http://archive.columbiatribune.com/2004/may/20040501busi002.asp
GRAND OPENING: NEW BUSINESS IN COLUMBIA
APOP Records
Published Saturday, May 1, 2004
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| Jenna Isaacson photo |
| Dustin Newmon and Tiffany Minx |
● Owners: Tiffany Minx and Dustin Newmon
● Address: 807 Locust St.
● Telephone: 449-2223
● Nature of service offered: APOP sells new and used records, CDs, books, tapes, magazines and other "strange things."
● Opening: April 23
● Hours: 11 a.m.-9 p.m. everyday
● Costs: New CDs range from $9-$16, and used CDs range from $1-$11 with the average price about $6. Books range from 50 cents to a few dollars. Minx said the collectible books she offers are more expensive. The store also buys and trades used records, books and CDs.
● Reason for location: "I strolled around this summer and called people, and everything was really expensive," Minx said. "I saw this one, and for kind of a weird little record store, it’s perfect. You don’t want anything too seamless and perfect. I don’t think that would be our style."
● Owners’ experience: Both Minx and her co-owner boyfriend Newmon are former radio show hosts at KCOU, the student-run radio station at the University of Missouri – Columbia. Her radio show was called "Blits and Bleeps" and his was "Apopsis." Newmon is getting an undergraduate degree in microbiology and used to rent out space in another downtown record store, Whizz, to sell his records. Minx is a former employee of Uprise Bakery. Both Minx and Newmon grew up with music-loving parents. "It’s just one thing that means a lot to me," Minx said. "If I was ever going to open up a business, it would have something to do with that. He likes to collect weird and strange things you can’t find anywhere else."
● Clientele: Minx said the store’s mix of new and old records makes it versatile. "We don’t want to just cater to snobs and mainstream audiences," Minx said. "We want to have something for everyone."
● Origin of name: The two named the store APOP as a play off of the name of Newmon’s former radio show. Minx said Apopsis is a biology term that Newmon thought sounded catchy. "It sounds good when you say it," she said. "To me, it sort of resembles the coexistence of the accessibility and charm of pop music and the anti-thesis, which are the things that aren’t accessible by all people."
● Customer appeal: "I think we provide a pretty good service," Minx said. "I can empathize with not being able to find that kind of music in a smaller town. I’m not too worried about other places as competition. We get a different kind of audience."
● Why take the plunge now: Minx said the building space became available, and the couple recently got about 800 records at a cheap price, so the time seemed right. They had tossed around the idea for about the past five months. "I thought, what can we do with this? I don’t want to be a record collector all my life. I want to share this stuff. I mean, why wait?"
● Future plans: The two want to gather more records and other merchandise. "It would be nice to grow out of the building," Minx said. "But I don’t think that’s necessarily in the plans right away. The store is something we want to nourish and see how it goes."
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