FLINT, Michigan—After years of having a passion for vinyl and a fairly lucrative side hustle, Brandon Trammell and Jerry Crago have turned the tables on their careers — with a new storefront called Jack’s Record Stache in downtown Flint after obtaining a massive collection packed with 150,000 records.
Walking into Jack’s feels like walking into every classic movie with a record store scene — complete with rustic raw wood bins and a plethora of music posters covering the walls. The duo opened their record store earlier this month at 124 W. First St. in downtown Flint, in a space next to the Flint Local 432 concert venue.
“I think actually we’re really unique in a way that most record shops … you have to dig to find good stuff,” says Trammell. “But this is all stuff that came from a collector, and we both — as we started stocking the shelves — were blown away by the amount of quality of stuff in here.”
While both owners speak passionately about their business (and records in general), they are quick to give credit to the massive gift that allowed them to open a storefront.
“You may notice that my name is Jerry and his name is Brandon, but the name of the store is Jack’s Record Stache,” Crago said. Pointing to a framed picture behind the front counter of an older man, Cargo said: “This is Jack. The deal with that is Jack is he is our friend’s father who passed away a year and a half ago and left him 150 thousand records.”
The friend went into partnership with Cargo and Trammell to open the shop. Every album in the store has a little round sticker on it. A sticker with an X means it is not part of Jack’s collection. A sticker with no marking — the vast majority — means it came from Jack.
The right space opening up was the final serendipitous push.
“We fell into this record collection of Jack’s. This is not our doing. We just got really lucky,” Trammell said.
Before opening the store, both Crago and Trammell had what they refer to as “regular jobs” with Trammell in the automotive industry and Crago working as a teacher and school counselor. Despite holding down full time jobs, the two always had separate businesses doing record shows from Detroit to Grand Rapids. Crago even organized the Flint Record Swap at Factory Two earlier this summer.
Trammell and Crago are both Flint made and they’ve known each other pretty much their entire lives. Their families spent time together and their moms were friends. As they got older, both frequented the downtown Flint punk scene — including attending shows at the original Local 432.
“We are at a spot now where we both could do this, especially going in together,” said Crago, “It meant a lot for us to do it here, sort of a full circle thing.”
They hosted their grand opening Sept. 27 and were overwhelmed with the turnout from friends and community members looking to support the store.
“This city is in our blood,” Trammell said. “It just kind of fell into place. It all just made sense.”
Jack’s Record Stache is teaming up on Oct. 26 with Consolidated Tattoo to celebrate its 20th anniversary with an event in Buckham Alley from noon to 8 p.m. and featuring food, beer, and a 15 percent discount on album purchases.
Jack’s Record Stache is located at 124 W First St. in downtown Flint. It is open 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Saturday. For more information, visit
Jack’s Record Stache’s Facebook page.
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