For the record: Salt Lake store owners record their fondness for vinyl

SALT LAKE CITY — Phoenix residents Anna and Chris Brozek sold their home in 2006 after visiting Utah and falling in love with its biggest city, its beauty and terrain and its varied, but mild, weather.

Without jobs in place, the music-loving couple used a second mortgage to purchase a branch of their favorite independent record store and packed it all up in two big moving trucks. In July of that year, they used posters, inventory and even hand-written indexing systems from the Arizona store Stinkweeds to set up shop in Salt Lake City on Broadway and about 200 East.

Slowtrain has since become a downtown hot spot for the young indie crowd, even selling tickets to rock shows at nearby clubs such as the Urban Lounge.

"I just think they're really positive, trying to bring people to music," said Jillian Nasabal, who attended the first live recording in the store's basement Tuesday night Aug. 3.

The store has joined groups such as Utah's Own and the Salt Lake Arts Alliance in order to keep business strong. They also manage all of the merchandise for the popular Thursday night Twilight Concert Series at Pioneer Park.

"Having a record store is never easy, even in a good economy," Anna Brozek said. "We got creative to keep and get new customers."

None of the community-focused efforts have brought in big dollars, but they've brought in enough new customers to keep the store viable, she said. "It all comes back around, and we're finding that if you work hard, things just start going."

Things like the record label just launched by 29-year-old couple. Slowtrain Records is one of a handful of small labels in Utah, alongside names such as Kilby Records, Pseudo Recording and Octopus Records, all of which Slowtrain sells.

The new label is a throwback to vinyl — colored records already have been paid for by fans and are on their way. They will be sold alongside compact discs. The concept, to fund a record launch using only presales, is a new idea for the record shop.

"We have no money," Anna Brozek said, laughing.

Russ Isabella, who grew up on vinyl, brought his son, Adam, to watch Tuesday's recording of the Dave Williams Band.

"I feel strongly about wanting to support the effort," he said. "It will do a lot for the local music industry."