Fifty years after Jerry Weber first opened a used vinyl shop that would become a Pittsburgh institution, Jerry's Records is throwing itself a birthday party on Murray Avenue this weekend, complete with $1 records, a 45 toss, and 15% off everything in the store.
Jerry's Records is celebrating 50 years of business with an anniversary celebration set for Saturday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. in front of the Squirrel Hill store, according to TribLIVE. The event will include refreshments and records being spun outside the shop, and organizers are also holding a 45 toss with damaged vinyl, where attendees can win store credit and merchandise. On Friday, the shop is offering more than 20,000 vinyl records for $1 each, and all vinyl will be marked down 15% during Saturday's celebration.
Current owner Chris Grauzer has been at the center of the shop's story since he met Weber in 2009 and began stocking Jerry's Records shelves a year later. Grauzer, who once worked at a cafe down the street from the shop, took over ownership from Weber in 2017. Weber died in 2022, but his influence on how the store operates is still felt daily.
A Founder's Legacy Lives On
Weber opened the used vinyl shop 50 years ago, building it into a place where, as Grauzer put it, the founder lived and breathed music. Grauzer told TribLIVE that he learned from Weber to be consistently kind, and that business is about community and helping people, values that have carried through the store's transition to new ownership. Grauzer said he had always dreamed of owning a record store, a dream that turned into reality on Murray Avenue in Squirrel Hill.
That community-first spirit has kept longtime customers coming back for years. David Josephson, 66, has driven regularly from Indiana, Pa., to Jerry's Records in Squirrel Hill for the past three years, drawn by his passion for hard bop jazz, a 1950s and 1960s style blending blues and gospel into jazz rhythms. Josephson said he loves listening to classic jazz on vinyl, a preference that puts him among a wave of collectors keeping the format alive.
Vinyl's National Comeback Meets a Local Challenge
Jerry's Records anniversary lands amid a broader vinyl resurgence across the country. U.S. vinyl record revenues hit $1.04 billion in 2025, a 9.3% increase over 2024 and the 19th consecutive year of growth, according to Music Week citing RIAA figures. American consumers bought 46.8 million vinyl albums compared to 29.5 million CDs last year, with vinyl generating more than three times the physical revenue of CDs, as reported by Analog Planet. Independent record stores like Jerry's now account for roughly 40% of all vinyl album sales nationwide, according to a report from CUE BURN, underscoring the role shops like this one play as physical hubs for music discovery.
Still, that national growth doesn't erase every challenge on the ground. Grauzer said he's concerned about continuing to stock the shelves, since more people now turn to eBay and Facebook Marketplace instead of donating or selling old records to local businesses. Even so, the store notes it has seen a steady flow of donations and patrons after 50 years in business, and Grauzer continues to buy vinyl from older customers with extensive analog-music collections.
Why the Format Endures
Grauzer sees the appeal of vinyl extending well beyond nostalgia. He said people have an allure to something different and a physical product they can own outright, and he welcomes young music lovers who are just beginning to explore vinyl alongside longtime collectors like Josephson. Grauzer said plainly that Jerry's Records is not going out of style.
The shop's roots run deep in Pittsburgh music history. It began in 1978 as Record Graveyard in Oakland before Weber opened Garbage Records above a McDonald's on Forbes Avenue, eventually renaming the business and moving it to Squirrel Hill in 1994, according to Weber's obituary in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. At its peak, the second-floor Murray Avenue shop housed more than 1 million vinyl records, making it one of the largest used vinyl collections in North America. Rolling Stone named it one of the top 25 record stores in the country in 2010, and late Pittsburgh rapper Mac Miller paid tribute to the shop with a standalone track titled Jerry's Record Store in 2012, cementing its place in the city's cultural memory.
Fifty years after it began as a small operation above a fast-food restaurant, Jerry's Records is still doing what it always did: putting records in people's hands, one crate-dig at a time.
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