The Milwaukee location of The Exclusive Company, 1669 N Farwell Ave., will close “in the next few months.” The news was announced Friday night on the record store’s Facebook page.
“It is with immense sadness that we share The Exclusive Company on Farwell Avenue, Milwaukee will be closing at a yet to be determined date in the next few months,” reads the message. “We have loved every minute of serving the East Side community and thank you endlessly for the support you have given The Exclusive Company at this location over the past 30 years.”
Happily, a new record store will take Exclusive’s place, Lilliput Records. The new store will be run by current Exclusive managers Tanner Musgrove and Brian Kirk.
“With every ending comes a new beginning,” continues the message. “We are excited to welcome Lilliput Records as the newest record store to Milwaukee. The new owners may look a little familiar, as they have been with the Exclusive Company for 17 years. The current managers, and new owners of the Farwell Ave. location, will continue to bring the East Side the selection, variety and quality of music our loyal customers deserve and expect. Same location, same model, new name, new owners. Welcome Lilliput Records.”
A GoFundMe, “Help turn MKE Exclusive Co. into Lilliput Records,” is already live, organized by Musgrove and Kirk. The campaign is seeking to raise $120,000.
“As many of you may now know, The Exclusive Company on Farwell will be closing in the coming months,” reads the GoFundMe. “As the Milwaukee location’s current assistant manager and manager, we knew we had to save our store. Without a second thought, it was clear that our next step was to open our own shop: Lilliput Records. We are negotiating a price for the Farwell location to keep our store alive and are turning to our loyal customers and community to help us make this a reality. We are looking to switch hands in the near future, so it has become a time-sensitive endeavor.”
The GoFundMe continues:
The Exclusive Company on Farwell closing came as a shock to us all, but we couldn’t stand the idea of seeing the void that would be created. The record stores in Milwaukee are wonderful, and we love being a piece of the puzzle that makes it whole. This is why buying our current inventory is so essential to us. Our aim has always been to be a non-judgmental place to decompress and leave your worries at the door. As Lilliput Records, our goal is the same. We strive to have something for everyone and offering Milwaukee a diverse and vast selection of new and used vinyl, CDs and DVDs has always felt like our purpose.
Our vision for the future of Lilliput Records is to be a much more community-based space. There are so many amazing local artists, businesses and people in Milwaukee, and we cannot wait to share an abundance of memories with you all moving forward. We believe deeply in the Milwaukee community, vinyl community and music lovers.
The impending Milwaukee closure follows the February closure of Exclusive’s Janesville location. Locations in Appleton, Green Bay, Greenfield, Oshkosh, and West Bend remain open. The founder of the independent Wisconsin record store chain, James “Mr. G” Giombetti, died last November. He opened the first Exclusive Company in West Bend in 1956.
A GazetteXtra story on the Janesville closure hinted at the Milwaukee shakeup:
Barb Anthony, an office manager in Exclusive Company’s Oshkosh corporate headquarters, said in an interview that The Exclusive Company’s owners haven’t yet decided whether they intend to liquidate and close any of the other six locations, but she said one of the company’s Milwaukee stores might get bought out by a store employee.
“We have loved every minute of being your local record store on Farwell Ave. in Milwaukee,” concludes the Milwaukee message. “One last time, ‘Say It With Me, The Exclusive Company!'”
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