Located in the heart of Atlanta’s eclectic Little Five Points, Wax N’ Facts is a local record store with an extensive collection of vinyl, compact disks, turntables and cassette tapes. Established in 1976 by Georgia Music Hall of Fame member Danny Beard and his partner Harry DeMille, Wax N’ Facts provides the city with a unique collection of music from regional artists.
Beard received inspiration for Wax N’ Facts when he visited a local record store while attending the University of Georgia.
“Harry and I initially rented a space for $110 a month, and the store had about $700 worth of inventory,” Beard said. “I went around to different places, like flea markets and yard sales, and bought tons of records to bring back to the store.”
Shortly after establishing Wax N’ Facts, Beard founded DB Records, a record label with headquarters inside Wax N’ Facts. With both of Beard’s business endeavors growing, Beard juggled being a producer and the responsibilities of owning a record store.
“Wax N’ Facts is the main gig, as it has always been,” Beard said. “It goes up and down and can be challenging. Fortunately, there’s still enough old stuff around and always new stuff coming.”
DB Records is no longer signing and recording artists. (Making vinyl records is the primary focus of Wax N’ Facts.) Since its founding, Wax N’ Facts’ inventory has grown from a few hundred records and cassette tapes to an array of thousands of different types of music.
“Wax N’ Facts by far has the widest selection of vinyl for a fair price in Atlanta,” said Ashia Hill, a Grady junior and frequent customer of Wax N’ Facts. “Other record stores in Atlanta don’t carry such a large selection [of records], and many seem to overcharge for what you’re getting.”
Wax N’ Facts has not been renovated since 1987, when the store doubled its size in a reconstruction project, taking over a bar and motorcycle repair store. A rickety wood floor, vintage band posters plastering the walls and frayed curtains as replacements for doors are factors that give Wax N’ Facts its iconic image.
Wax N’ Facts today receives high praise from many music fanatics around town.
“[Wax N’ Facts is]the best record store in Atlanta, especially for used vinyl,” said senior Camrin Beckman. “It’s my go-to spot in Little Five. Digging through their crates to find my favorite records is always time well spent. ”
Two thirds of the store is dedicated to used and new vinyl records with wooden crates arranged in an alphabetical order according to genre. Wax N’ Facts carries a large variety of genres, spanning from contemporary jazz to heavy metal.
“Wax N’ Facts brings huge waves of nostalgia. It really takes me back when all my money was spent on collecting records,” longtime customer Chandler Wright said. “I got rid of all my vinyl in the 90s, so it’s fun coming here and starting my collection back up again.”
