Last winter, Wilmington lost what had arguably become its most popular record store. On January 18, 2004, Manifest Discs and Tapes closed its doors for the final time. The store had developed a large following and when it abruptly announced that it was closing, there were many disappointed customers.

“I was so pissed when I heard that place shut down,” said music enthusiast Carl Lorenzetti, who boasts a music collection of over 2,800 CDs. “I used to go down to South Carolina to play Powerball and I was just praying that I would win and could buy the whole (…) chain.”

Realizing the city’s need for another record store, brothers Matt and Adam Keen, former Manifest employees for a combined six years, decided to give it a go on their own. The result was Gravity Records, located at 125 S. Kerr Ave., and on August 3, they quietly opened to the public for the first time.

According to Matt, there has been a lot of support from customers when they walk in the store. “They have been really cool,” he said. “So many people have come up to me just thanking us for being here.”

Right now, Gravity’s inventory is somewhere between 8,000 and 10,000 CDs, but they are constantly getting new shipments. There is even a big sign behind the register asking customers to give their suggestions or point out something that is missing.

When asked if he was worried about the popularity of music downloading, Matt just shrugged it off, saying that there will always be people burning music, but when they do, they don’t get the whole experience, etc. “The Internet is cool, but it’s not real,” said Matt. “It should be an experience walking into a store.”

While he doesn’t seem worried about the Internet, Matt does acknowledge big businesses as an issue. He cites stores like Best Buy and their ability to mark select releases at below wholesale costs, simply due to their volume.

He also argues that the smaller Mom n’ Pop stores can offer much more to a customer than a few bucks off a new release. “I want to know every single customer,” he said. “I want everyone to be comfortable in here, I want people to come and just hang out. Come look around, if you don’t want to buy anything, that’s cool. Come and sit on the couch and watch a video.”

Matt also adds that larger stores won’t have nearly the selection of material from local bands. Gravity has an entire section where local artists can sell their music on consignment. Local band Reason To Ignite even has a skate deck with their logo on it for sale.

Gravity stocks both new and used CDs as well as DVDs, magazines, clothing, stickers, posters, and more. While they have some plans for the future, they are mostly relying on word-of-mouth for advertising right now. If the amount of support over the first few weeks of business is any indication, Gravity Records seems to have a promising future in Wilmington.

“This isn’t even like a real job,” said Matt. “We would be doing all this stuff anyway, listening to music, keeping up with new releases. I’m never going to find another job this cool.” For more information, call Gravity Records at 910-392-2414