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Easy Street Records is an independent record store located in Seattle, Washington. Easy Street operates two stores - the first, located in West Seattle, opened in 1988; the second, in the Queen Anne neighborhood followed in 2002. The West Seattle location is also home to a cafe/bar, which serves coffee, breakfast, lunch and beer & wine. Both locations host live in-store performances by national and local musicians; the cafe occasionally hosts art exhibitions, plays and a flea market. The stores carry new and used CDs, vinyl records, DVDs, new books, magazines and company-branded merchandise. In 2010, Rolling Stone named Easy Street as one of the 25 best record stores in the USA.

History

Owner/President Matt Vaughan worked at two different record stores during his teen years. In 1987, with both stores ready to go out of business simultaneously, Vaughan approached both owners and offered to consolidate the two stores into one. Vaughan opened Easy Street Records in the business district of West Seattle (known as "The Junction") in 1988 and the following year moved the store to its current location on the primary corner of the Junction in the historic Hamm Building. In 1999, he leased the space next door (previously a coffee shop), installed a kitchen and bar, and by 2001 had opened a full-service cafe. The following year he opened the much larger Queen Anne store.

In-Store Performances

The larger store provided the extra room Vaughan needed to build a stage and soon national touring artists began performing there, including Lou Reed, Elvis Costello, Kings of Leon, Patti Smith, Paul Westerberg, Franz Ferdinand, Robyn, Jack Johnson, Jurassic 5, Wanda Jackson, Steve Earle, Regina Spektor, John Doe, Dick Dale, My Morning Jacket and many others. Easy Street is a strong supporter of Northwest artists, and has hosted in-store performances by Mudhoney, The Shins, Cave Singers, Brandi Carlile, Shabazz Palaces, Moondoggies, Damien Jurado, Presidents of the USA, Jesse Sykes, Band of Horses, Visqueen and Blue Scholars, to name but a few. To date, the two stores combined have hosted over 500 in-store performances.

Pearl Jam Live At Easy Street

April 25, 2005 was the biggest day in the history of Easy Street. The store was scheduled to host an independent record retailers convention and Pearl Jam guitarist Mike McCready felt the band could do something special as a "thank you" gesture to these retailers. Vaughan proposed a surprise, invite-only in-store performance at the intimate West Seattle location. On 4/25, the retailers were bussed to the West Seattle store for what was described as a "work party." The band appeared, much to everyone's surprise, and proceeded to play a special set for the crowd of 200. Pearl Jam later agreed to release a special EP of the highlights from the show. Titled Live At Easy Street, its two pressings have completely sold out, and is the store's biggest selling record to date.

Wall Murals

Easy Street is well-known for its large (20 feet at Queen Anne store) colorful murals of album covers on its stores' exterior walls. Hand-painted by artist Glenn Case, the murals are regularly updated with covers of the most recent music releases.

Easy Street is a member of the Coalition of Independent Record Stores (CIMS) [link].

Locations

West Seattle Store - 4559 California Ave SW - Seattle, WA - 98116 [link to map]

Queen Anne Store - 20 Mercer St - Seattle, WA - 98109 [link to map]

External links

Official website

Easy Street Records on Facebook

Easy Street Records on Twitter

Seattle Weekly interview with owner Matt Vaughan (2007)

The Stranger interview with owner Matt Vaughan (2010)

Interview with owner Matt Vaughan on Matador Records website

Rolling Stone review of Pearl Jam's Live At Easy Street (9/21/2006)

Rolling Stone - "The Best Record Stores in the USA"

Time.com - "Record Store Day: 10 Great American Record Shops"

Easy Street page on the Coalition of Independent Record Stores website