Citizen Vinyl to close café, event space and store

Press release from Citizen Vinyl:

As Citizen Vinyl enters its fifth year of operations as North Carolina’s first vinyl record pressing plant, we will be closing our bar/café, event space, and record and art store on April 30. This decision allows Citizen Vinyl to strengthen its focus on the success and growth of its vinyl manufacturing operations, as well as Citizen Studios recording studio (both of which will remain in the Citizen-Times building). It will also enhance the ongoing development of our recently patented vinylkey® technology, as this innovation continues to gain momentum in the record industry.

Citizen Vinyl’s popular factory and studio tour program will also continue, allowing locals, school groups, and visitors to experience how vinyl records are made, as well as learn about the rich history of the Citizen-Times building, its historic WWNC radio station studio (now Citizen Studios), and the important role Asheville has played in the development of American roots music.

“It has been our great honor to serve the Asheville community with our retail, cafe and community event space, and to have created a unique cultural hub around the idea of music and art,” said founder and CEO Gar Ragland. “We’ve always strived to put our community first, especially during the difficult times we’ve experienced together during the COVID 19 pandemic and more recently, in the devastating aftermath of Hurricane Helene. But our ongoing challenges require us to streamline Citizen Vinyl, and to focus on the core segments of our business: vinyl manufacturing and studio recording.”

Citizen Vinyl opened in October 2020 with just one record press and the mission to provide high quality vinyl albums for record labels and independent artists and a community space to host events ranging from live music and listening parties to panel discussions and book launches.

The past five years have not been without many challenges: Citizen Vinyl launched during the peak of the Covid pandemic, and was able to survive due to strong community support. During the aftermath of Hurricane Helene, we were able to pivot to provide free meals (led by Chef Michelle Bailey), wifi, power, supplies, drinking water, and an outdoor community gathering space to Asheville residents in a time of great need.

To be at the heart of community is not only in our mission, it’s in our name: Citizen means much more to us than our namesake building. It’s an expression of commitment to the city we love and call home, and the musicians and labels whose projects that we are entrusted to both record and press to vinyl.

With that in mind, we will move forward with a keen focus on our growing array of services, such as sustainable BioVinyl, hi-fidelity in-house cassette reproduction, vinylkey®, packaging and direct to consumer (D2C) fulfillment, our soon-to-launch Citizen Vinyl record label, and recording, engineering and mastering services from Citizen Studios.

In order to continue and accelerate the growth of our manufacturing and studio services, we are currently welcoming new investors for this next chapter. If you have the interest and capacity, and would like to become a part of our award-winning record pressing facility, please contact Gar Ragland at gar@citizenvinyl.com.

We are deeply grateful for the opportunity to serve Asheville and its many visitors through our public-facing operations. We hope to work with you through Citizen Vinyl’s pressing facility and Citizen Studios in the near future. For information on all of our services and packages, please visit https://citizenvinyl.com/record-press/ and https://citizenvinyl.com/citizen-studios/.