Hattiesburg — As expected at a rare, independent record shop, an eclectic combination of music fills the air at T-Bones Record Store and Café just off Hardy Street in Hattiesburg. But the music doesn’t cover the sounds of a busy kitchen that does a “rockin’ lunch biz,” in the words of one owner, Harry Crumpler III.
“It dawned on me that I could be creative with the business,” Harry said of his decision to start a café in conjunction with the music store, one of only a handful of independent record stores in Mississippi. “There are so many places that are the same in every town, and it feels good to find a place that is unique, where it’s not like you can get it anywhere. T-Bones sticks in your mind that way.”
As an avid music fan who spent most of his money on records, a 19-year-old Harry got a part-time job at T-Bones in the 1990s. In 2002, he and his parents, Jennifer and Harry Crumpler Jr., bought the store just before the dawn of illegal Internet music downloads. The rising cost of CDs sent even more people to download music online, and the fate of stores like T-Bones became increasingly uncertain.
“We were concerned about the future of music retail, and we had some unused space, so over the course of a year we began building the café,” Harry said. “Originally we were just doing coffee and desserts — that did horribly in the beginning — but, fortunately, the record store was strong enough to take a hit. We began to add in some sandwiches and salads, and that’s where we got some traction.”
After opening the café on a paltry budget that allowed only for three panini grills from Walmart, T-Bones has become beloved in the Hub City for its Sunday jazz brunch, signature salads and hot and cold coffee. While many come in to enjoy soup or a grilled sandwich, others are still coming to get their fix for CDs, despite the availability of music online.
“In the record store world, it’s sad to see, but CDs are obviously declining. They were so strong for so long, but they’re still at a sales point where it would be ill-advised to say we don’t sell CDs anymore,” Harry said. “If the record store was losing money, we wouldn’t keep it open.”
And Harry disagrees with those who call vinyl records a “dead medium.”
“The funny thing that happened with vinyl is that it never really died,” he said. “It definitely shrunk significantly, but it’s been growing lately. And, as it does, so does our vinyl section.”
T-Bones is expanding to meet the increasing demand for vinyl. “It’s fun to go music shopping,” he said. “It’s convenient to be able to pick up my phone and have a song within a minute, but I think that’s part of the problem. There’s so much convenience, listening to music becomes an accompaniment to things. A lot of appeal with the record stems from the fact that listening to music becomes the focal point. It becomes what you’re doing.
“We’re continuing to try to meet those demands. It’s a shot in the arm for us,” Harry said, adding that events such as Record Store Day, which will be in April this year, are a great boost.
Live in-store performances from local and regional artists also are regulars at T-Bones. No cover charges for the shows means that it’s more likely for artists to be able to sell their albums, and it exposes more people to more music.
“T-Bones is the cultural hub of Hattiesburg,” said Travis Thornell, a University of Southern Mississippi graduate who frequented the record shop and café during his time as a student at the university. “The record store with the café is a great place to relax during the day, and at night you can catch a small band performing.
The staff knows their music and can recommend anything based on your tastes.”
“We’re just fans of good music around here,” Harry said. “We try to have a little of everything come through.”
And most recently, the T-Bones inventory has expanded to include books.
“I felt like there was a niche we could get into here without stepping on other toes in town,” Harry said. “I felt like it was worth a shot.”
Titles are carefully chosen, and right now between 700 and 800 books are available at the shop.
“It’s not millions of books, but we’re getting close to 1,000,” Harry said. “We really take our time curating that section, making sure we get good quality stuff that our customers will like. Part of it is gut, what you think your clientele would appreciate and what’s missing in town.”
“In the beginning, it was all my obsession with the record store and love of listening to albums. I never envisioned I would be running a restaurant,” Harry said. “Whether a record store or café, at T-Bones we want to take care of our customers, and we want to give them the best.”
And in a place like Hattiesburg, no two customers are alike.
“Everyone from babies to 90-year-olds, and everyone in between, comes in here; it’s such a diverse customer base,” Harry said. “When you come in here, you do get a good feel for the diversity of the town. I like to imagine that T-Bones is a reflection of Hattiesburg itself. Hattiesburg is a college town. It’s a certified retirement community. It’s a lot of things. It’s not like it’s the richest city in the state. It’s very middle-class America.”
“You couldn’t have a very tight niche. Here you’ve got to have a broader stroke,” he said. “I’m beyond happy that Hattiesburg has supported us enough to keep doing this. And in turn, we’ll keep finding ways to kick it up a notch for them.”
STORY Mary Margaret Halford
PHOTOGRAPHY Eli Baylis
