Vinyl collectors can now peruse a new record store in downtown Opelika thanks to one Auburn woman. Allie Fox, owner of MusicTown Records and a vinyl lover herself, is a Birmingham native who has been living in Auburn for nine years. “I grew up listening to vinyl,” Fox said. “My dad, when I was 5 or 6, gave me money and took me to Charlemagne Records in Birmingham, and he told me I could buy whatever I wanted so I bought ‘The Muppet Movie’ soundtrack, and I still have it.”

Fox said she has been dreaming of owning a record store since she was 12 years old. At that time Fox and a friend were “obsessed” with the 1995 movie “Empire Records,” which first interested them in the record store business. “It was [about] a day in a record store, so it was always this thing that I either wanted to work in a record store or own a record store, and then records went away and CDs went away,” Fox said. “Then vinyl made a comeback, and I was like, ‘All right, this is it. It’s time.’”

According to Fox’s personal research, approximately 1 million records were sold in 2007, and that number has increased to more than 9 million in 2014 in the U.S. alone. Fox said she wants to focus as much on new vinyl as vintage vinyl in her store. She has also talked to a few local artists about selling their CDs at MusicTown Records as a way to help promote their music. Fox said these CDs will be the only ones sold in the store.

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The adjoining room, which Fox calls the “Listening Pit,” is somewhere customers can go to hang out and listen to music playing in the store. She said she also hopes to use the room for live music performances. Before owning MusicTown Records, Fox was a photographer. She said she decided to pursue her dream of opening a record store when her passion for photography began to fade and felt more like work. She now does photography as a hobby and focuses on owning and running her record store. “The best part is that, honestly, I am my own boss and I’m listening to cool music all day,” Fox said. “I have record labels that send me promo stuff that we play here in the store.” Fox said she also loves being located in downtown Opelika. “The best thing about downtown Opelika is that we all promote each other because it’s all locally-owned businesses; it’s all family-run,” Fox said. “I know half the people that own the businesses down here. It’s one of those that it’s nice to have that kind of community where everybody just kind of shares everything.”

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