LYNNWOOD — Longtime independent record store Silver Platters opened last week in Lynnwood, bringing thousands of vinyl records, CDs and Blu-ray movies as well as rock ‘n roll memorabalia.
The new location replaces the Northgate store in north Seattle, which was displaced to make way for construction of the new light rail line.
Owner Mike Batt looked at several buildings from Seattle north before deciding on the store at 3715 196th St. SW next to the Lynnwood Convention Center in the old Hancock Fabrics site.
As part of its business model, Silver Platters offers a wide selection of items from new releases to rare-to-find items like a Blu-ray copy of Metropolis only playable on certain Blu-ray players.
“We try to be everything to everyone,” Batt said. “You can’t make it today on just the best sellers. We literally have hundreds of thousands of items that we sell only one of each year.”
In order to display so much inventory, Batt needed a location with at least 8,000 square feet. The Lynnwood store offers 10,500 square feet of space.
The store, which will employ 11 people, also needs parking since it draws customers from a radius of 10 to 12 miles, Batt said. One of the advantages of the location is a lot of loyal customers had already been coming from south Snohomish County.
“It was surprising to me the number of people who said, ‘You’re moving up there? Oh you’ll be closer to me,’” Batt said.
The store buys and sells used records and albums. It’s unofficial motto is “sell us your music and buy ours,” Batt said.
The building in Lynnwood is owned by the Lynnwood Public Facilities District, which has promised to revamp the facade of the store in the next couple of months.
Silver Platters opened in 1985 in Bellevue. The business has operated several stores around the Puget Sound area. Three are open now — the Lynnwood location, one in the Sodo neighborhood of Seattle and a third in Bellevue.
(The Bellevue location earlier this year moved from Crossroads Mall to the Northtowne Shopping Center by QFC at 2616 Bellevue Way NE, Bellevue.)
Silver Platters stores have held small concerts and brought in artists to meet fans and sign albums. Batt said he’ll try to do the same for the Lynnwood location. But he cautioned that many musicians when they’re in the area perform in downtown Seattle and their time is limited. He said it already was hard to get musicians to travel to the Northgate store.
He said he’s been a strong supporter of Record Store Day, the third Saturday in April where fans and artists celebrate independent record stores. And they’ve done well with what is called Record Store Day presents Black Friday, getting fans to show up the day after Thanksgiving.
He said he may connect with local musicians in the area to perform in the Lynnwood store and would like to see what his customers want.
“Lynnwood is still new to me,” Batt said. “I’ve got to make the connections. I’ve got to learn the community.”
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