My other memories of the first Bellingham store on E. Holly Street store are random and somewhat scattered. Trucking and loading huge quantities of melts into the back room was a big part of the early years, then later climbing ladders to the high shelves to go through them and dig out forgotten treasures. The Holly Street tavern next door to the store was a regular source of consternation due to drunks coming into the store and hogging the listening stations, or most annoyingly pissing or passing out on the sidewalk in front.

We called the cops regularly to help deal with these situations with varying results. Sometimes they’d show up and hustle the offender away, but just as often the call would be ignored and eventually I got irritated enough to write a letter of complaint to the Chief of Police, copies of which I cc’d to the Mayor and some other mucky-muck in the city government. The reaction was immediate – I got a personal call from the Chief who gave me the impression that I’d put him in the hot seat by cc’ing the mayor (gee, sorry Mr. Poe-leese-man) and for a while at least the policing of the Holly Tavern seemed to improve, much to my satisfaction. It all became a moot point in 1983 however, when Cellophane left the seedy environs of E. Holly Street and moved to the high traffic, thriving shopping district of Downtown Bellingham.

Above: Exterior of the Cornwall Avenue store, mid-1980s.

While our second Bellingham location on Cornwall Avenue was only about three blocks away from the original store, it was worlds apart in terms of retail environment. In 1983 downtown Bellingham was the pre-eminent shopping district for the region, anchored by several national retailers like Sears and J.C. Penney and packed with many small and medium-sized independent businesses filling the storefronts throughout an approximately five square block area. During the holidays and on Saturday afternoons the streets would be teeming with shoppers and people going about their business. Sadly, it would be only a few years before Bellis Fair Mall opened north of downtown and the majority of these businesses left or were left to fail – but when we moved there in 1983 it was the place to be.

The owners had moved to Bellingham themselves a few years prior to the store relocation and became well known in the business community and plugged into the downtown real estate market. The top-dollar location they scored was prime - right in the middle of the busiest shopping stretch - and the move became our first major step into becoming a ‘legitimate’ record store. We had already started carrying some new product in addition to the used, and we increased that stock in the new Cornwall Avenue location significantly, featuring new releases and top sellers on prominent endcaps in the store, taking special orders for new LPs and tapes and basically presenting as a more conventional record outlet across the board.

The store itself was narrow and deep with about the same square footage on the sales floor as we had previously, but in a well-lit modern building that was a far cry from the funkiness of the Holly Street space. In keeping with our bid at ‘going legit’ we went to town on the decoration, with flashy red neon rimming the two front display windows and a big sign hanging over the sidewalk. The core practices of the business were unchanged, but the visual presentation completely updated. The ‘Black Summer Sale’ vibe was replaced by weekly specials and an in-store display of ‘Billboard’s Top Ten,’ ‘CMJ (College Music Journal) Top Ten’, and ‘Our Top Ten.’ This was the era when Michael Jackson’s Thriller video was breaking new ground in the home video market, and so we also added a selection of VHS tape music titles to the mix.

Above: What was selling the most (left) and what was being played in store the most (right), when Cellophane moved to its new ‘uptown’ location in downtown Bellingham, 1983.

Not everyone in the company was completely on board with these changes (am I giving myself away?), but the owners were intent on growing the empire and the shiny new store was a boost to their egos and standing in the community. The store never abandoned the used and collectible product it was known for, and though we barely made any profit on the new stock we carried, the new location flourished and had a few years of solid growth before the mall drew much of the business away from downtown Bellingham a few years later.

Above: Interior views of the Cornwall Ave store in 1987 (left) and 1988 (right).

During the roughly five-year stretch at Cornwall Avenue a few memorable employees came and went, with the longest tenure probably belonging to management team Ron and Larry. Ron was a huge Richard Thompson fan and played a significant role in developing a similar obsession in me – we traded bootleg tapes, witnessed a few amazing Thompson shows together, and generally geeked out over English folk rock every chance we got.

Larry had an extremely dry and sardonic wit and I recall him being a big Stevie Ray Vaughan fan. Occasionally I would stay at his place when I had to be in Bellingham overnight and he was always a gracious host. Both of these guys met the high standard of music fanaticism that I felt was necessary to be a successful Cellophane employee, and though I still made the final hiring decisions during this era, they did the initial screening of applicants and brought many good people into the fold.

Above: Larry at the counter in the Cornwall Avenue store around 1988 with our new product “Top Ten” displays behind him. Note that the several of the hot sellers are displayed in both LP and CD (long box) formats – that transition was underway.

This was the time when Jon & Ken Posie were hanging out in the store and blowing us away with their self-produced cassette (see TRSY chapter 38), and Bellingham had developed its own thriving music scene with several good local bars and music venues getting established. Many if not most of our employees at that time also played in local bands. Madeleine L and a talented friend named Kat had The Madeleines, and Jim Wehmeyer, who at one point was assistant manager of the store, played around town regularly with the band Loose Gravel. Estrus Records founder Dave Crider also started his Cellophane tenure at the Cornwall Avenue location, during which time he played in the Roof Dogs - more to come on that topic soon.

NEXT: Bellingham Store #3: Magnolia & Railroad (1988)

Below: The 1331 Cornwall Avenue building as it appeared in 2024.