The "Last Record Store"

Vangel Kondoff was born in Greece in 1894. He married Evangelia Sironki in about 1920. The family settled in Springfield, where George was born in 1923. Daughter Katherine “Katie” Kondoff Rogowski was born in Xenia in 1925. Son Christos “Chris” Kondoff was born in Miamisburg in 1930. The Kondoff family home was on South Main Street across from the popular hangout, “Jimmy the Greek’s.”

George graduated from Miamisburg High School in 1941 and earned several degrees from the University of Dayton. He taught in the Kettering school system for over 40 years and, after retiring, worked at the Springboro Public Library. George was also inducted into Miamisburg’s Athletic Hall of Fame in 2001. Katie moved to New York and became a fashion designer. Chris was an extraordinary athlete in the Miamisburg High School class of 1948. He attended Michigan State University and served in the U.S. Army. He had a deep love for music and was an avid sports fan, especially for the Cincinnati Reds, Cincinnati Bengals, and University of Dayton basketball. He worked with his mother for many years as owners and operators of the Kondoff Music Store on Main Street.

Miamisburg historian Les Wead wrote that, “Poppa and Momma Kondoff ran a shoe repair and shoeshine parlor. It was the best place in town to have your shoes polished at a very reasonable price. Miamisburg was a busy town back in those days, and one could go to town, especially on Saturday, and find almost anything you wanted right there on Main Street.” It was said that you could stand on the corner of Main Street and Central Avenue on Saturday night and visit with almost everyone who lived in town. It was a friendly and pleasant place to be.

After WWII, Vangel Kondoff retired from the shoeshine and shoe repair business. The family then opened the Kondoff Music Store run by Chris and his mother, Evangelia. Kondoff’s was the place to get the latest hit records during the 40s, 50s, and 60s. They had everything from the top 45s to LP vinyl—all from an exhausting array of artists in every category: big bands, blues, jazz, gospel, Christmas, classic rock.

Independent record stores across the country began going out of business in the early 1970s. Chris and Evangelia decided to end their more than 30-year downtown Miamisburg business in 1971. The story of the Kondoff Music Store should have ended when it closed in 1971, but it did not. Why? Because Chris left the showroom exactly the way it was. On the last day, he locked the doors and hung paper in the windows—leaving everything intact, all the original 50,000 to 60,000 45s and LPs. Thousands of Billboards, Record Worlds, Cashboxes, and other lesser-known industry magazines of the '50s, '60s and '70s remained, a complete history of the evolution of music from the pre-rock-n-roll 1940s to the hard rock 1970s. Musical progression from before Elvis Presley, through the British Invasion, the psychedelic '60s and into the '70s funk period, plus all the record catalogs from the early days on up—Chess , Excello, Motown—all preserved for decades.

A young Scottish man named John Anderson, obsessed with soul music and all it stood for, came to the US in search of his favorite records in 1968. He was part of a sort of “European invasion” in pursuit of vintage vinyl and turned his love of music into a business, importing 45s and LPs to England. Anderson noted that he had “searched the country top to bottom for records” and happened to drive into Miamisburg and cruise down Main Street in 1972. “What did I see but an old record store?” The door was locked, but he met the owner who said that he was not in the business anymore. He also heard the family’s story and that there was a “huge amount of vinyl” inside. Anderson came back every year during the 1970s, but the answer was always the same: “no record sales.”

Anderson mentioned the old Ohio store to friends and associates repeatedly and the legend of the “Last Record Store” was born. Years later, he thought it was worth another look, so he went by on one of his regular US trips. The store was just as he had seen it 38 years before except no one was living in the building. He contacted Chris Kondoff's brother, George, who told him that his brother had retired, and they were going to sell the store and the contents soon. George promised to contact him when it happened. Six months later, the lawyer for the estate contacted Anderson and asked him to come make an offer. In 2009 he returned to town to look at a store that had been closed for 40 years.

Anderson drove to Miamisburg from the Austin (Texas) Record Convention with his friend Chris Moerer of RecordsbyMail.com. He continued, “When we walked into the shop it was like stepping into the time machine. All the LPs on display were from the late '60s and the bins were full of vintage '50s and '60s LPs. Sealed Beatle LPs, all the Rolling Stones, both mono and stereo, Pink Floyd on Tower, also all the Standells, the Hollies, the Animals, the Doors, Jimi Hendrix. It was all there…all in mint condition.” There were bins “loaded with 45s—picture sleeves by the Beatles, The Stones, the Yardbirds, the Miracles, Supremes, local garage bands and R B, County and Rockabilly from the '50s.” Chris Kondoff had kept all the record company cardboard promo displays, “huge Frank Sinatra cardboard posters, Buddy Holly stand-ups, Johnny Burnette, Jackie Wilson, and the soundtrack to Spartacus, an incredible promotion with about six different cardboard posters.” The shop still had the old listening booths, where one could take his 45s and “decide which ones deserved the 98-cent price.” 

Many local people stopped by when they saw the open door and shared their stories of the old days. One visitor that day was Historical Society conservator Allen Jones. After graduation, he joined the U.S. Navy and served two tours in Vietnam. While on R&R in Sasebo, Japan, he bought component stereo equipment and had it shipped home. When Jones got out of the Navy in May 1967, he needed to put together the turntable and have the needle tracking adjusted. Chris Kondoff offered to do it and refused to take any money for the work. He said it was a “gift for a Vietnam vet.” Jones said that he never forgot him as he was “one of a few people who even took the time to recognize a vet.”

John Anderson bought most of the items on display. The “Last Record Store” made a final sale.