SHOP
At left: Record Krate owner Kirk Adams
ON THE RECORD A passion for treasure hunting drives this hidden store by WILL LINGO
“H
photography by EAMON QUEENEY
ello, vinyl champions . . . ” So begins a video of Kirk Adams hauling out his latest stash of records to share with devotees on Instagram and YouTube. He flips through the albums, describing each briefly, knowing the people will come—which may not be as easy as you’d expect. Record Krate’s address is on Saint Mary’s Street, but from the street you’ll see nothing but beauty salons. Seasoned veterans know that around back there’s a door that opens the gateway to record heaven. Adams has thousands of vinyl records (not to mention the cassettes, CDs, DVDs, video games and some other stuff you just have to see to believe), and over the last five years, he has gradually 62 | WALTER
taken over the entire lower level of the building, after starting in just a couple of rooms. Adams says he’s been a self-described vinyl champion for most of his life. He remembers his aunt letting him listen to her records, and Chapel of Love by the Dixie Cups struck an immediate chord. While the rest of the world moved on to cassettes, then CDs and purely digital media, his love never wavered. Adams grew up in Raleigh and made his way as an artist and an art teacher, but he never limited his passion to visual arts. “Art and music always go together for me, because art is music and music is art,” he says. Adams believes art is to be enjoyed, not acquired and filed away. He’s a hunter, not a collector. He wants to find cool records and listen to them,
