Carly May Gravley
Audio By Carbonatix
“Humble beginnings” is an understatement when it comes to ZT Records.
When we first stumbled across the local business (and the pick for Best Record Store in our 2019 Best of Dallas issue) in 2018, it was situated in the back of Frisco Mercantile, a suburban antique mall housed inside of a former grocery store. It was like a secret garden of cool music amid the kitschy, vintage fare of the Mercantile.
“I called it the best-kept secret in the area,” says founder and owner Phil Ramirez.
It’s not a secret anymore, though. ZT Records (named for Ramirez’s daughters, Zoe and Trinity) is a rising chain with mall storefronts in Frisco, Arlington and The Woodlands.
When Ramirez started selling records independently in 2011, he never imagined his venture would grow into a chain. After all, collecting vinyl was more of a niche hobby at the time, one that was typically reserved for hipsters. It all came about at a time in his life, however, when he was open to taking a chance.
“I’d lost my job, basically,” he says. “I kind of just said to myself, you know, if I can’t find a job, I’ll just create one. I decided to turn the hobby into a business. I took $300 of my savings, bought a collection out of Fort Worth and then sold everything on Craigslist. I went to Traders Village all the time. Went to McKinney Trade Days. So I did all the flea market routes. And it just slowly grew.”
Ramirez wanted a physical location to sell his records, but traditional storefronts were out of his price range. Luckily, the Frisco Mercantile took a chance on him.
“At the time, there were booths at antique malls that may have happened to have records in it, but there was never a booth that I know of where that’s all they did,” he says.
He always had his eye on Stonebriar Mall in Frisco as an ideal location for a standalone store, but the popular shopping center was far too expensive. When COVID-19 dealt a blow to shopping malls across the country, however, the powers-that-be were more willing to negotiate.
“They gave me a deal,” he says. “And so I took over a spot in the mall at Stonebriar on Mother’s Day of 2021, and I’ve been hitting the ground running ever since.”
Both record stores and malls are considered by many to be products of a bygone era, but Ramirez has made both business models work for him, thanks in large part to the nostalgic boom the record industry has experienced since ZT started.
“Records are more personal than clicking and streaming,” he says of the demand for his product. “You get to see the artwork. You get to feel the record. You get to read the liner notes. It has more of a tangible experience to go along with the music that you listen to.”
Spin Doctor
Ramirez also believes that because of the unpredictability of streaming platforms, consumers are seeing the value in all forms of physical media.
“People are rebelling against streaming because they’re tired of just paying all the fees and not necessarily getting all the songs that they want to hear,” he says. “One month, you could have an artist that you listen to, and then the next month that artist isn’t on there anymore. It’s like Netflix.”
According to Ramirez, ZT’s popularity goes deeper than the broader vinyl record trend.
“One thing that I get told a lot is how diverse our selection is,” he says. “I’m a movie guy, so I have a ton of soundtracks. […] I saw the success of that and it made me realize I need to think more globally in terms of genres on that scale, to open up and bring in more genres. And so I have a very wide range of music.”
This variety has been a boon to Ramirez as he expands ZT and learns more about the genres different markets prefer.
“In The Woodlands, I see more presence of old school Houston hip hop. Like, UGK will sell in a second,” he says. “Arlington has a stronger presence of metal. I see a lot of metal, hip hop, Latin and K-pop sales at that store, more so than other stores.”
The fourth ZT Records location is slated to open in Sugar Land. When we spoke to Ramirez, he was on a road trip through Waco, San Antonio and Austin to scout more future locations.
Fans of the “best-kept secret” at the Frisco Mercantile will be pleased to hear that it’s still around and kicking, albeit with a recent rebrand.
“Everything in that area is now 50% off,” Ramirez says. “I call it ZT Records Deep Cuts.”
