You may think listening to music on CDs and vinyl may be a thing of the past, but it’s still very much alive at Looney Tunes Record Store. This family-owned Long Island gem has been at its original West Babylon location since 1971 and has surely stood the test of time. It’s every audiophile’s dream, with a stock ranging from The Beatles to Miles Davis to Taylor Swift and beyond. It’s a unique and refreshing experience in the age of music streaming services. Recently, I spoke with Karl Groeger Jr., the current owner of Looney Tunes, to talk about his experience of operating what can only be described as an extraordinary feat.
Q: What inspired the opening of Looney Tunes?
Looney Tunes was opened in 1971 by my father, Karl Groeger Sr. My brother and Jamie and I took over the business and bought it from my dad in 1989. So we’ve been here for 52 years now.
Q: Are there any challenges of owning a small business? If so, how do you overcome them?
A small business is very difficult nowadays. There’s always a lot of different obstacles and stuff that you need to overcome. But over the past 50 years, we’ve seen a lot of changes, specifically in the music industry. When we started selling music in 1971, it was records, and then reel to reel, and then eight tracks, and then cassettes, and then CDs, and now we’re back to selling CDs and vinyl and stuff like that. The technology from the music that we sell has changed a lot over the years. In a small business, it allows us the opportunity to try to adapt and change to the environment and people’s wants and needs. So we try to fulfill those needs as best we can. Aside from technology, we had a fire in 2007 where the store burned down to the ground, and we decided to rebuild and reopen. That was a big, big challenge. You walk in one day and everything you had for 35 years at that point was just gone. It just evaporated. But we decided to start up again.
Q: What’s the best part about owning a small business?
The best part of owning a small business is being able to adapt quickly. A lot of my friends work for big record companies and labels. And if they wanna do something, they have to suggest it and then hope somebody else likes their idea, and then maybe they’ll go and do that. If I want to change the front of my store or the product that I’m selling, I could just do it. The benefit is that you can do anything that you want. I don’t have to answer to anybody. I don’t have to check with management or check with my boss or see if we can do something or make a change. We can adapt and I can just make changes immediately. If I wanna do something, I just do it. I don’t have to ask anybody else.
Q: How has Looney Tunes changed since you first started? Do you think there’s a reason you’ve been so successful?
We’ve changed quite a bit. Like I said, we’ve been here 52 years, which is a very long time. We’re one of the oldest family owned and operated businesses in New York. My dad built the store on three principles: 1) A good selection of music. We try to have all different types of music for everybody. 2) Low discount prices. We try to discount everything to offer a fair competitive price for our product that we sell. 3) Friendly customer service. The one thing that we’re really known for is customer service. If you own an independently owned brick-and-mortar store, there has to be a reason for customers to want to come into your store. We try to be friendly to everybody and offer fun experiences. There’s a stage in the middle of our store where we do a lot of concerts and autograph sightings. We actually just had Cardi B here two weeks ago for 800 people. We do a lot of cool special events with a lot of artists and a lot of music people, and they’re really what drives a lot of the stuff that we do. And they’re a lot of fun.
Q: How does it feel knowing that Looney Tunes has been in business for 52 years?
It’s great. It’s a lot of pressure, It’s hard. There have been many times over the 52 years that we thought we were gonna close. Owning a small business is very difficult, especially in the day and age of the internet. We do a lot of brick and mortar stuff. We have a website and we do a lot of online sales, but that’s only a very small percentage of our business. Most of it is people shopping in-store. We’ve seen a lot of different technology from downloads and different changes in our industry that we try to adapt to. But I still enjoy coming to the store every day. I get to listen to music and go to concerts for a living, so it’s not too bad.
Q: What advice would you give to those who want to start a small business but are unsure how to go about it?
The baseline for business and economics is to fulfill an unfulfilled need. If you want to start a small business, you have to think about whether your product or service is going to be a good idea. You can ask around. Then you have to investigate: Is it really a good idea? Is it something people will pay for? And you do a lot of research and ask a lot of questions. Then, you have to make a commitment. This step is really hard. You’re saying, “Okay, I’m going to do this.” And then, if you make that decision, you have to go and do it with everything that you have. You can’t allow yourself to fail. Just by working really, really, really hard, you can get to that goal. You’re gonna have highs and you’re gonna have lows. We have great months here and we have horrible months here. And you have to be able to roll with the punches. You have to be able to take the times that you fail and be able to get back up and do it again. And that’s the hardest thing – a lot of times people will have a couple of bad months and then just call it quits. It’s also important to have a good staff and support system and a good family around you. With a family that understands your commitment to your job, you just gotta keep pushing at it and not let yourself fail. If you continue to do that, you’ll be successful.
If you’re curious about Looney Tunes, you can contact them via:
In-store: 31 Brookvale Ave, West Babylon, NY
Online: looneytuneslongisland.com
Phone: 631-587-7722
Email: [email protected]
Facebook: Looney Tunes Music and More
Twitter (X): @looneytunesCDS
Instagram: @looneytunescds
