Vinyl Lovers Rejoice! Wax Bodega Opening This Weekend In Lakewood

LAKEWOOD, OH — Kyle and Lauren Roeger have been busy the past several weeks preparing the space at 13339 Madison Ave. in Lakewood for the area's newest vinyl record store — Wax Bodega. In fact, if you've walked down Madison Avenue recently, you may have seen them hard at work with their dog Cali running around the store and their daughter, Dylan, waving at passersby from inside her Pack 'n Play perched in the storefront window.

When Kyle's day job as marketing director for Alternative Press brought the family to Lakewood from New York, it was easy for them to recognize that the Madison Avenue area in Lakewood was an up-and-coming neighborhood and the ideal place to open a brick-and-mortar shop. The Roegers liked the area so much, they purchased a home in Lakewood, which they will be closing on soon.

Wax Bodega actually started out online at WaxBodega.com before he and his partner, Josh Martin (the bassist of The Wonder Years) decided to ramp up to a brick-and-mortar store. "We had distribution in Philadelphia and a fulfillment company handling online orders," he said.

Roeger has family in the Cleveland area and is familiar with the live music scene on Madison, citing that Wax Bodega works closely with BravoArtist, an agency that puts on a lot of the shows at Mahall's just to the east of their store. "It's kind of cool because a lot of the bands that we carry are playing just a block away," he said.

Roeger noted that Cleveland already has several great record stores, but he feels that Wax Bodega will differentiate itself from the others by catering to more of a niche market, like the indie and punk rock scene. Already, there is buzz surrounding the opening. Roeger said that kids had been stopping by the store to pick up tickets for the Aaron West and the Roaring Twenties private show happening prior to the official grand opening.

"The excitement that the kids have is really awesome, I hear a lot of comments like, 'Man, you guys have the records that none of the other stores have,' which is exactly what we want to do, I'm very happy with that," Roeger told Patch.

In addition to vinyl records, Roeger says that the store plans to showcase local art. He said he's "trying to not only highlight the musicians but also the artists that are involved in the community as well," adding that he's spoken to several local photographers and wants to hang up some of their photos from the shows to create a "more of a rounded-out expression of the music community, especially here in Cleveland."

The Roegers said they are looking forward to getting the shop up and running, closing on their house in Lakewood and getting settled so they can do some exploring and check out some shows, like the Brite Winter festival that happened on the West Bank of the Flats over the weekend.

Initially, the hours at the store will probably be Tuesday through Saturday, but Roeger said they will be flexible to open at other times if they notice trends in traffic at the store. "Right now, we just want to see when people want to show up and when they want to shop, and then we'll cater to that," he said.

Wax Bodega opens this Saturday, Feb. 25, with a private performance by Aaron West and the Roaring Twenties (tickets required) from noon to 2 p.m. The store will open to the public following the show.

Follow @WaxBodega on Twitter and at its Facebook page, Wax Bodega.

Photos by Rick Uldricks/Patch