Beloved Los Angeles Record Store Stellar Remnant at Risk of Closure
Beloved Los Angeles Record Store Stellar Remnant at Risk of Closure
October 5, 2020
Sophie St. Clair
Stellar Remnant located in DTLA
Stellar Remnant is an independent record store located in Downtown Los Angeles that has been offering an expertly curated selection of dance music since its opening in 2015. Founded by DJs Ed Vertov and Lena Deen, the store is a thriving community for artists, vinyl lovers, and appreciators of the underground music scene in Los Angeles. However, on Monday, the owners of the beloved record store announced that the shop might be facing closure due to the financial uncertainties posed by the coronavirus pandemic.
Since having to close their doors to the public at the start of quarantine, Stellar Remnant has been faced with serious challenges keeping the store afloat. In a post shared across Stellar Remnant’s social media platforms, the owners asked their patrons to support the store at whatever capacity they could, stating, “We understand everyone suffered in the music scene and elsewhere immensely but we need to keep pushing forward. With your help we hope to do so. There is no place like Stellar Remnant in LA, we worked very hard for you folks, to get to this point and don’t want to close down.”
Shoppers dig through the record bins at Stellar Remnant
Since the announcement at the beginning of the week, the store has started a GoFundMe campaign to raise money to keep the shop in business. On the GoFundMe page, the issues facing the store are discussed in fuller detail: “As the coronavirus crisis progresses in the United States, so does our financial instability which has put the future of the shop in jeopardy. Even though we re-opened our shop this summer, we’re in a difficult situation right now and need your help to pay our accumulated rent debt and our quarterly taxes.” The announcement comes at a time when small businesses everywhere are facing the risk of closure due to the financial stress posed by COVID-19. Undoubtedly, much of the brunt of the economic uncertainty posed by the coronavirus pandemic has been borne by small businesses like Stellar Remnant and the challenges facing these stores to stay open continues to be immense.
However, Stellar Remnant’s plea to the local vinyl-loving community seems to have resonated since the campaign has raised nearly $8,500 since its launch at the beginning of the week. Now that the store is more than three quarters of their way to meeting their GoFundMe goal, it seems that the store may be on its way to keeping its doors open thanks to the love and support of its patrons. If you’d like to support Stellar Remnant or learn more about the cause, the store’s GoFundMe page is linked here.
Sophie St. Clair is a contributing writer at Fault Radio and on air reporter for the national and international news desk of KALX 90.7 FM.