Record Store Profile: Avenue Records TAS

What is your store called? 
Avenue Records

Where are you located? 
Launceston, Tasmania

Tell us about the people behind the scenes?

The people behind the scenes are also the ones out front – Sam and Wizz (Elizabeth). We’re a small two-person outfit with occasional help from two young lads, Ethan + Joe.

When and why did the store open? 

Avenue Records was born out the already established Mojo Music. We’ve been pushing music since 1992, but Elizabeth and I (Sam) took over in January 2024. Our good friend Callum sold us the business to pursue a career in politics, and Wizz and I couldn’t resist the chance to work in a record store! We are the only ones shifting music in Launceston and so we love the responsibility of catering to the market of young and old music fans alike!

What do your customers most know you for?

We are fun. None of that grumpy, old record store cynicism here! We cater a lot for the punks, goths and emos! Lots of black hoodies and lots of Deftones LPs – keeps them happy!

What is the most popular title you stock at the moment? 

Not a unique answer here: Jeff Buckley Grace & Deftones Around the Fur

What is the most popular evergreen title? 

I’ll assume by evergreen you mean a title that is still as fresh and hasn’t aged? If so, Black Sabbath’s self-titled debut – This thing keeps getting better as Ozzy stumbles on!

What is the best thing about running a record store in 2025?

You get to gather pretty much every cross section of society in one place where they are can all mutually share in something they love. I can’t think of many other workplaces that can so positively link the hardline snob chasing that Japanese pressing of Genesis “before they were popular” and the can’t-resist-a-squeal Taylor Swift fifteen-year-old; we love creating an atmosphere for everyone. We listen to music all day, try and be upset doing that…

What is the hardest thing about running a record store in 2025?

The hardest thing is simultaneously one of the most enjoyable challenges, and that is working out what to order. How can you cater for and represent all those wonderful genres and sub-genres out there? Will people like what we “think” is “good music”? We attended a record conference in Sydney recently whereby a veteran of the game said something that I regard as key: “You don’t get to decide what kind of record store you run, your customers do”. That is wisdom to me, it teaches you to listen to what is trending, to what people want and what people NEED. It’s hard, but it’s fun! You’re curating one enormous playlist for a town/city! How good?!