With a welcome respite from humidity and heat on a Sunday in July, I cruised down to Pittsboro under gray skies to capture photos of the new store All Day Records opened there in December 2025.
Located at 45 West Street, just off the circle coming into downtown Pittsboro, the store is accessed through a main door with a small print shop as an anchor and other small spaces down a hallway. There’s a couch in the hallway and three bins of vinyl before the entrance, where co-owner Charlie Hearon recently held an art show.
At about the six-month mark, sales are growing according to Charlie. Forgivably late on a Sunday, three people who stopped by returned as soon as he opened the doors. The store filled soon after with vinyl lovers.
The main store in Carrboro has been in business for 15 years (112A E. Main Street). Charlie and Ethan Clauset partnered in opening both locations. “Until I met him, I called him ‘Technics guy,’” Charlie recalled, laughing. “I knew Ethan because he had a Technics record bag and I would see him on the Weaver Street lawn.”
He figured Ethan must be into DJ stuff too, a culture they share. Both are dance DJs. “He was selling records out of his house and said, ‘I wanna do a shop.’” That sounded great to Charlie.
The store in Pittsboro is more intimate, with a squarish room upon entering and another room off to one side. That’s where Charlie has his record-cleaning station, among more merchandise. He was busy sticking price tags on a new collection acquired in a trade and running to the other room to ‘wash’ records that needed it.
How did they pick Pittsboro as the next location? “Of the places that aren’t too far to commute to… Hillsborough has an excellent shop [Volume Records & Beer],” Charlie noted. “Lots going on in Durham and it’s getting busier in Pittsboro, so it made sense.”
While All Day Records has a broad range of music available, Ethan and Charlie are some of the few and the first to bring dance music to the famed Chapel Hill and Carrboro music scene. Predominantly favoring indie rock, especially 20 years ago, electronic music was eschewed locally and, even today, is represented less.
“We were in a rock town that has spent a long time diversifying itself,” Charlie mentioned. Ethan and Charlie recognized that their interest in dance music wasn’t as prevalent in the South.
“When I first moved here [1997], you played house music, and everyone would run screaming,” he continued. We both agreed that house is pretty easy to swallow, but it still took time to take its place in the wider local scene.
While in the shop, I spoke with a mother and her teen daughter as they were browsing the bins and shelves, curious about the attraction to physical media. Katy Henderson told me how she looks for records she had as a kid that her mom sold at garage sales. Juno, her daughter, came from the other room with the new Gorillaz album in hand — mom is now a fan.
The Hendersons congregate in one room and share music. They love the sound of vinyl. Juno echoed her mom’s sentiment about the nostalgic aspect of records. Her own record collection began with the Welsh artist Marina. They also stream music.
The conversation brought back memories for me of handling my albums, CDs, and cassettes, fitting them carefully into boxes with every move, and even losing some to a fire. What I realized is that physical media comes with a culture around it. Primarily, we’re fans of the sounds, voices, and lyrics on albums, but the experience doesn’t end there.
Liner notes, album art, the tactile and olfactory experience of peeling open a newly purchased album, waiting for the needle to land, the CD to spin, or the cassette to rewind are richer moments than pressing an arrow on your phone screen. And physical media is collectible.
In the background, Charlie was spinning Sonic Youth’s live Hold That Tiger; on the counter sat the reissued double LP with its white, minimalist cover.
According to Forbes, vinyl sales surpassed $1 billion in 2025. In this century, it was the first calendar year this happened. Perhaps what makes records ‘sticky’ is found in Juno’s observation. She admitted to a kind of digital fatigue and said she likes the “unplugged” authenticity of playing a record.
All Day Records in Carrboro has enough space for live shows and events in the back lot. This won’t be happening in Pittsboro because of space limitations. There may be some surprises in the fall.
Meanwhile, Charlie cautiously mentioned that they might have a lead on a space for Nightlight, another venture he and Ethan used to run. It was shut down four years ago due to faulty plumbing, a bad roof, and increased rent. “We’ve had some teases before, but I very much want to get back in the game.”
Tucked in an alley off Rosemary Street in Chapel Hill, Nightlight provided a space for people to access electronic, experimental, and most of all danceable music. It had a loyal community to support it.
“I feel like there are things that are not happening in our absence,” Charlie emphasized, and mentioned that even today there aren’t local venues for some of the music he and Ethan would like to promote.
All Day Records in Pittsboro is open Thursday-Saturday 11 AM – 5 PM and 12 – 4 PM on Sunday. You can bring in your collection of physical media, including books, and either trade it for a purchase or get cash for it.
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