O-Town Vinyl and Collectibles a new adventure for Besser
Jerry Besser poses beside a sampling of the scores of albums he offers at O-Town Vinyl and Collectibles. It’s been nearly a year since the longtime owner of Tone Music set up shop a couple blocks away from the store he owned for 34 years. Besser offers vinyl, CDs, cassettes, DVDs and VHS tapes, as well as electronics and pop culture memorabilia. Staff photo by Kay Fate
After Jerry Besser sold his music store Tone Music in Owatonna, he was faced with a harsh reality.
He had inventory that included vinyl albums and CDs that weren’t sold with the business, and he needed to do something with them.
So opened another business, O-Town Vinyl and Collectibles, shortly after the Tone Music sale went through.
“I was able to find a spot that would work for me on a temporary basis,” Besser explained.
He said he has developed quite the following of customers in southern Minnesota who are interested in his vinyl selection, with many of them still coming to shop at his new location.
“That kind of inspired me to keep going by finding this place,” he said, explaining his new shop is about two blocks away from the old one in downtown Owatonna.
The new business, which opened last August, carries more than just vinyls and CDs.
Besser is a big sports fan, so over the years, he has tucked away a lot of collectibles. In his 70s and looking to downsize, he sells some of those in the store as well.
Besser explained the new owner of Tone Music, veteran Owatonna music educator Mara Schack, converted the area that had housed his vinyl collection into a space for group music lessons, so that wasn’t an option.
“That's why I ended up with this,” he said of the new shop.
Tone Music had been for sale even before COVI-19, Besser said, but he knew it would require the right person to take over the business.
“I knew it would take a certain person to do what we do,” Besser said.
Besser said he hadn’t given much thought into opening up a new shop after selling Tone Music, but he didn’t want to put things in storage and then repeat the cycle of never getting to it.
He said he was fortunate to find a spot in the area, which will be renovated in the near future by a local investment group.
His goal before then is to “dwindle” his inventory, but someone may come along who wants to keep his new business going.
“We will wait to see,” Besser said.
For now, he calls himself “semi-retired” and “having fun at it.”