We're back this weekend, and rolling down the open road to introduce you to Morgan Holly, the owner and founder behind Swindle Records — a mobile record store bringing vinyl to Downriver Michigan and the surrounding areas. Swindle Records is a one-of-a-kind mobile record store that brings vinyl straight to the people. As a full-time student with a lifelong love of music, Morgan’s passion was sparked as a child.

Swindle Records was born from that deep-rooted love for music and physical media, inspired by punk and hardcore with a mission to make vinyl more accessible and fun. Swindle offers a genre-free, curated selection of new and used vinyl, CDs, imported band merch, patches, stickers, and more. Swindle Records isn’t just a store — it’s an experience, and community on wheels.

Outside of the record store Morgan enjoys going to concerts, music shopping, museums, and studying biology at university.

How did you get into your industry / What motivated you?

I started going to concerts since I was 3 and have always been surrounded by music. Being involved in the music culture so young sparked my love and passion for music. Going to concerts introduced me to the community music can build, how it can bring people together.

I wanted a record shopping experience that shared that sense of community. Watching old music documentaries, especially 70s-80s punk and metal documentaries, also greatly inspired me, as physical music was an exciting and anticipated. Now, online listening platforms have taken over, and I want to be even a small part of bringing excitement back to physical music. I hope to grow from being mobile to having a store front with an area for local artists and musicians to play as well.

What is a day in the life like?

Swindle Records being a mobile record store, allows for a lot of flexibility. When we are planning for a tour, there is a lot of preparation and scheduling. We gather together all possible markets and events we could add to the tour, and applying/contacting the ones we want to do.

From there, I plan out the tour name, logo and promotional items/ideas to make our tour feel like a concert tour. I am always taking product photos for social media to promote as well. Ordering merchandise is always the most fun part!

On event days, we start very early to pack up and arrange our record store trailer Fletcher, with everything we need. When we get to our spot at the event, we work on set up (setting up vinyl and cd tables inside, filling the vinyl shelves, putting up the tent, clothing rack and other tables outside). Then we are ready for customers! To close up shop we take everything down and arrange the inside of the trailer to ensure safe travel.

Favorite sale / relationship made from behind the counter?

My favorite interactions from behind the counter are when people get excited to see a certain artist or album in store. When someone finds something they have been looking for, makes me incredibly happy that I could provide that excitement for them.

In your opinion what has been the coolest thing to come through your shop / thing you had to keep / almost couldn't put out for sale:

There are a few used vinyl I had to keep! I kept an original pressing of Duran Duran Arena 1984, and Seven and the Ragged Tiger, and D.R.I Dirty Rotten E.P. I also almost kept a collection of original Jimi Hendrix pressings, but I sadly did not.

What has been / is the most difficult part of your job?

The most difficult part has been figuring out how to start and how to make my ideas come to life. It was a big learning curve with a lot of trial and error, but it was all worth it. I am still working on building Swindle Records to it's full potential. Not rushing has been difficult, but gradually building towards my goals has been very rewarding.

What has been the craziest experience that has happened at the shop?

During an event, we were hit by a down pour of rain that almost flooded our trailer! We had to quickly grab everything that was outside (along with the help of some awesome customers) and push all of the product away from our ramp opening to prevent water damage. It was definitely a stressful but funny experience!

What advice do you have for someone wanting to get into pursuing what you're doing?  

Take your time. You don't want to rush into getting started. Focus on building something you will be proud of and would enjoy if you were a customer.

Being passionate and proud of your creation will make it much more rewarding, and will show to the customer. Some resources I like are Discogs to get a sense of pricing and sales and Canva is great for designing posts and branding. Also look at social media accounts or organizations that share the same passion and provide ways to connect to others such as Women in Vinyl (of course).

What types of things are happening in your industry / with vinyl that you're excited or worried about?  i.e. innovation, or trends you're seeing.

The increase of vinyl sales is incredibly exciting. More artists are speaking out about how purchasing physical music benefits them more than online listening platforms. This has helped show people how important it is to buy physical music and support their favorite artists, which is awesome. Also there being more representation of LGBTQ+ and female artists is so cool and absolutely deserved.

Are you a vinyl collector yourself?  What drew you to it?

I collect cds, cassettes, and vinyl! I personally have over 3,000 pieces of music in my collection!

Who has been influential to you and your growth as a professional in this industry?

My biggest influences come from the Riot Grrrl movement. Seeing women create a space for themselves in the music industry. That movement paved the way for a lot of women in the music industry and showed me that music can be about more than just sound but, community and activism.

Thats the energy I want Swindle Records to have too. While I do not have many women-owned record stores in my area to look up to, Third Man Records (Jack White) Cass Corridor store has influenced me a lot, and showed me that record shopping can be an experience. And of course, the incredible women and LGBTQ+ people in the music industry inspire me greatly, and prove that there is room for us in the music industry.

Anything else you want to share? If not, tell us what you're listening to right now?

Some of my favorite artists and bands right now are Mannequin Pussy, Destroy Boys, Jack White, Lambrini Girls, The Ramones, Megadeth, Ethel Cain, Patti Smith, Die Spitz and Depeche Mode.