Coleen V.

Coleen V. | Manager

Vinyl Renaissance » Kansas City, Missouri » 39th Street

Years of (Record) Industry Service: 16

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Coleen was sixteen, when on a fluke, she agreed to replace her friend at a job in a record store. She has been in the record industry ever since, at one point owning her own business with her husband out in Shawnee, Kansas. They closed up shop a few years ago. "It was great. It was stressful and everything, but it was a lot of fun," Coleen says with a laugh. "I learned a lot, like to never run a business."

After seven years being her own boss, they decided to give up some of the risk and responsibility. Their lease was up, the economy not so much, and "the way the music industry was going, it was better to close and leave with something." Still, she considers herself, like many of her peers at Vinyl Renaissance, a "record-store lifer."

Coleen lives in the Strawberry Hill neighborhood in Kansas City, Kansas where she says it's great to find old houses. She's lived there for four years now and has had no problems. She acknowledges "the school district isn't great, but the neighbors looks out for each other." She's married to an Australian, who she has to thank for more travel abroad and her passport. When Coleen and her husband go out, they usually go to se a show.

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