How a Local Music Store Shares a Timeless Trend that has found an All-time High Fan Base
SPRINGFIELD, MO. – Erik Milan has owned the popular downtown music store, Stick it in Your Ear, since January 1, 2019. He worked at the well-known music establishment with the previous owner, Wes Nichols, from 2015, until he took over as owner in 2019, shortly before the pandemic forced the business to close for three months in 2020. Erik is a musician, playing drums in various bands since he was 12 years old. He still plays with his local band, T.R.O.Y (The Reality of Yourself), and is an avid music collector, which started from his earliest boyhood memory. Milan attributes his current ownership and management of the store to: “previously working at Stick It in Your Ear and being in the right place at the right time”.
Part of Erik’s favorite aspect of owning Stick it in Your Ear is the new and recurring customers he has the opportunity to meet. “It is gratifying to share my love of music with customers who also love music. I never tire of hearing, ‘I haven’t seen this in ages!’, from the patrons meandering the store, exploring the over 40,000 albums of records, CDs, and cassettes for sale”, ways Milan.
While Erik and his wife, Tina, own and operate the long-standing downtown gem, they also employ five full-time associates. According to the owner, Stick it in Your Ear has always been the central hub for musicians and local bands, working closely with Springfield venues to assist with booking gigs and selling concert tickets. Erik shared his dream for the store’s legacy: “To hit 50 years. That would be awesome! I feel so blessed to be here, a steward of something big, built by someone else”.
After Covid took a toll on local businesses in 2020, Milan was fortunate to fall into his current role as owner of Stick it in Your Ear, offering new and used vinyl, cassette tapes, and CDs. Not only does the store offer these old turned trendy methods of music enjoyment, but they also sell music equipment and vintage record players.
Milan believes his whole life has led to his role as a music collector, distributor, and business owner. Originally hailing from Chicago, he moved to Springfield, Missouri in 2006 and a handful of years later, began work as an associate at Stick it in Your Ear, under the mentorship of the store’s former owner, Wes Nichols. Nichols took Erik under his wing as an employee from 2015 – 2019, after being a loyal customer for several years prior. Tina Milan co-owns the store alongside her husband. With a business degree, she is a valuable asset to the close-knit team of music lovers and entrepreneurs. Milan attributes his modern love of music to artists such as Dave Grohl, of the Foo Fighters and Led Zeppelin, particularly John Bonham, former drummer of the legendary rock band.
Milan credits the recent trend of collecting vinyl to a hobby that never truly vanished. “Listening to records has been happening for the past 15 years, and well before that. While it seems like a newer trend, social media has played a major role in the resurgence of vinyl, based on wide-based access to music photos, artwork, and large collections of records for sale online”, Eric Milan, owner of Stick it in Your Ear.
Most of the inventory found in Milan’s music store has come from local record collectors, seeking a bulk price on their collections. The owner excitedly spoke about an upcoming meeting with a possible vendor in West Plains that had over 3,000 records he wished to sell. Milan said his staff do not peruse flea markets, antique stores, or bookstores to purchase music to sell in the store. For a store of this magnitude, ordering directly from a distributor online or making the acquaintance of a local collector is where the bulk of the inventory is found.
The price of the music merchandise is due to a visual inspection and oftentimes an audible test. Milan jokingly said: “We have to put a needle on it to see what quality we are dealing with”.
With any sound issues detected from an audible standpoint, the employees will decide how to sell, price, and advertise from there, often providing a deeper clean of the record, cd, or cassette, to provide the best possible listening experience. Milan shared: “Everything that goes on the shelf has been thoroughly inspected for quality listening entertainment. We assure our customers that if they get a record home and it does not possess the quality they desire, we will provide a full refund for the product”.
Milan attributes much of the new customer crowd to the popular Hotel Vandivort, which sits just across Historic Walnut Street from Stick it in Your Ear. The upscale hotel, which provides lodging to visitors from all over the world, offers record players in each guest room, to serve as a symbiotic business relationship between the hotel and music store. The remainder of Milan’s clientele are repeat customers, some of which visit several times a week.
Stick it in Your Ear originated in Miami, Oklahoma. Subsequent stores were opened in Pittsburg, Kansas and Joplin, Missouri. The store in Springfield, Missouri is the last remaining store of the Stick It Legacy. The store, located on historic Walnut Street, has always held this convenient and eclectic downtown destination. With neighboring businesses like Gailey’s, Greek Belly, The Vandivort, The Moxy, and Springfield Little Theatre, to name just a few, Stick it in Your Ear truly does host the perfect location for Springfield’s most notable music store.
While cassettes and CDs are making a comeback, Milan shared that records, “dollar for dollar, pound for pound”, provide the bulk of inventory and sales, with CDs being a close second. The music store has a handful of distributors and boasts weekly restocks on all forms of music inventory with 70% used albums and 30% new. Milan recalls that during Covid, shortly after he took over ownership of Stick it in Your Ear, it was nearly impossible to get new releases and records. The supply chain was back ordered and it negatively impacted business; especially at a time when people spent a lot more time at home, desiring to invest in traditional entertainment means, such as vinyl. “Now that vinyl has made a major comeback, the flow is much better. Everyone puts records out, smaller labels as well as bigger ones. It is much easier to get inventory to stock the store for our customers”, says Milan.
As a musician and businessman, Milan encourages young entrepreneurs to get their credit right, as a number one recommendation for opening a music store such as Stick it in Your Ear. He further said: “The only reason I was able to own this place, is because I worked my way up and learned how to run it from the former owner”. He implores young musicians and future business owners to take advantage of opportunities to surround themselves with the music business in any capacity. He attributes his successful music store with his resonate customer experience, his long-standing familiarity and love for records, and the knowledge of what to look for when it comes through the door. “You can’t teach someone that; it is nuanced and must be learned by immersion in the music scene”, says Milan.
With vinyl playing in the background, customers getting lost in the nostalgia of yester-year with the only true universal language of music, the owner of Stick it in Your Ear said this: “I want readers, our loyal customers and all new customers to know that we really appreciate everyone. We aim to be very inclusive and feel that music bridges all gaps, which we try to embody daily. Everyone, as well as every unique taste in music, is welcome and celebrated at Stick it in Your Ear”. Check them out at: https://stickitnyourear.com/ and on Facebook.
This serves as a valuable reminder that the very best things in life will never go out of style. No matter how advanced technology becomes, the static of vinyl, the piercing of the needle against a revered record, the scent of an old book, the ink stains of a daily newspaper, the glossy feel of a magazine, these timeless treasures of creativity and entertainment will never fall victim to extinction. For those old souls, who prefer the past to the present, and often refers to ‘the good ole days’, we will always have a special place in which to escape the craziness of the world, basking in the glow of a simpler time. When a record release was cause for celebration, the lighted dial of grandma’s turntable provided a comforting glow, and glorious music filled the air of a homey living room, the only care in the world being when the record reached the paper label, and one had to physically get up to ‘turn the page’…
