Online Sales Kept Robbinsdale Record Shop Afloat During Pandemic
Dan and Betsy Ruppert-Kan operate Fly Vintage and Vinyl in Robbinsdale. When retail stores had to close during the pandemic, the shop shifted greater focus to developing online sales and credits that shift with helping the store stay in business.
The Ruppert-Kans opened their store in 2018. Dan took care of the store’s records and stereo equipment and Betsy took care of the vintage goods.
But when the pandemic hit, they closed for 14 months. It was a tough time for the store.
“It took me a couple days to recover. I was just kind of sitting around dumbstruck after lock down started,” said Dan Ruppert-Kan, owner of Fly Vintage and Vinyl.
The owners pivoted to beef up their online presence.
“They claim that there’s a you can add a retail store with one click,” said Dan. “I clicked that one click and that’s true you can add a store page with one click. But then there’s about another 150 clicks that you have to add banking and shipping and all sorts of other things,” said Dan.
Fly Vintage and Vinyl online store was born.
“Just started posting one record at a time online. At one point we had maybe 900 records listed,” said Dan. The vinyl was easier to ship and the store found a clientele in the Midwest, Colorado, Washington, and California. Dan says they have a few customers down south.
Dan has set Fly apart by providing an exceptionally clean product.
Dan Ruppert-Kan ultrasonically cleans every record priced over $4
“And as far as I know we’re the only record store in the country for sure and possibly the world that ultrasonic cleans all our records that are 4 dollars and up,” said Dan.
The vinyl is treated with TLC and the vintage is some of the highest quality and most eclectic you will find.
When the store opened to the public in May, Dan and Betsy were ready to see people.
“Seeing our customers again was like a family reunion every day,” said Betsy.
