After turning 60, Moe Lyons decided it was time to do something for himself.

During the past couple of days, Lyons has packed a little store at 5607 Main St. in Flowery Branch with thousands of used vinyl records.

All of the store’s stock comes from Lyons’ personal collection. He said he spent decades collecting records in anticipation of his future retirement business.

Dubbed Moe’s Record Shop, the store will officially open at 10 a.m. on Thursday, April 25.

“I’ve been wanting to open a record store for forever,” Lyons said. “All of them (records) will be hard to part with, but I hope people come in and discover new stuff they’ve never discovered before.”

Lyons said he spent 17 years working in the music retail industry, then spent another 17 years as the water treatment operator for the City of Gainesville. He retired from the city job in December 2018.

In 2004 he started holding shows on 89.1 WBCX Gainesville, Brenau’s student radio station. He currently hosts a jazz fusion show Saturday nights and plays contemporary jazz music on Fridays.

Although he leans toward jazz with the shows, Lyons’ musical tastes span across most genres and decades.

People can find a range of music at his shop including pop, rock, alternative, country, bluegrass and others. Since Lyons has hand-selected each record, all of the items have been inspected by him for imperfections.

Growing up listening to music on records, Lyons said he has always considered himself a “vinyl person.” He finds that the sound quality of a vinyl record surpasses its digital descendant.

Lyons said younger people have started to notice that too. Over the past five years he has seen a fresh influx of people collecting vinyl records.

If customers want to try out records before purchasing them, Lyons lets them use his turntable at the shop. In the future, he intends to sell turntables at the store. 

Almost all of the records at the shop are priced at $4.

“I’m trying to price stuff reasonably,” he said. “A lot of places tend to over price because it’s (the vinyl record industry) booming right now.”

Lyons said he is excited to share his passion with the people of Flowery Branch and become a part of the city’s growth.

“I’m looking forward to meeting new people, seeing what they like musically and getting to know the community through music,” he said. “Just come in and talk music with me.”

The store’s hours are 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.