CHRIS MORELLI/THE EXPRESS Michael Fester is the owner and operator of Fez Records, which opens this weekend in Bellefonte.

BELLEFONTE — What’s old is new again.

Vinyl records are making a comeback. In Bellefonte, there aren’t a whole lot of options when it comes to buying records. Now, all that is about to change.

Today, Fez Records, located at 2042 Axemann Road in Bellefonte, will officially open its doors. The new business is located just outside the popular Titan Market. The owner and operator of Fez Records is Michael Fester, who resides with his wife, Cortney, in State College. For Fester, his love of records and music started at a young age. Opening Fez Records, he said, is a dream come true.

“For as long as I can remember, I would go into records shops. Wherever I lived — in Vegas or in Arizona — I would just find a record shop that I really just loved to spend time in,” Fester said. “I just wanted to be around those people who loved music as much as I did. So I would go there and spend a little money.”

With that in mind, Fester said he took the best elements of his favorite record shops to create Fez Records. There are crates of vinyl for every taste. There are listening stations so customers can listen before they buy it. There are comfortable couches and chairs to sit and listen to whatever he’s playing that day. There are Fez Record T-shirts and stickers for sale. And there is beer! Yes, customers are invited to have a free beer while they shop.

CHRIS MORELLI/THE EXPRESS Record players are ready for sale at Fez Records, located at 2042 Axemann Road in Bellefonte.

Music and beer? Does it get any better than that?

“Beer is important to me,” Fester said with a laugh. “Beer and music.”

Opening his own record shop has been in the back of his mind for as long as he can remember.

“I always loved the idea of having a place of my own where I’d be surrounded by old — and new — vinyl. I wanted a place where people who wanted to get rid of old media could just sell or trade it in. I also wanted to create a place where people could come and hang out,” Fester said.

Eventually, he said, Fez Records will have live music featuring local musicians.

CHRIS MORELLI/THE EXPRESS Those shopping at Fez Records can sit and listen to music from the past and present.

“We want to have local musicians come in and jam. And with the space next to Titan Market, there is open space right outside our doors. How convenient … we have a little overflow area. I want live music. I want people to come and hang out and buy records if they want to,” Fester said.

Fester is the assistant principal at Park Forest Middle School in State College, so Fez Records is simply a hobby — or side hustle — of sorts. He began looking for a location several months ago, he said. He looked at a lot of real estate before finding the location at Titan Market.

“(A total of) 1,000 square feet … doors that I don’t have to rely on the market being open, though I’m definitely going to want to feed off of some of their energy. But also, I can open up anytime I want. I share the parking lot with Axemann (Brewery), so I’m excited about catching some of their shrapnel from events they have … I just fell in love with the space from the get-go and the price was right. I just ran with it,” Fester said.

Inside Fez Records, the decor is well, for lack of a better word, cool. In addition to the large bins of vinyl, the shop is decorated with numerous framed music posters, many of which feature Fester’s favorite band, Pearl Jam.

“I am 100 percent obsessed with Pearl Jam, so most all of them are Pearl Jam-related. Luckily, for me, Pearl Jam uses really cool, modern artists to do their art. It just worked out that I had a lot of posters to decorate,” Fester said.

CHRIS MORELLI/THE EXPRESS Bins of vinyl are ready for sale at Fez Records, located at 2042 Axemann Road in Bellefonte.

There is what Fester called a “door to nowhere.” It is covered with a variety of stickers. He’s hoping that music lovers will bring some of their favorites in to help decorate.

“I wanted to paint it red and then just sticker the heck out of it. I encourage people to bring stickers in,” he said.

While Bellefonte’s first stand alone record store is truly a work in progress, it’s off to a gorgeous start.

“My lease started in March and because I have a real job, I’ve been spending every weekend here, trying to do as much of the work myself,” Fester said.

He said that he’s done the majority of the work, but he did have to have a construction company put in a ramp to make the space wheelchair accessible. They also did some work on the ceiling.

“Everything else you see — all the lights, the fans — I did myself,” Fester said.

As far as the vinyl is concerned, you’ll find a little bit of everything. He’s got used LPs for as low as $2. New vinyl is more expensive, of course. If you want something that Fester doesn’t have, he will do his best to get it.

Needless to say, Fester is really thrilled to be a part of vinyl’s resurgence.

“There’s just a gorgeous nature to an album,” Fester said. “We got away from that, but people are starting to appreciate the art that goes into a record, a record cover … what’s old is new again. It’s all very cool.”

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