In 2025, you told us you want to hear more about the tapestry of small businesses in your own neighborhoods. The urgency for spreading the word has only increased with a wave of closures recently. Our “Urban Outposts” series is back with a look at businesses along the Chapman Highway corridor. We have a lot of them to talk about, so this is Part I with more to come down the road. Today, we visit Basement Records, Nostalgia South and Ola’s Southern Cuisine 2.
Basement Records (5009 Chapman Hwy)
As a teen in the 1980s, I lived the music of the era (from Prince to Tiffany to Black Flag). Walking into Basement Records reignites a teen impulse of leaving The Record Bar at the Bristol Mall to have Madonna’s name tattooed across my chest. I didn’t (and still haven’t) but record stores take me back to that time and space. Basement Records is owned by Matthew Adkisson, who purchased the shop while trying to build a completely different business. Vinyl albums, CDs, cassette tapes and DVDs line the shelves. Glancing around at the cover art on the records reminds me of how much cooler getting music was in the pre-streaming era.
Adkisson walked me through the benefits of vinyl and going analog, a trend among younger generations of late. He said “the streaming thing is great. Everybody knows it’s convenient. It’s easy, but it’s compressed.” A customer recently told him that he had listened to an album via streaming for years before purchasing the vinyl. He had never heard a banjo part in the background.
Going back to college in his 40s, he was challenged to argue vinyl over streaming for a business class. He simply printed out an online playlist and then the same vinyl album, both from the band Whitesnake. He presented them side-by-side with liner notes and artwork. He observed that “people are wanting to re-interact with their music physically” again.
And interacting, they are. Adkisson sells over 1,000 items per month.
Basement Records sells both new and vintage, used albums. Multiple generations are shopping the store as parents who grew up with analog music are getting their children into the same. Physical media isn’t all that’s being passed down. “I see kids coming in and they want Led Zeppelin. They want the Beatles. They want classics. Rolling Stones,” Adkisson explained. “I do have younger people come in for hip-hop and rap and the Sabrina Carpenters of the world and Billie Eilish.” Vinyl collectors who stopped collecting have also been returning. He counted himself among those who returned to the fold. Never completely straying, he returned to vinyl as it was declining, picking up albums for two dollars…