Waterloo Records remastered: Iconic vinyl shop celebrates grand re-opening

AUSTIN (KXAN) — Waterloo Records got remastered and threw a huge party for its re-release.

The famous record shop, which for decades sat at the corner of West Sixth Street and North Lamar Boulevard, finally lowered the needle on its new location Saturday; the soundtrack a mashup of excited shoppers, intermittent announcements about prizes and giveaways, and, of course, music.

Waterloo’s grand re-opening party marked the culmination of months of collaboration and planning among former majority owner John T. Kunz and new co-owners and operators Caren Kelleher and Trey Watson.

The move did something for Waterloo that many Austin institutions don’t get to experience when facing change — it saved the business from closure.

Vacating the shop’s 6th and Lamar location has been looming for a while. That property was sold back in 2019 to Endeavor Real Estate Group, so Waterloo had been facing an imminent closure or relocation. Kunz, who’s now in his mid-seventies, told KXAN back in January that bringing in new business partners to move and transform the store meant that Waterloo could live on.

“The needle that always needed to be threaded with our business was to stay true to our roots, our beliefs, our principals,” said Kunz. “Always follow the music, but continue to change and morph and innovate.”

About a month before the relocation was complete, he said he was ready to pass the torch.

“It’s been a five and a half year process,” he said, referring to the 2019 sale of the building. “I was really fortunate in finding Trey Watson and Caren Kelleher to become my new majority partners in Waterloo Records. And, I think we’re definitely — as I’m fond of saying — on the runway to being able to make sure that Waterloo Records lives on very long after me.”

Kunz said at the time that he was ready to enter “semi-retirement” after the move was complete, but he still plans on being involved with Waterloo.

“In the 52 years I’ve been here in Austin, I’ve seen a lot of institutions that I didn’t want to have go away, go away. And, Waterloo is not going to be one of those,” Kunz said. “And, you know, I’m still involved with the company.”

Kelleher, CEO of Gold Rush Vinyl, said being part of Waterloo’s next chapter is a “once in a lifetime opportunity.” She said she’s been friends with and working with Kunz and Watson, CEO of Armadillo Records, for years.

The way things lined up for the trio to work together through Waterloo was kismet, Kelleher explained.

“I’ve been shopping at Waterloo since my very first trip to Austin in 2005 — it was, in fact, one of the very first places I came when I got off the plane,” Kelleher said. “And I think, like everyone in the community, when I heard that that land had been sold in 2019 I instantly worried, ‘does this mean that’s the end of Waterloo?”

“When Trey and John and I talked about it, we didn’t want to see a world in which Waterloo didn’t exist,” Kelleher said.

“So, finding this space after almost a five-year search for John, and then it lining up with Trey and my interest in buying the business was really kind of the perfect combination,” she added.

Waterloo’s former location at 600 N. Lamar officially closed Sunday. Kelleher said pulling off the move in just five days was incredible, and gave credit and gratitude to the store’s staff.

The new location, at 1105 N. Lamar Blvd, still features Waterloo’s world-class selection of vinyl records, CDs, cassettes, DVDs, and more, but the spot added several features that make it a one-of-a-kind record store, too.

The space brings together the consumer and production sides of vinyl records, plus live music, and a space for creators as well.

“We’re so excited just about the end to end experience,” Kelleher said.

“You’ll still find the amazing selection of music, DVDs, blu rays that the team have been curating for years and that have put Waterloo on the map. You get to see just a little bit more about how music is created, and more of a creator hub too — we have a new podcast studio where people be able to rent out to create interviews and content. In there, we have installed a crazy Dolby Atmos mixing studio, which will also be rentable to the community to do spatial audio mixing,” she said.

There’s also a cafe and a gold record room, which is exactly what it sounds like. There are gold-plated, playable vinyl records on display, and Gold Rush’s gold record machine now lives there, too, so customers can watch the gold plating happen in real time, and even pay to have a record plated themselves.

“We really wanted this new store to be a place that everybody can come to, they can experience music as well as buy it,” she said. “And, you know, like the room we’re standing in here (the gold record room), something that you’ve never seen in a record store before.”