In August it will be two years since long-time customer and music enthusiast Bart Roberts purchased Sweet Spot Audio & Records in suburban Webster from previous owners Steve Laufer and Stuart Skeeter; they  were loyal patrons as well who had purchased the record shop from original owners Nigel and Cathy Harrison who founded it back in 2010.

Roberts says that he was interested in buying Sweet Spot from the Harrisons the first time the store was up for sale, as he loved the idea of owning a record store even though he admits he thought the idea was a little crazy since he had never even worked in a record store before. When the opportunity arose a second time Roberts made his dream come true.

"Two and a half years go by and they're about to sell, or they announce that they're going to sell and I decide, okay I've got to do it this time," explains Roberts. "I don't want to regret not having at least tried it you know? And it was a good time then for me and it really worked out for the best."

"This is my full-time job," adds Roberts. "I hesitate to call it a job because it's the greatest thing in the world."

Roberts has had some interesting gigs in the past before becoming a record shop owner; he worked in television news as a news photographer at KPRC Channel 2 here in Houston covering breaking news stories all over the city and around the state and then did some video production work. He also taught video production at Dickinson High School before leaving to buy the store and he says he has no regrets in doing so.

I have to admit I'm a bit surprised about the resurgence of vinyl records; I have a small vinyl collection myself and it does seem like they sound better than the streaming format of music that the majority of people now listen to. It's just so much easier and less expensive to listen to music online but the true believers are not deterred.

"There was a period when it (vinyl) really did decline and it was on its last leg and I think that was about the time I was getting back into it," explains Roberts. "I bought records as a teenager and then of course CDs were around but they were so much more expensive but then they weren't so bad so I got into CDs but I never got rid of my vinyl records. And people still continue to return to it or get introduced to it because there's something about having a record."
"You can stream and that's convenient and records can be very inconvenient. They take up a lot of space, you have to take care of them, but I think people like to have something tangible and you have the artwork on the covers, the inner sleeves will sometimes have the lyrics, and part of the artist's story is right there, you know? It continues to increase in popularity but it's been doing that for awhile and hopefully it just continues."

Roberts says that people continue to bring in used vinyl for sale every week into the store as has been the case continually since at least as far back as 2016 (and probably earlier) when I chatted with original owner Nigel Harrison and he said the same thing; in preparation for this article I sent a copy of the story I did with Harrison to Roberts and he expressed amazement that nothing has changed in that regard. People just never stop bringing in used vinyl for others to enjoy.

"Record stores I think a lot of times reflect the neighborhoods they're in and this is a very suburban record store and it has a lot of classic rock," explains Roberts. "Of course most of the stuff is used, the used records are probably ninety to ninety-five percent of what I have; I have some new stuff and I'm trying to get some more new things."

Like under the previous owners, Sweet Spot continues to sell both new and used audio equipment on which to play the vinyl; Roberts makes the very important point that in order to get the best listening experience with it you need a quality record player and speakers.

"You know, I think you can't beat a really well-produced record on really clean vinyl on a good system. It's like a chain, all those links; if one of those links is not so good the experience won't be as great," says Roberts. "I do believe vinyl sounds better. I've played records in here for people and they're like 'that doesn't sound like that on my record player,' so it matters what your equipment is. And that's one reason why we still sell equipment."

Roberts expresses amazement that some people will spend forty to fifty dollars on a brand new pressing of a record and then maybe twice that on a record player and then it will skip around because of the poor quality of the player.

"I often hesitate and I still haven't figured out the best way to say 'okay your record player is awful and you need a new one'," laughs Roberts. "And not because I wan't to sell them a new one I just want them to enjoy the experience more."

Sweet Spot does have you covered if you want to go that route though.
"Some people don't want to go with the whole big system with the big floor speakers, they want something smaller or to kind of work with what they have. We have speakers that will hook up to the record player and it will be an analog connection but also there's a bluetooth built-in so if they want to stream their phone to the speakers they can do that to. But the vintage stuff I always recommend it if you can do it because receivers, amplifiers, in the 1970s and 1980s-they really knew what they were doing and they got it down to something special I think."

The store does have a listening station where customers can try out any albums that are not sealed to see if they like it before buying it and Roberts will sometimes play stuff on the house system on request; there is always some record playing regardless as you would expect in any record store.

There is a real friendly community vibe in the store that is welcoming to new people and frequent customers alike at Sweet Spot, and Roberts says that the benefit of browsing in his store in person as that fellow customers will help each other out by answering questions and recommending music to each other. Or you can just quietly dig through the record bins all by your lonesome which can be a fun thing to do for introverts and everyone really.

Another cool option is every Friday Sweet Spot has a "Live At Five" show on their Facebook page where people can shop from the comfort of their homes or anywhere else they choose to; Roberts picks out twenty albums each week for the Facebook sale and people can reserve what album they want by claiming it in the comments and then go pay for it and pick it up later at the store. They even do some additional live sales shows besides the weekly Friday five minute show so follow them on Facebook to keep up with the latest of new to the store vinyl if this sounds interesting to you.

I do think that it's important to support local small business owners and visit places like Sweet Spot and support them financially; the added benefits of physically visiting this record shop is that they have some interesting artwork for sale from a local guy, some cool posters on the walls, and even a fun set of mannequin heads that were originally from a store in The Galleria that were donated by a customer and they have been painted up in KISS makeup by a friend of Roberts after a suggestion from his daughter.

Last but not least Sweet Spot has an old jukebox that contains 45 RPM single vinyl records that customers can play for free;I think that is really unquie since we don't really see too many of these old record jukeboxes around anymore and I'm certain some younger music fans have never seen one outside of old movies.

"I try to welcome everybody in and I just want them to know that I'm glad that they're here and I hope that I can get them something that will make them happy," concludes Roberts.  "I have the greatest job in the world; I get to bring joy and happiness to people through music."

Sweet Spot Audio & Records
16960 Highway 3 North
Webster 77598
281-338-7768
sweetspotaudiorecords.com

Store Hours:
Wednesday to Friday Noon to 6 p.m.
Saturday to Sunday 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Closed Monday and Tuesday