Thursday Is Record Store Day

I am fortunate to have a very nice source for used jazz records in my hometown of Portland, Maine. At the risk of increasing the competition for scarce LPs, I'll tell you about it.

It's called Enterprise Records. There's not much of a Web site, but here's a link. And here's a pic:

If you plan to be near Portland and you want to visit Enterprise Records, be warned: They're only open four days a week, Thursday through Sunday. I believe the hours are 11 a.m. until 6 p.m. Thursday - Friday,  11 a.m. until 5 p.m. on Saturday, and 1 p.m. until 5 p.m. on Sunday.

Enterprise is run by a Chicago native named Bob Wirtz, known by some as "Friendly Bob," which may or may not be intended sardonically. I have always found him friendly enough, but I admit there is a certain aloofness. Enterprise has been in business in Portland for a long time -- longer than the 15 years I've lived in the area -- in four locations, I think. He's now on the western end of inner Congress Street, just east of the State Street intersection.

I've just found this profile of Bob on the Web site of our local community radio station, WMPG:

Bob Wirtz Profile

(By the way, WMPG is an outstanding radio station; it's too bad their Internet feed is so low-rez it's unlistenable, at least for me, so it's hard to recommend to an Internet audience. And by the way, WMPG his holding their annual record sale this Saturday, on the University of Southern Maine campus)

Here's a map showing where Enterprise is located, from Google Maps:


View Larger Map

I don't know Bob well. He seems to travel a lot, purchase record collections from radio stations and so on. He then seems to sell some of what he buys to buyers -- record stores, maybe -- in Boston. But he keeps his own shop well stocked, and he doesn't sell all the good stuff on eBay like a lot of stores do these days.

One of the best things about Enterprise is that the records are fairly priced, ranging from about $4 (I'm talking jazz here; classical is cheaper) up to about $12. Really collectible stuff is more, certainly, though it's not really a collector's shop. There's a lot of stuff here that's listed in the Goldmine Jazz LP guide, but not much of the real high-end stuff.

The other great thing about Enterprise is that you can count on the quality. Bob doesn't put crappy LPs on his shelves, except in the bargain bins, and that's only a tiny fraction of the inventory. Pick something up in the regular stacks and you can be sure it's good shape.

Today is Thursday, their first open day after three days off, so I'll be sure to  stop buy to see if there's anything new and good. I'm sure I'll find something.