New record store Hot Wax Records opens in Ogletown, Delaware

Alex Rash has been collecting records since high school, often spending hours in record stores with his friends discovering new music.

“Me and several of my friends would hang out at record stores and gunk up right in front of the register until we became a problem,” Rash said.

Record stores gave him a place to connect with other music enthusiasts and develop his hobby of collecting records.

Now he hopes to create the same inviting atmosphere for the next generation of record collectors with his own record store, Hot Wax Records, which opened July 1 in the Shops at Red Mill in Ogletown.

Hot Wax Records carries a lot of used classic rock records, cassettes, CDs and 45s. Shoppers can find most of the big titles from the 1960s, ’70s and ’80s, but also some interesting and rare finds like a copy of the bootleg album “Spunk” by the English punk rock band the Sex Pistols.

Many of the records in the store have been sourced from estate sales, thrift stores, garage sales and Rash’s personal collection.

Rash said he had thousands of records in his personal collection that he whittled down to a few hundred to stock the store.

“It’s just as rewarding for me to find a new home for a record as it is for me to personally keep it,” he said.

The name and logo of the store come from the King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard song “Hot Wax.” In the song’s music video, melting candles walk around similar to the candle on the store’s logo, which was designed by illustrator and screen printer Dan August.

Rash grew up working at his family’s businesses and has always dreamed of opening his own one day. For awhile the dream was to open a board and card game store, but after falling in love with collecting records and admiring other record stores, like Rainbow Records and Jupiter Records, he set his sights on a record store.

Unlike some record stores that have aisles of cramped record bins, Rash wanted his store to have an open layout with couches and chairs for music lovers and record collectors to hang out.

The store has been open for only a few weeks, but Rash said he’s already connected with so many record lovers and helped them discover new music just as record store employees did with him when he was younger.

He said, “Even if it’s one more person listening to a song they hadn’t heard before that day, I consider that day a win.”