.
A new owner
Three years ago, Bessine sold Weird Harold’s to Andrea Fritz, who has worked at the store since 1994.
Bessine is still in the store every day, helping out with bookwork, but Fritz runs the show.
“When you come to work and it doesn’t feel like a job, you know you’ve found a niche,” Fritz said. “It’s the only job I’ve ever had.”
Ironically enough, Fritz wasn’t looking for a music job, or even a job she thought she would like. She just needed a job — any job.
“Target wouldn’t hire me,” she said with a laugh.
Instead, Fritz spends her days helping customers find what they want, or more likely, pointing them toward the music they are already familiar with.
“Most people know what they want,” Fritz said.
Hanging out with musicians
You can’t own a record store for 50 years without running into a few famous musicians.
Bessine has fond memories of when Guns and Roses was in the store sometime around 1987.
“Their very first tour, their very first date, was Memorial Auditorium, and they were here for a week,” Bessine said. “They would come into the store regularly.”
Fritz had an even more personal interaction with Mary Wilson of The Supremes, who performed at The Washington.
“I told her I worked at the record store. I brought her down here after hours (around 11 p.m.) and she went upstairs and bought every Supremes record that we had, and we mailed them to her house in Las Vegas. “Those records had belonged to a customer who was a huge Diana Ross fan.”
A celebration to come
Fritz and Bessine are planning a 50th-anniversary celebration for November and will release more details when the date gets closer.
For now, though, they want to express their gratitude to the community. The record shop business has not always been easy — particularly during the rise of digital music in the early 2000s, Bessine said.
But records are cool again and have been for more than a decade. Weird Harold’s is the place where you can find that collection of cool, in the middle of what Bessine calls a “thriving downtown.”
“People always say you won’t find places like this in big cities. They say, ‘There are no stores like that in my town. That’s the best record collection I’ve ever seen,’ ” Fritz said.