By Luis Castilla
Record Jungle is a family owned record store in Montebello that specializes in used records.
Record Jungle carries every genre of music and only sells used records.
The store displays artwork and photographs on its walls in a clean and precise way, giving Record Jungle a futuristic look, especially with the giant blue 45 record adapter that hangs on the store’s wall.
The record store has turntable listening stations where customers can listen to music they might not be familiar with. It sells many low-priced records and hard-to-find classics. Aside from records and 45s, it also sells turntables, cassettes and t-shirts and pins with the record store’s logo on them.
The record store has an ample one-dollar section. “If I find a record that’s worth $100, I’ll sell it to you at $50,” says owner Andres Perez.
Selling reasonably priced records is how Perez has been able to establish himself and Record Jungle for eight years. “I hustle. When you start from the ground up, you learn how to be a strong figure.”
After digging through the wide variety of used records, customers can wipe their hands at the store’s counter with individually packaged “Post-Dig Hand Wipes,” because old records can get dusty, said Perez.
Perez opened the store in 2010, but has worked in the music industry for years. Perez opened his first record store, Soul Unit Record Shop in 1995, but sold it in 2000.
He is also a hip-hop producer and an in-house producer, making music for Walmart, NBA, ESPN and even Bud Light Lime. “I’m deep in this,” says Perez. He said that whenever a famous musician is in the area, they go to Record Jungle.
Being a family business, Perez employs his daughters Emily and Jazmin Perez at Record Jungle. “It’s very laid back. Your boss understands you have things to do,” says Emily Perez. “It’s cool. You always have a place to work and you can’t really get fired,” says Jazmin Perez.
Record Jungle is currently Perez’s only record store that is open to the public, but he ships thousands of records to Europe as well.
Record Jungle is located at 2459 W Whittier Blvd. It opens at 11 a.m. everyday and closes between 6 p.m. and 8 p.m., depending on the day. For more information, visit www.recordjungle.com or visit their Instagram account, @recordjungle.