KERNERSVILLE, N.C. — As the sound of un-boxing, price punching, sorting and taping rings throughout a small room in downtown Kernersville, Jon Witteveen’s smile reaches to the end of his face.

That small symphony might not sound like much to you, but to Witteveen, it’s like music to his ears. No pun intended.

“It changed my life,” he said.

 
         What You Need To Know
  • Vinyls are seeing a huge resurgence

  • They now account for over 50% of all physical copies of music

  • Jon Witteveen has been wanting to go into the music industry for more than 40 years

‘It’ being music. One specific song to be exact.

“In the late 80s, I was introduced to alternative rock and my cousin actually brought a cassette down from Michigan, from a college radio station,” Witteveen said. “She played me a song by the Dead Milkmen.”

The music industry hooked him. You can even see it in the way he accessorizes as he sports a pair of sleek silver glasses.

“There’s a rock and roll connection,” Witteveen said with a laugh. “There’s a band that you may remember named Devo. The singer is a guy named Mark Mothersbaugh and he did a line of eyewear. These are one of his frames.”

He’s been wanting to go into the music industry pretty much since that first record he listened to. He played in a few bands, but nothing seriously materialized until about 40 years later when he opened Whoa!Tone records in Kernersville.

“It’s always just drawn me in and, I don’t know, I’m an album guy,” Witteveen said. “I can listen front to back.”

The store he runs seems to be doing pretty well, even though it’s only open on Fridays and Saturdays.

“At the store, I’ve noticed steady growth here,” he said. “You know, like new people every weekend.”

In fact, Witteveen isn’t alone. Once nearly obsolete, over the past ten years, vinyls have seen a huge resurgence in sales. In 2011, the vinyl industry sold about 4 million copies. In 2021, that number swelled to nearly 42 million.

Records went from accounting for just under 2% of all physical music sales to more than 50%.

“I don’t have sales history, to say, ‘I’m selling more,’” Witteveen said. “I know I’m selling a lot.”

Whether it’s ownership of actual music because of streaming, the artwork or just the rise of vintage materials, more people were heading to the record stores.

“I’m shipping, you know, at least four to five records a day. On the weekends, between Saturday and Monday morning, I might have between 10 and 20 packages to ship out Monday morning,” Witteveen said. “I mean, you go to Target. Target has a record aisle now.”

He called himself a furniture guy, but his real passion is the record store. Witteveen said instead of playing golf on the weekends, you can find him in downtown Kernersville.

“Technically, you can say, I’m going here to work, but this isn’t work,” he said.

For him, every record sold is better than a swing on the course.