JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — For two years James Siboni’s been asking friends from across the world to sell him their old records.
The Jacksonville musician, 34, hounded trade shows, concerts, Instagram posts and more, stockpiling a collection of indie, punk, ’80s New York hardcore and more.
“I just became known as the guy who will buy your records,” Siboni said. “Everything I could afford, I’d buy, as long as it wasn’t [awful].”
Now — about 7,000 albums later — he’s ready to share his collection.
Friday, Tiger Records in Riverside, opened its secondhand record shop focusing mostly on punk and hardcore, but still offering pop, hip hop, jazz and more.
“I’m trying to fill in all the holes,” Siboni said.
It’s on Stockton Street at the old Inksmith & Rogers Tattoo location.
The opening comes at the height of a resurgence in vinyl’s popularity. According to a report by the Recording Industry Association of America, records are expected to outsell CDs this year for the first time since 1986.
Tiger Records marks the city’s second new record shop to open this year. In July, Eraser Records opened in Murray Hill on Edgewood Avenue. Both shops join older spots including DJs in Westside, Yesterday and Today in San Marco, Wolfson Equipment and Records on University Boulevard and Young, Loud, and Snotty in Mayport.
“I just want to be the record store that everybody wants,” Siboni said. “I’ve got a lot of indie rock and punk, but if the only thing selling here is Lady Gaga, then I’ll sell only Lady Gaga.”
Records range in price from $1 — with about eight bargain bins chock-full of everything from Lou Reed to Manilow — to $1,000.
The highest marked item in the shop right now is a 7-inch old hardcore compilation put out by Revelation Records on a rare, neon orange colorway. It features prominent artists like Youth of Today, Warzone and Gorilla Biscuits.
Right now on the floor, Siboni says there are roughly 5,000 records and 75 percent of them are secondhand.
“I think it’s cooler,” he said. “I love going through boxes of old records.”
But while Siboni admits enjoying the hunt, when the shop was being built he considered those who weren’t as excited to parse through records for hours — including his girlfriend.
Siboni says his girlfriend, Myra Oh, a prominent Jacksonville-based black and gray tattoo artist, inspired the shop’s sitting area at the front of the store.
“I needed to include a seating area because whenever I drag Myra to a record store, she complains that there’s no place to sit while I’m digging through records for hours,” Siboni said. “So the seats are the designated boyfriend and girlfriend area. There’s a TV too, so no one’s ever bored.”
Oh, 34, and Siboni are listed as co-owners of the record shop. They also co-own Oh’s tattoo shop, Swan, in the San Jose area.
“But we don’t interfere with each other’s projects,” he said. “Now, we each have our own.”
In addition to vinyl, Tiger Records also sells cassettes, turntables and equipment, new band shirts and old tour T-shirts as well. The store operates in a buy-sell-trade format, with Siboni encouraging people to bring him anything from retro merch to old show flyers.
For Siboni, who was one of the bass players for Bane, the popular hardcore band, and is currently in the local punk band Gimme, selling records seemed like a natural progression.
“Bane impacted this heavily,” he said. “So many friends I know from the band were huge into buying records at the time and a lot of them from that era are now liquidating their collection.”
“It’s kind of sad,” Siboni reflected before shrugging it off, “f--- that, I’ll never do that.”
He continued, “my friend said the great stores always last and the stores that are less awesome don’t make the cut. All I gotta do is make it awesome and we’ll be able to stick around.”
Tiger Records is located at 875 Stockton St. and is open daily from 12 p.m. to 8 p.m.
