When he drove drove past the Parkade last December, JJ Wandler wasn't planning on opening another record store. But the "For Lease" sign had a mind of its own.
"I almost caused an accident pulling over to call the number," he says.
The space itself was a mystery to Wandler. He could see the midcentury-style arched windows and could make out faint bits and pieces of a spiral staircase leading up to a second floor inside, but the windows had been covered up for as long as he could remember.
Even then, he knew enough to take a leap of faith.
The Parkade, the iconic parking garage in downtown Spokane, was designed by one of Wandler's favorite architects, Warren Heylman. From the Riverfalls Tower Apartments to the public health building on the Spokane County campus, some of his creations rank among the most well-known pieces of architecture in Spokane. Wandler knew that this particular space adjacent to the parking garage used to be Heylman's office.
"If it was good enough for him, it was definitely good enough for me," Wandler says.
When he called the leasing office, Wandler didn't have plans for what to put in the space, but as an avid collector of records and vintage items, he realized that his ever-growing collection needed a new home.
This isn't Wandler's first time owning a record store. He opened two businesses that he eventually sold to friends: Total Trash Records & Sound and Garageland, which closed in 2020. But he decided to return to his roots with the new space.
Entropy, located downtown at 101 N. Stevens St., is open Thursday through Saturday, from 10 am to 6 pm, until the store's grand opening on April 7. After the grand opening, Entropy's hours will be daily.
The name Entropy was inspired by a Thomas Pynchon short story based on the second law of thermodynamics. This is the second business Wandler's named after a Pynchon story, the first being a vintage store in Seattle he used to own called Lot 49, based on the book The Crying of Lot 49.
"'Entropy' has to do with the heat death of the universe, and it also has to do with the tendency of organized systems to descend into chaos," he says. "Record stores, for all the organization that you do, they descend into chaos and require constant maintenance of the bins, of the alphabetizing, of everything."
Despite the nature of the name, everything at Entropy is carefully curated by Wandler. The vintage furniture and decor in the store is primarily midcentury modern, pairing well with Heylman's architectural design and style. But Wandler wants to include items that have historic value to Spokane as well, such as a table and set of chairs from the presidential suite at the Historic Davenport Hotel.
Up the spiral staircase, to the right of the door, is a circular second floor with a balcony looking directly down onto the first floor. Along the walls will be art exhibits curated by Spokane interdisciplinary artist Helen Parsons, featuring the work of local artists like Ellen Picken in April and Daniel Lopez in June.
The main focus of Entropy is records, which stand tall in the center of the room — the obvious core of the shop.
"My focus here is on just making sure that the bins are free of filler, like all killer, no filler," Wandler says. "The records that we carry are, I would say, iconic."
Wandler acknowledges that not everyone will agree with his definition of iconic, but he also asserts that certain albums and artists have stood the test of time. Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin and the Beastie Boys, for example.
While many records one may find at Entropy are available at other record shops in the area, Wandler plans to include a mix of rarities and collectibles in his collection.
Every record store collection has a distinct personality based on its owner's personal taste. Entropy, Wandler says, will also showcase his evolution through music.
"I've got a love for weird music, so there's gonna be some weird music in here," he says. "We've got the Butthole Surfers, we've got Can, '60s psychedelic rock, Krautrock from the '70s, punk rock from the late '70s, '60s garage rock."
Wandler hopes to curate Entropy's selection to cater to Spokane's unique sounds as well, even though, he notes, "Spokane has always kind of defied categorization."
The prevalence of '80s metal and punk rock are notable genres in Spokane's music scene, but Wandler has also noticed that others, such as electronic music, rap and hip-hop, define a newer sound for the area.
"There's still rock, and there's still punk, but hip-hop is the new mode of expression," he says. "It's how people are talking about social issues nowadays."
Wandler sources his records from online retailers, local shops, auctions and estate sales, and strives to find the best prices for each record to keep his inventory as affordable and accessible as possible.
And while streaming platforms make music more accessible than physical albums, vinyl records have seen a major resurgence in popularity, even outselling CDs last year for the first time since 1987, according to the Recording Industry Association of America.
"I think that people realize that streaming services are great in your car, they can be great in your apartment, but there's really nothing tactile and there's nothing left when it disappears," Wandler says. "It's a bunch of ones and zeros, and so I think that the resurgence of vinyl has a lot to do with a backlash against the ephemeral nature of streaming."
Not only is there more value to many people in owning a physical version of something, says Wandler, there's an increased understanding that certain records increase in value over the years, while streaming platforms have no financial return. You pay money to stream music, he says, but you never get anything back.
Not only that, but Wandler says that vinyl records have a unique importance in one's listening experience of an album.
"You get to listen to an album the way that an artist intended it to be listened to," he says. "They would agonize over placement of songs on a record for flow."
To Wandler, there's something irreplaceable about collecting and listening to records.
"I just really enjoy the whole ceremony of taking a record out, putting it on a turntable, cleaning it and then playing it and hearing a few little snaps and crackles every once in a while," he says.
Wandler hopes to add to the diverse retail core of downtown Spokane by constantly updating Entropy's inventory with new and requested records, with a "new arrivals" section for frequent shoppers.
"It's going to be constantly evolving around here and constantly changing," he states. "It's kind of a punk rock attitude, and having that kind of vibrant thing happening downtown I think is important." ♦
Entropy • 101 N. Stevens St. • Open Thu-Sat 10 am-6 pm (Daily starting April 7) • explodingstars.com • Instagram and Facebook @entropyspokane
