Peaches Records & Tapes, Inc., was a Los Angeles-based national retail chain of record superstores, some as large as 15,000 square feet. The chain became a subsidiary of the Nehi Record Distributing Corporation. Tom Heiman (né Thomas Michael Heiman; born 1941)[1] founded Peaches in 1963 and went on to become president of Nehi. At its peak, Peaches had 50 stores in 22 cities with over 2,000 employees. In June 1981, Peaches filed a petition for bankruptcy under Chapter 11 citing $20 million in debt (equivalent to $168 in 2023) for its 35 stores coast to coast, owed to Citibank and six different record distributors.[2][3][4]
| Industry | Music |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1975, United States |
| Defunct | 1981 |
History edit
Peaches was known for its vast selection with many locations in buildings the size of a typical grocery store.[5] Stores were also known for autograph signing events,[6] huge reproductions of the album covers of the latest releases on the side of its buildings and for selling records from wooden crates with the chain's colorful fruit-crate style logo on the side. Stores reportedly stocked $500,000 worth of inventory.
Tom Heiman opened the first store on Hollywood Boulevard in Los Angeles in 1975 and soon opened another in Atlanta in 1975.[7] The company's 39th store was opened in Chicago on December 3, 1980.
Emulating the tradition at Grauman's Chinese Theatre, some stores invited visiting artists to set their handprints in cement on the sidewalk outside. The prints, including The Allman Brothers, ZZ Top, Dolly Parton, The Beach Boys, Willie Nelson, The Kinks and others were destroyed in 1981 when that store closed following the company's bankruptcy. Handprints by artists such as Pat Metheny, 38 Special, Hank Williams Jr. and Johnny Van Zant of Lynyrd Skynyrd remain outside the former location in Tulsa Oklahoma.
The lone remaining location is in New Orleans, one of eight before bankruptcy. That location moved to a former Woolworth store and continues to maintain the lunch counter there.[8]
References edit
- ^ Marquis Who's Who (1974). "Heiman, Tom Michael". Who's Who in the West: Including Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming; and in Canada, the Provinces of Alberta, British Columbia, and Saskatchewan (14th ed.). p. 303. ISBN 9780837909141. Retrieved August 15, 2022 – via Internet Archive. LCCN 49-48186; ISSN 0897-0629; OCLC 22775445 (all editions), 21589774.
- ^ New York Times (The); Friedman, Thomas L. (June 10, 1981). "Record Industry's Upheaval – Slump Forces Major Changes at Retail Level". Late ed. (East Coast). The New York Times.
. Vol. 130, no. 44975. p. D1. Retrieved June 13, 2019 – via TimesMachine.
- Other access:
- ^ Mary Logan Bikoff; Gavin Godfrey; Jennifer Rainey Marquez; Hannah Palmer; Betsy Riley (February 13, 2017). "The Kinks, Willie Nelson, and ZZ Top Left Their Handprints on Peachtree Road". 19 Things You Didn’t Know About Atlanta's Past. Atlanta. Retrieved April 9, 2021.
- ^ UPI (June 4, 1981). "Peaches Records & Tapes, a Los Angeles-based record chain, ... ". Retrieved April 9, 2021.
- ^ The Morton Report; Rowe, Matt (August 18, 2011). "Peaches Records & Tapes: Warm Memories Of A Fallen Giant". The Morton Report. Archived from the original on January 27, 2021. Retrieved 2021-04-09.
- ^ Van Halen News Desk (March 19, 2019). Hausman, Jeff (ed.). "Unearthed Photos: Van Halen 1979 Record Store Signing at Peaches Records & Tapes". Van Halen News Desk. Retrieved 2021-04-09.
- ^ Ingram, Billy (April 18, 2018). "Hot Wax and 8-Tracks: When Everything Was Peaches". Yes! Weekly (updated March 23, 2020). Retrieved April 9, 2021.
- ^ Odell, Jennifer (December 21, 2016). "Drumming Up an Emotional Experience at Peaches Records". Go NoLa. New Orleans & Company.
