A free block party is coming to the parking lot of Flip Side Record Parlor this Sunday, with organizers hoping the gathering will help the 54-year-old South Side San Antonio shop climb out of the financial hole that nearly shuttered it earlier this year. Needles and Chrome: A Sunday Kickback starts at 7 p.m. at the store's location at 840 SW Military Drive, and it costs nothing to attend.
Flip Side Record Parlor is an independently owned record shop that has faced serious financial troubles this year, according to the San Antonio Current. The store experienced a closure and quiet reopening earlier this summer after property management firm Caisson Real Estate issued an ultimatum demanding $8,000 in back rent by July 24 or face permanent eviction, according to MySA. A social media campaign raised the money in time, and the shop reopened on July 24.
The crisis traces back to a rent hike that more than doubled the store's monthly bill, from $2,200 to over $4,100, according to a May report from KSAT. That escalation left owner Roman Cuellar with roughly $16,000 in rent debt to the landlord, the same report found. Cuellar explained in a July Facebook post that Flip Side needed community support to stave off permanent closure.
How the Kickback Came Together
Organizer Luna Mendoza said the idea for the event started over breakfast at IHOP. Mendoza, who organizes small businesses by meeting people and bringing them together, worked with fellow organizer Joaquin Abrego and DJ Chuco Garcia to secure vendors, a flyer and a full evening of local attractions within just a few days, per the Current's reporting.
The trio brought together lowrider photographers, Chicano vendors, a tattoo artist and food trucks for the free gathering. DJ Chuco Garcia, who collects rare San Antonio pressings and has traveled to San Francisco, San Jose and Las Vegas, will spin vinyl spanning Tejano, conjunto and West Side soul throughout the night. Garcia said his Texas-based music selection helps keep local musical history alive.
Food and treats will come from several small vendors: No Tears, Just Caffeine will provide matcha and coffee, Marina Makes Sweets will bring lowrider-themed cookies, and Homies Snacks will serve homestyle “ghetto snacks.” Organizers describe Needles and Chrome as a grassroots block party aimed at bringing people back through Flip Side's doors, and they hope to make it a recurring series that rotates through different parts of San Antonio, bridging older Flip Side supporters with younger people rediscovering physical media.
A Landmark Built Over Five Decades
Flip Side opened in 1972, founded by original owner Doug Lease at SW Military Drive and Commercial Avenue before the shop moved a few blocks to its current 840 SW Military Drive address in 2012, according to the San Antonio Express-News. Clarisa Renae Peña managed the shop for more than 20 years and took ownership after Lease's death in 2011, running it until she died of colon cancer at age 46 in January 2020. Her family initially questioned whether Flip Side should stay open once it was no longer self-sustaining, before her brother, Roman Cuellar, chose to take over operations to preserve her legacy, per CultureMap San Antonio.
The shop has served as a hangout and neighborhood cultural landmark for generations, offering older customers a place to buy records and concert tickets long before either became a niche pursuit. Known for its rock memorabilia and burning incense, Flip Side is also home to a long-tenured, chatty parrot mascot named Satchmo, whom founder Doug Lease acquired when the bird was just one year old. Concerned regular patrons reportedly asked specifically about Satchmo's safety during the recent lockout, according to CultureMap.
The City of San Antonio's Office of Historic Preservation has officially recognized Flip Side as a Legacy Business, a municipal distinction created to honor long-standing establishments that define the city's cultural heritage, per the San Antonio Report. That designation places Flip Side among a small handful of remaining legacy record stores in the city, alongside West Side institutions like Del Bravo Record Shop, founded in 1966, and Janie's Record Shop, founded in 1985, both of which specialize in preserving regional Tejano, conjunto and Chicano vinyl pressings.
Community Fundraising Has a History Here
Sunday's kickback follows a wave of grassroots efforts to keep the shop afloat. On August 29, South Side venue Brooster's Backyard Icehouse hosted a 12-band Flip Side Fest fundraiser, donating 100% of its $10 door proceeds directly toward the store's debt. It wasn't the first time the community has rallied for Flip Side; during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2021, local musicians and the Sticks & Stingers Family Foundation hosted a benefit barbecue plate sale to help the store keep its doors open.
The pressure on Flip Side comes even as physical music formats are booming nationally. US physical music format revenues rose 25.9% in the first half of 2026 to $731.5 million, with vinyl sales climbing 17.7% to $543.8 million, marking 19 consecutive years of revenue growth, according to Digital Music News, citing RIAA data. That national resurgence in vinyl demand has done little to ease the rent pressures facing brick-and-mortar shops like Flip Side, whose survival now again rests on whether San Antonio's music community shows up.
