"Stepping into Jr. Market boutique in Highland Park is like entering a 1980s time warp. Built into a refurbished shipping container, it's filled with everything from tiny Walkman-style portables to colorful, number-flip clock radios and, naturally, boomboxes of all sizes. Few are more imposing than the TV the Searcher, a Sharp boombox from the early '80s that features a built-in, 5-inch color television."
""Try lifting it, it's really heavy," warns Spencer Richardson, the shop's owner. Indeed, the machine is at least 15 pounds without the 10 D batteries that power the unit. He adds, "I don't think you're taking this to the beach so you could watch TV while you listen to music." An affable, hyper-knowledgeable proprietor in his early 30s, Richardson repairs and resells analog music technology from the 1980s or earlier."
"While his hobby-turned-side hustle started as "a gateway to discover sounds" that he otherwise would not have heard, it now attracts curious customers willing to drop $100-plus for a vintage Technics RS-M2 or My First Sony Walkman. His customers include older baby boomers and Gen X‑ers nostalgic for the players of their childhood, but most have been millennials like himself, drawn to something tactile and analog in an era when everything else disappears into the digital ether."
Jr. Market boutique occupies a refurbished shipping container and stocks 1980s analog music devices including Walkmans, clock radios, and boomboxes such as a Sharp model with a built-in 5-inch TV. Spencer Richardson repairs and resells vintage players from the 1980s or earlier, restoring them to circulation. The shop attracts customers willing to pay $100-plus for restored units, including baby boomers, Gen X, and many millennials seeking tactile, analog experiences. Most modern cassette players still use basic Taiwan-built mechanisms, and no major market has emerged for newly engineered tape decks.
Read at Los Angeles Times
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