Marie Uhler and Mike Turner aim to preserve physical media and bring new sounds to residents of Baldwin County with the opening of Wax Galaxy Records. Uhler and Turner saw downtown Milledgeville as a prime spot to open up a brick-andmortar record store, due to the close proximity of Georgia College & State University and Georgia Military College. The co-owners hope to provide customers with a go-to spot to find familiar favorites, or discover a new album or artist.
“We want people to come and get their favorite record from the past or currently,” said Uhler. “Then, for some people, we want them to be able to discover their new favorite record or music that day. For example, finding something they’ve never heard of, or that they’ve never even considered exists before.”
Uhler is a native of Eatonton and has previous experience in the music business working as a booking agent and touring musician in Athens. Turner is originally from Panama City Beach, Florida, and has managed multiple record stores since the 1990s. Both Turner and Uhler moved to Milledgeville in 2019, and began selling records on the ecommerce site Discogs.
Wax Galaxy Records is a store that has something for everyone. The store sells vinyl records, CDs and cassette tapes, and band merchandise, as well as DVDs. Uhler and Turner have spent the past few years buying record and media collections in order to have a wide range of used music selections.
They work with independent label distributors to purchase new release records for the shop.
“Being somewhere like Milledgeville, it’s good to have a wide range,” said Turner. “It’s a mix of classics that everybody buys, or titles that are popular right now. Then there’s stuff that’s a little more esoteric and strange that people can discover. It’s a good ratio to have in the store.”
A recent resurgence in purchasing vinyl records has become a trend for younger generations, and Turner and Uhler described the importance of what owning a physical copy of a piece of media means in a time when streaming platforms dominate the music industry.
“I think that there is a culture that is about endless scrolling and dopamine hits, people over and over are trying to find new fixes,” said Turner.
“It’s easier to get more music than ever before on the internet, but there is something about having ownership of a record. You establish a relationship to an album and the tracks on it.”
“A lot of people who listen to music by streaming don’t have control over what is accessible on the service,” said Uhler. “You can pay to listen on these platforms, but you don’t have ownership of what you are listening to. By purchasing a CD or a record, you have it forever essentially. I’m a supporter of archiving and establishing libraries of materials, and there is so much you are able to find in physical media by taking the time to thumb through a collection and build your own.”
“We want to be able to give people that feeling of recognizing a piece of media is important to them,” said Uhler. “For some people it’s about collecting, but for most, music is more than just something that you put on in the background. You go out of your way to get a piece of it that you can call your own.”
Out of their vast catalogue of music to purchase, Uhler and Turner shared their current favorite picks at Wax Galaxy and some of the albums they consider to be essentials to have in a collection. Uhler has been listening to a recent addition to the store “The Columbia Years 1968-69” by funk and soul artist Betty Davis, and recommends any release from the ’90s Hip Hop group Main Source. Turner recommends the ’90s London Alternative band Stereolab’s discography, or releases from Afrobeat artist Fela Kuti.
Uhler and Turner started Wax Galaxy with the motivation to bring physical media to local residents, and give customers a welcoming and inviting experience.
“If you feel good about a record and connect with it, that’s awesome,” said Turner. “It doesn’t matter what it is, as long as you enjoy it.”
Wax Galaxy Records is having soft open store hours from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday at their downtown Milledgeville storefront. Customers can find a new or old favorite album, while supporting an up-and-coming local business.