A lasting legacy: Randy’s Records founder dies at 83

SALT LAKE CITY — The man behind Randy’s Records, Utah’s longest-running record shop, has died. Randy Stinson was 83 years old.

The beginning of Randy’s Records

Randy Stinson’s love for records started back in the late 50s when he bought his first vinyl, a copy of “Sleepwalk” by Santo & Johnny on a 45.

A decade later he was drafted into Vietnam. He came back a decorated soldier, with a dream to start an “oldies” record shop.

Randy’s Records opened its doors on Oct. 13, 1978. It became a music lover’s beacon. DJs collected vinyls from the store in the 90s and producers would dig through the records for samples.

Vinyl collectors say they could bring in a list of albums, and Randy would help them find them. It survived the shift towards CDs and now, the streaming age.

A staple in Utah

It’s the oldest independent record shop in Utah. The Travel Channel once listed it as one of the top visited record stores in America.

“You’re in a room that’s part of history, you know, as part of Salt Lake history,” said James Ramirez a local DJ who still uses vinyls in his sets.

Randy sold the shop to his son, Samuel Stinson in 2019, after he retired.

“We’re very fortunate. We’re very supported by the local community in the city. People [who] come from out of town also love to shop here,” Samuel Stinson said.

The shop isn’t just for collectors and vinyl aficionados, many Utahns say their very first records came from Randy’s over the past 46 years.

Ramirez said his collection started with Randy’s dollar sales.

“I just remember back in the early 2000s going to the dollar sales and getting really cool records and discovering really cool things for a dollar a piece – getting things that you want to add to your collection. That might be a little bit beat up, condition-wise, but at least now you have a copy and that’s just something that they did for so long in the city,” Ramirez said. “No other record shops really did that and or offered that.”

It’s a sale that still happens quarterly. Record lovers say it’s a great way to find some gems that are worth more than their discounted price.

After Randy’s death, Reddit flooded with loving farewells. Users shared notes about how Randy’s has impacted their lives – a place for vinyl splurges, a date night spot or a frequent road trip from Pocatello.

Connecting people with music at Randy’s Records

Randy told KUAA in a 2018 interview that his goal was to find records that people love and put them on turntables. That’s something that he struggled with before he opened the shop.

He was spinning records at the Bongo Lounge, a club that has been in Salt Lake City since the 50s.

“Because of the Bongo Lounge, not having all the songs… we’d only have 90 – maybe 95% of the songs and I wanted to have them all and I couldn’t get them,” Randy said in 2018. “And so I thought ‘Boy, I’d like to open up my own record store and be able to get those records.’”

Samuel Stinson told KSL NewsRadio the shop’s mission has been connecting people to music, something his dad had always gone out of the way to do.

“I think his legacy will be one that he was somebody who loved to help people find the music they were after,” Samuel said. “There was a time when the digital age wasn’t quite here yet and you had to find a physical medium format – cassette, record, 8-track, whatever that was to get the music you wanted and he would spend quite a bit of time and not make much money doing it. Tracking down music for people and connecting people.”

A love of music ’til the end

Randy had tens of thousands of records.

During a 2018 interview with the Salt Lake Tribune, Randy said he had as many as 60,000 records in his own personal collection in the 1970s.

Samuel said Randy’s collection trimmed down over the years as he gave away and sold records to loved ones.

Randy’s love for music didn’t end with his retirement.

“I still like records an awful lot,” Randy said during a 2018 interview with KUAA.

Randy’s health began to deteriorate though. Towards the end of his life – he was moved to an assisted care facility with dementia, but Samuel still brought him music.

During one of his last visits he played a 1959 jazz record “Ben Webster meets Oscar Peterson.”

“He really still enjoyed it. He would sit contently and listen along, I had to get a speaker at loud right up next to his good ear and play music for him. And then we would just, you know, hold hands. And he would tap my hand and in between songs, he would tell me how good the music was.”

Samuel said he got the joy of reintroducing music to Randy. Albums that Randy had loved at one point – like Tina Brooks’ “True Blue.”

“He no longer remembered that he had heard of it or that he really liked it. But you know, a little cheap cheat code, I could play him things like they were new and he was interesting, almost again for the first time, which was part of his dementia,” Samuel said.

There’s a plan to hold an end-of-life celebration for Randy in January, though there’s no set date or venue yet.

A viewing at Walker Sanderson Funeral Home in Orem is scheduled for Sunday night.