A special message from ever-weird Cactus Records
The rumors of our death have been *greatly* exaggerated, but we are movin’ on up to the west side after the holidays! Let’s start here. We’re not gone. Not by a long shot. And in a little while we’ll be better than ever. We want to get that out there in case you’re too lazy to read the rest of this. And, to be honest, who could judge? For the rest of you, here’s the long version.
Most of you have heard the story by now. This summer the retail space (not the whole building) where Cactus Records has resided for the past 35+ years was put up for sale – for $1.8 million dollars! That part is true. But from there some of the stories about us around town got mixed up.
Some folks thought this meant that we were closing. Others thought that we, Cactus Records, were the ones selling our space, are leaving by choice, and are keeping the $1.8 million for ourselves. There was even a rumor that we were reptilians from one of the spiral arms of the Andromeda Galaxy. We assure you that none of these, especially the last one, is true.
We think that a space that held Cactus Records for so long ought to be a landmark, maybe even a National Park, and therefore valuable beyond calculation. But at $1.8 million dollars, the price was beyond us, even though record store denizens are a famously wealthy people.
Like it or not, the popularity of our quiet little mountain town is blowing up. And the real estate market has exploded with it. Smaller independent businesses like ourselves, as well as individual members and families throughout our community, are being priced out. That is a huge problem and a whole other conversation, one we can’t solve in this writing.
We were left on the hunt for a new home in Bozeman that was in our price range. Of course, our first choice would have been to stay downtown. But, space downtown is both slim and expensive. Like Paris Hilton.
Moving into a new downtown location would be setting us up to have to go through the same thing again in a few years. And then we found a fabulously funky space way across town, between Rooks and the Science Museum, across from the mall. Not only was it available, but it was up for sale! Not the whole building, just the space, at a price we could afford.
And we bought it, meaning we won’t find ourselves without a location again. Unfortunately, as great as the space was when we found it, there were a number of things about it that weren’t up to city codes, meaning we couldn’t move into it as is. This meant construction. We still don’t know when our new space will be ready for us to move in. But we can say this: it will be soon.
Meanwhile, up until recently we were still in the dark as to when we would have to leave our current home. Which is why we hadn’t made any announcements about the move. What we now know, and are able to share with the world, is that Cactus Records & Gifts will be celebrating one last holiday season in our beloved downtown location, so you can come and see why generations of Bozemaniacs have made Cactus Records their holiday destination for the best gifts, music, apparel, jewelry, cards, and all of the weird stuff you, your family, and the rest of your weirdo friends will need for the holidays.
And then, in 2022, you can come visit us at the new and improved CACTUS 2 (The Electric Boog-a-Loo, The Legend Continues, or whatever you want to name this highly anticipated sequel), when we find out why Jim Morrison of The Doors proclaimed “the West is the Best.” And why we say Cactus Records is forever, and soon better than ever! In part because we’ll have parking. •