Avondale record store damaged due to pipe burst

CHICAGO — A popular record and collectibles store is the latest casualty of mother nature’s winter blast.

The frigid temperatures caused quite a fiasco for the owners of Bric and Brac in Avondale.

Nick Mayor had whisked himself away to warmer temperatures for the holidays.

He was in Alabama for Christmas when a Facebook message cut the activities short.

“From a neighbor saying they saw the fire department breaking in and there was water spewing out from under our door,” Mayor said.

He raced home, thankfully with no flight delays, to find his Avondale record store soaked through after pipes in the wall popped from the cold.

“it was pouring onto the record for about 12 hours,” Mayor said.

Part of the ceiling even caved in.

“There was a drywall panel so saturated it collapsed onto the records,” he said. “100% ruined. The records are fine, they will work, but the sleeves are trashed. Some of them legitimacy pummeled into pulp with the force of the water and the duration.”

And the damage didn’t stop there.

“The basement took on a ton of water,” he said.

It even damaged the electrical system, modems and routers.

All of this comes just days away from the first anniversary of the store opening at this location.

“Our first day of business in this location was 362 days ago on January 1st,” Mayor said.

Everything was going well up until this point.

The extent of the water woes will be in the tens of thousands of dollars.

“We are still sorting through everything,” Mayor said. “I would say it’ll be at least 40 or 50 at the end of the day.”

Mayor said all their friends and customers are already rallying around them. But this isn’t the kind of inventory you can just cut a cheque for and replace.

“It’s all for a lot of it, one of a kind,” he said. “It’s just a used item from 1984. I can’t just go to a distributor and get more of that.”

If you have any collectibles at home, that you’re hoping to clear out, Mayor wants to hear from you.

“The biggest thing people can do to help right now is sell us your stuff,” he said. “Records, toys, VHS, anything to fill up the shelves would be the biggest help.”

While the music will be stopped here for the next month or so, you can always support the crew by buying a brew at their coffee shop next door.