Entering Stormy Records is a blast from the past.

Records are plastered to the storefront windows and posters of Miles Davis and David Bowie hang on the walls. Sift through the massive record collection and you'll find artists ranging from Etta James, ZZ Top and Parliament Funkadelic to the Sugarhill Gang.

In their store nestled between Mekkah Islamic Superstore and Bridal House Fashion on the east side of Dearborn, owners Windy Weber and Carl Hultgren have been supplying music lovers with a healthy dose of used vinyl, CDs and cassettes for 20 years.

Along with retro artists, the store offers new releases as well, but it won't be anything from Taylor Swift or Ed Sheeran. Stormy Records specializes in genres such as experimental and ambient music, underground pop and avant jazz.

"It is easier to sell music that you are more familiar with," said Weber. "We don't tend to listen to mainstream artists. We listen to a lot of strange and unusual music, and if that's what we know about, we can help people with discovering that."

All about the music

Weber has been working at record stores since she was 16 years old. She said she started at a national chain, then a Michigan chain and family-owned stores after that. She offered Hultgren his first record store job while she was working at a Dearborn shop, Desirable Discs, in the early '90s, where he became a record cleaner.

By the late '90s, the couple were ready to have their own business, and they opened Stormy Records on July 23, 1999.

"I felt like, if I had my own store, I could offer something that the area needed," said Weber. "Carl was totally all for it because, you know, who wants a boss?"

When the store first opened, a majority of the music was on CD, because they were popular at the time, said Weber.

However, over time, Weber and Hultgren have built up their used record collection, with vinyl now overtaking CDs. According to the shop's website, Stormy Records has over 10,000 45s and 20,000 LPs spanning from the 1950s to the present.

"These records are our bread and butter, " said Hultgren. "We still sell some CDs and cassettes along the way, but the majority of sales is definitely used records. We're fortunate enough to be in a town that has a really nice variety of music that people are always looking to get some extra money for, or people move away and they don't wanna take their records with them."

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The two usually receive records from customers, or from people who see their sign outside the store or look on the shop's Facebook page.

"People will call us and say, 'I have these old records,' which is very funny because 'old' really depends on who you are and what your own life is like," said Weber. "For someone who's 20, old records might be from the early 2000s. Whereas someone who's 50 who says 'I have these old records,' those records are gonna be old. So we always have to ask people lots of questions. And then people bring the records in, hand them over and we decide what we can use."

While Weber and Hultgren enjoy running their own store, it does not mean things have been smooth sailing. The store's current location at 13306 Michigan Avenue is their sixth spot in the 20 years they have been in business.

Hultgren said they shared their first location with an acquaintance that operated a barbershop. The roof often leaked and the person Weber and Hultgren gave their rent money to was pocketing it instead of giving the money to the landlord.

When the two moved to a space in west Dearborn in 2001, they soon found out the building had mold, and Weber became sick for almost two years because of the fungus. After a year and half at that location, the building was sold and the new owner raised the rent. Weber and Hultgren could not afford the new amount, so they were kicked out.

Weber said the main reason why she and Hultgren have moved around so many times is landlords not handling a building properly.

"We have found that the business in a space seems to have more rules and regulations than for whoever owns the building, and that's been sort of weird to navigate," said Weber. "You can't sell paper-based goods when there's water pouring through the roof."

However, Weber and Hultgren are satisfied with where they are now.

"The people who own this building now, we're happy with them, the building is in good shape, we like it," said Weber with a laugh.

20 years strong

To celebrate Stormy Records' 20th anniversary, Weber and Hultgren hosted a party at the store Saturday.

The couple agreed they could not see themselves doing anything else besides selling records. Weber and Hultgren enjoy discovering and selling the rare records they come across as well as having the chance to know their dedicated customers.

"We have been really lucky through the 20 years we have been open to have made good friends with the number of people who come in," said Weber. "We know their names and their kids' names and their pets' names, what they do for a living. We have these wonderful conversations about records that we love and bands we've seen. The community aspect of what we do has been really rewarding. It's sort of like being a caretaker of a community. We look out for everybody."