It all started on a late-night drive on the return leg of a record-buying road trip in the dead of winter: two Chicago pals navigate a car full of records on a snowy highway and idly contemplate a way to turn their hopeless wax addiction into something more than a mere hobby. Some 20-plus years later, Chicago’s Dusty Groove remains at the forefront of how a modern record shop can not only survive but thrive in both the virtual and physical worlds. DG is renowned for pushing the classic sounds of soul, funk, jazz and Latin/Brazilian and the progressive contemporary sounds that are inspired by them. Along the way, various incarnations of the business have included working out of a space that was formerly a prostitute’s boudoir, impromptu sidewalk sales, using a bank teller-style walk-up window to serve customers and a surprise visit to the store from the Roots when there was no actual store.
