Nearing 45 years of business, Salzer’s Record store is still Ventura’s go-to store for new, used and hard-to-find albums.

Jim Salzer, owner of Salzer’s Record and Video store, still runs a successful business in selling records even with the slumming economy as well as the rapid advancements in music technology.

He does this with keeping the mind frame of not caring about making money, but giving customers the best service possible.

Salzer always had music in his agenda.

He played in a local band in Chicago, but what started his music business venture was promoting concerts.

He promoted concerts for artists such as Jimi Hendrix, the Doors and the Rolling Stones, just to name a few. He would promote by selling tickets in advance, and with every ticket he gave a free poster.

 Salzer did anything to help a musician get their career started and anything for the music.

“I always liked the idea that the music spoke of social change,” said Salzer.

With a large variety in product, the store has just as much variety in its customer.

Salzer spoke of the college student being his core customer, but there are still third and fourth generation customers and even baby boomers that frequent the store.

“Exclusively they are music people,” Salzer said, “Everything else is pretty superficial.”

The things that Salzer’s is known for is the fact that people can find that one album that is no longer available, exclusive artist merchandise and vinyl records.

Because of the use of turntables and needles, vinyls have become a hot commodity for people such as DJ’s. Salzer favors vinyls because he feels they offer better sound value than any cd, downloador music stream ever could.

“They have the latest and a wide variety,” said Thomas Nunez, a 23-year-old film major at Ventura College. “It’s fun to look around and find stuff there.”

Other than music, the store carries trinkets, gifts, clothing, poster and even smoking pipes.

No matter what it is, it is exclusive to the store.

“I like the different things they have in the store,” said Christina Gonzales, a 20-year-old photography major at Ventura College. “I like to buy jewelry, posters, and crazy lights from there.”

Some of his tactics on keeping his customers satisfied is to keep giving them variety.

His stores not only carry music and videos, but wild and colorful gifts that scream a certain personality. 

Although some gifts seem to be to the extreme, Salzer may come off as the complete opposite.

“I like being low-key instead of forcing things down people’s throat,” said Salzer.                  

(Photo by Channing Chea)