PORT ANGELES — When the poster of David Lee Roth peeled off the wall and a doll of Peter Criss of KISS fame crashed to the floor, Mike “Coog” Colgan said he knew it was time to shutter his record store at 111 Front St.
Holding on for years even as sales declined, the final straw, Colgan said, was the leaky roof, which allowed rainwater to begin seeping through the walls in November — slowly eating away at the rock ‘n’ roll memorabilia decorating his walls.
The store “is freaking telling me” it is time to leave, he said Thursday afternoon during a tour of his store.
“I have been in this spot a long time, and the owners need to take over the building and gut it,” he said.
Final day
Colgan’s last day in the store is May 31.
“As of Monday, I am going to start tearing things down,” Colgan said.
“I am going to start with the back and slowly start taking things out. It has been a slow process. It took 20 years to put this up.”
Colgan, 52, has been the proprietor of Coog’s Budget CDs since 1997, watching first-hand the decline of record stores as digital downloads and online music streaming became mainstream.
“I have been in a kind of limbo for years” about what to do with the store as sales have declined, Colgan said. “What should I do?”
Colgan last year transitioned to a three-day workweek, making a living as a contractor in the meantime.
“It has become a part-time record store,” he said.
“I got this as a young 31-year-old, but then I got my contractor’s license for handyman.
“I have been doing other things” the rest of the week, “and then you come in here and play record store guy.”
And while the store “has not been worth being open [financially] for a long time,” Colgan said he has kept it open out of love for music and his longtime loyal cadre of customers.
Travis Lester, 34, of Port Angeles has been shopping at Coog’s since he was 16 and was in the store Thursday to buy a few CDs.
“I just got a new car and I got a new stereo, so I want to test the quality,” he said.
Colgan is considering moving his store to a new smaller location in the near future, although the details would need to be worked out, he said.
If that comes to fruition, “I am looking forward to downsizing,” he said.
He said there is hope that a niche market for audiophiles searching for vintage records, tapes and CDs will grow, bringing foot traffic into a new store.
The current store “is not making a whole lot, but I see a future,” Colgan said.
“How can you just get rid of that when they are celebrating National Record Store Day [on Saturday]? How could you throw it away?”
The Back Room
Throughout the years, Coog’s has became an underground venue for music, with bands performing at word-of-mouth shows in the rear of the business known as “The Back Room.”
“I love the shows down here,” Lester said.
Colgan has been hosting shows in The Back Room for about 10 years, he said, and has drawn well-known groups such as punk band D.O.A.
As a last hoorah, Colgan is throwing two final shows this weekend in The Back Room, which is covered in graffiti murals and littered with old props.
One will take place this evening, with the second set for Saturday.
Doors open at 5 p.m. both days, with the show to begin at about 6 p.m.
And while both shows are free to the public, donations for the traveling bands are encouraged.
Tonight’s musical guests are Teepee Creeper, MK-Ultra, Shot On Site, Jack Havoc, Wingman Down and Throttle Hog.
Saturday’s musical guests are Diez Cuerdas Duo, Urine Idiot, MCFD, The Assassinators, AK-47, S.S.T., Decapitate the Disciples, The Bangers and Toe Tag.
Realizing that these will be the last shows at the venue makes Colgan sentimental, he said.
“It is going to get painted over, but that is what is going on. It needs to move on. I need to move on,” he said.
For more information, call 360-457-9211 or visit www.facebook.com/coogs.budgetcds.
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Reporter Chris McDaniel can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 56650, or cmcdaniel@peninsuladailynews.com.
