HHS music lovers have a new hangout.

Mill City Sound, a new record store, made its way into downtown Hopkins on Aug. 30.

Rob Sheeley, owner of Mill City Sound, has wanted to own a record store for most of his life. Sheeley’s personal collection contains around 40,000 records.

“I grew up going to record stores, and then they started to disappear. At one point, Hopkins had three record stores, and now Hopkins just has [my store],” Sheeley said.

Sheeley had a lifelong goal of becoming a musician, but a career in musical electronics became a better fit.

“I was a musician a long, long time ago, but I wasn’t very good – I just didn’t want to practice,” Sheeley said. “One day, I came into practice, and the lead singer of the band put a hand on my shoulder and said ‘Rob, I really think we need a sound guy.’ He meant it was time for me to leave the bass guitar, and that’s how I got into electronics. It turned out to be a good thing, but at the time, it was devastating.”

While most record stores focus on just records, Mill City Sound specializes in stereo equipment as well.

Vinyl sales grew 40 percent across the country during 2013 and are still growing, according to the Alternative Press website. People who listen to records are realizing how important sound systems are in making music sound more authentic.

“When you get into audio and you listen to a live performance, you say ‘Wow, this doesn’t sound anything like what I just heard live.’ People want to start hearing what it should actually sound like,” Sheeley said.

Mill City Sound has a partnership with 89.3 The Current, one of Minnesota Public Radio’s music stations. The Chart Show is designed by voters who pick their top five tracks of that week, and most of the music played during Mark Wheat’s Chart Show is distributed at Sheeley’s record store.

Mill City Sound features alternative rock, pop, and oldies style records, as well as a variety of other music.

“I am just as likely to play Atmosphere as I am The Beatles as I am the Black Keys. It’s hard right now because music has so many diverse categories,” Sheeley said. “I still can’t get into Kanye West, but there is a lot of stuff I do like; Alt-J, Atmosphere, The Strikes, Arctic Monkeys, and a lot of local hip-hop is pretty good.”

No matter what Sheeley listens to, he believes music is a sentimental custom.

“Listening to music is really an analog experience. There is something about holding a record cover, opening it up, looking at this big disc, putting it down, and playing it. There is a whole romance to vinyl that doesn’t exist with a digital file,” Sheeley said.

Sheeley believes that vinyl is more than something to listen to.

“There is a whole experience with the idea of a record. Once you get into it, it’s fun, and it’s one of those things that you have forever,” Sheeley said.

This record store is Sheeley’s retirement job and fourth company. Sheeley has enjoyed his line of work through it all.

“To be honest, I’m not in it for the money. If I wanted to make money, I would probably do a thousand other things than sell records,” Sheeley said. “My advice to everybody is find out what you want to do and do it because that’s what you’ll do best.”