Vinyl longing to spark Luke's rebound

Earlier this year, I reported on the demise of Luke's Record Exchange, a long-running music emporium in Pawtucket. As it turns out, the story has taken an unexpected turn.

When Luke T. Renchan announced in March that his landmark record shop, Luke’s Record Exchange in Pawtucket, was closing after 29 years in business, it was a sad and not very unsurprising story. Small businesses — particularly those trafficking in such outmoded products as LPs and CDs — can’t be reasonably be expected to make a go of it in 2008, right?

Wrong.

Renchan called me this week to share the word that his record shop, located at 393 Broadway in Pawtucket’s Pleasant View section, will be the subject of a grand reopening on November 8.

“I realize there’s still a market out there,” Renchan says, describing how he received an outpouring of support after closing his store in May, with some customers saying they would have to travel to Boston or New York to fill their vinyl needs.