Save Downtown Toledo's Culture Clash Records

Hello friends, it’s Tim from Culture Clash. It breaks my heart to speak to you on this platform about the state of our favorite record store in Toledo, but it has been an overwhelmingly trying year. While I am appealing to your shared love for our small business, I’d like to detail some of the hardships we’ve faced that have brought us to this point, during Culture Clash’s twentieth year in service to our community.

I bought Culture Clash in 2017, determined to carry on its legacy from the late local icon Pat O’Connor. We hosted a ton of live music, while freshening up the look and feel of a store that was gradually seeing more and more enthusiastic new faces. And while 2020 was as challenging a year as any of us had ever known, Culture Clash found a new home on a gorgeous historic corner in downtown Toledo before the year was through.

What many of you may not know is that following year, we doubled down on our investment - and commitment - to the city of Toledo by buying our downtown building. We are not wealthy (my wife has continued to work a separate full-time job since we purchased the store to ensure that we can make ends meet), so putting together the down payment was akin to a miracle, and paying the monthly mortgage and bills outright demands the continued success of our beloved shop, which we have consistently reinvested in for seven years.

Unfortunately, we learned after our purchase that the building was not correctly zoned to operate in the way in which it was intended (a joint store-venue-bar throughout the first floor). We could not legally operate in the way we had envisioned, which would make the store, building, and bar a financial success.

As a result, our path to receiving a simple certificate of occupancy and expanding the liquor license beyond the borders of The Switchboard has taken the past three years, the involvement of multiple attorneys, engineers and building officials, and tens of thousands of dollars. We believe the finish line is in now in sight, but we are not there yet. These enormous bills happened to accumulate at the same time as everyone’s costs of living – groceries, clothes, gas, and more – climbed, forcing what seems like just about everyone to cut spending to survive. And vinyl hasn’t been immune, so the cost of records has been climbing as well.

As of September 30, 2024, Culture Clash has seen eleven straight months of sales not meeting our conservative projections. Our bills have been stacking up and the future of the store is as uncertain as it has ever been. However, as of this week, we finally have what appears to be a clear path forward to legally operate our entire first floor space to its fullest capacity, which will involve hosting shows of all kinds during extended hours and offering rentals for private events.

The future of Culture Clash has ignited a fire in me for years, and I still believe we are and will be a hub in Toledo’s community for live music, unique events, and the arts. I want to see our stage come alive with talents from a wide variety of artists who are from Toledo or just passing through. I want to see our guests blown away by the unique experience of browsing our store. I want to see our employees, who I’ve known and loved now for the best years of my life, continue to connect with the community, making meaningful connections while sharing the best thing in the world – music.

I am honored to do a job for which provides me - at best - a modest income, to be in service of my staff, our customers, and our community. And while I have exhausted every other possible resource to avoid asking for you to do anything more than buy a record or two, our situation and our future has become more dire.

So, while we will continue to offer sales, discounts, markdowns, and more to give you the most value when shopping at Culture Clash, we’ve also made it easy to show your appreciation and support with any size donation you can comfortably make.

We know it’s not just us and we are not unique. We know most of you are struggling too. And small businesses are forced to close regularly. But we also know that it’s not just us who love Culture Clash and who would be devastated to see its closure. If you’re able, we would be eternally grateful for your generosity and help.

Please consider donating here through GoFundMe or directly at cultureclashrecords.com, by clicking Donate on the top menu bar.

Funds to be used toward