Dusty Groove America

Behind the Counter: Dusty Groove America (Chicago, IL)

Located at 1120 N. Ashland Ave. in Chicago, Dusty Groove America is one of the nation’s top independent record stores. What started with “a few college DJs at WHPK, 88.5 FM on the south side of Chicago” is now a vinyl mecca with an up-to-the-minute online store, specializing in hard-to-find reissues. In a recent Q&A for ALARM, owner Rick Wojcik answered a few questions and selected a few of Dusty Groove’s top CD reissues (pictured below).
 

Gene Shaw Quintet: Breakthrough
Gene Shaw Quintet: Breakthrough

Which albums has your store sold the most over the past month?

It’s not like we have any real “hits,” since we don’t sell much contemporary music, like indie rock, which would make it easier to talk about in terms of big records that have defined a season. Every day we add hundreds of different new titles to the racks, usually just one copy at a time, so we’re less likely to have this sort of focus than other stores.